A Court of Dark and Decay

Chapter 3- "So what if I did?"

Nesta sprang up, coughing up water onto the already wet tiles. He put his hand on her back and she seemed to lean into the touch, her body unable to hold itself up completely.

After a few moments, she finally stopped coughing. He saw a blue robe on the hook on the door. The bottom of it brushed the floor and was discolored because of the wetness.

Standing, keenly aware of the warmth of her back leaving his hand, Cassian grabbed the robe and put it around Nesta's shoulders. She was still facing away from him, breathing heavily.

"You are here." She said to herself, her hands roaming her body, as if only now remembering she had one.

She turned her head to look at him, as if only now remembering he was even there. Her eyes went wide as she said, ever so quietly, "You are here."

He dare not touch her again. He had nothing to say.

She, however, did.

"How did you get in" She said flatly, threading her arms through the robe and tying the front, still on her knees on the floor, leaning an arm against the edge of the tub.

So Cassian sat on the floor next to her, leaning his back against the tub, adjusting his large wings to fit the space.

"Your window was open. Really any ruffian could have gotten in." He looked straight forward toward the door. That thing inside him was telling him, hold her comfort her press against her kiss

He shut his thoughts down.

"A ruffian did get in." She lifted her head to look at him over her shoulder. "And interrupted my bath." She took a deep breath, as if saying that one sentence took to much of her oxygen.

Cassian had to clasp his hands together to keep from reaching for her.

Nesta stood, Cassian shooting to his feet seconds after her. She glared at him and side stepped around him. She looked at the drain at the bottom of the tub. Her arm flinched, as if it wanted to move but couldn't.

She simply turned to face him.

He braced himself.

"Pull the drain."

And she walked out of the bathroom.

So Cassian pulled the drain and followed her.

"Nesta,-" Cassian started, but Nesta beat him to it.

"I don't want you in my house. I will not go with you to the mountains. You have no right to barge in here uninvited." She wasn't even looking at him from across the bedroom where she was rifling through her armoire. Her room was tidy and simple. Completely undercoated.

Cassian's tongue strangled on his next words.

"Where you trying to drown yourself, Nesta?" Cassian breathed, something deep within him cracking, shifting at the words, at the reality. He fought the stinging in his eyes.

Nesta sprang up straight, looking directly at him with her grey eyes. The sun was rising behind her, illuminating her body through the silk robe. She was rail thin. He could almost make out the curves of her rib cage, the angles of her hip bones. Her thighs didn't touch. He had been able to feel every shift of her collarbones when he lifted her from the tub.

Without waiting her her reply, already brewing in her cold eyes, he said "When was the last time you ate something?"

Nesta stiffened. Even though she was skin and bone, she was still more beautiful then the sunset behind her.