Chapter 2

The sun had come and gone twice before Nesta made it over the mountain. She had become so sunburnt her face was swollen and she could barely see. She wanted to cry out for help. To scream for Cassian even though she knew he wouldn't come. "Everyone fucking hates you."

She never once questioned how true the words were. She didn't need to. The way Rhys screamed at her to shut the fuck up was her number one clue to how much they really did hate her.

Even if she did make it back to town, she didn't belong. She knew that. Her sister's hated her. Their friends hated her. But at this rate, she was never making it back. Her body was so weak without food and water that she was barely moving. Her body was screaming at her for something to drink. Her mouth had become so dry that she was nearly panting like a dog. She wanted to take a shower. Wanted a nice hot meal. Wanted to die. She wasn't sure which was at the top of her list.

The sun was high in the sky as she headed down the mountain. It wasn't any easier going down. She fell face first into the dirt the second she climbed off a rock. She bit her tongue when her face collided with the ground and her mouth filled with blood. She spit it out and tried to sit up. Her arms were so weak she could barely even roll over.

This was Hell. She must have died right? Now she was in Hell. She wished it would rain. Needed it to rain. She was going to die out here. She was pretty sure she didn't care if she did.

Cassian had gone back to the House of Wind. Her scent was still here. It was everywhere. He had no idea where Rhys had taken her but "somewhere she deserved" didn't sound too good. She didn't deserve the nice things that were here, he knew that but he would never have forced her to leave. Not when her sister's were waiting for her to improve. Rhysand didn't give her long enough. Cassian swears he would have eventually gotten through to her.

He checked her room, all of her clothes and things were still there. He looked around the room confused. Nothing was moved. Why wouldn't she take any of her things with her if Rhysand relocated her?

"What the fuck is going on?" Azriel came into the room.

"No idea. But Rhys did something with Nesta." Cassian was going to freak out. He didn't want to cause any drama but Nesta was obviously somewhere she wasn't supposed to be. She could be in trouble and not able to defend herself.

"Where is she?!" Cassian stormed into the library at Rhys and Feyre's house. He grabbed Rhysand by the shirt. "Where the fuck is she? What did you do?"

"What is going on?" Feyre asked.

"This fucker took Nesta from the house and relocated her. But all of her things are still there. So where the fuck is she?!" He was screaming at this point. Nesta had her problems but she didn't deserve to be thrown away like a dog. Cassian was working on it. Why couldn't Rhys just let him handle it?

"I dropped her in the mountains." Rhys answered.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" He screamed. "Where?" Now he really was panicking. "Why would you do that?"

"She needed to learn a lesson."

"She was getting there!" Was he breathing? Oh my god he was going to pass out. He felt the need to hunch over to try to catch his breath. This couldn't be happening.

"You did what?" Feyre asked.

"He deposited my mate into the fucking mountains." Feyre's eyes widened. First) Mate? Second) her own mate dropped her sister into some mountain with no protection.

"Go get her!" She shreiked.

"No."

"Which mountain?" He asked already nearly halfway out the door.

"The mountains near Day Court."

"You're lucky Feyre is here or I would beat the shit out of you." With that he was gone.

Nesta was laying on the ground. She had only made it about 50 more feet after falling. She was screaming for help. Hoping that anyone would hear her and come help. She needed someone, anyone to come save her. Fuck even if Rhys came to save her she would go with him.

"I'll do the training just please!" She cried to no one. She sat up, she needed to keep walking. She needed to get back to civilization. A breeze blew the trees around before she heard the wings. She tried to find somewhere to hide not having any clue who it was and if they were going to hurt her.

"Nesta!" Cassian screamed. How was he going to find her? Her scent was faint but she was here. At some point she was here.

"Cassian!" She shouted. He was close enough for her to hear him. "Help me!" She had no idea how long she had been out here. Had no idea how she was going to apologize to him. She needed to, she knew that much. But right now all she needed was to be saved.

"Nesta." He breathed the second he dropped down from a rock.

"Cass." She cried trying to get to him. Thank God it wasn't Rhys. Tears streamed down her burnt face. Her limbs gave out and she fell to her knees. He fell to his knees in front of her and pulled her into his arms. He wrapped his wings around her to protect her. "I'm so sorry!" She cried.

"Sh. It's okay. You're okay." She held onto his shirt as she cried. "I had no idea where you were." He mumbled into her ear as she sobbed. He slowly stood but kept her in his arms. He needed to get her back to the House and assess her. She cried the entire time he was flying. Her skin was blistered and her face was bloody. He couldn't see the rest of her body but knew was going to need a healer.

"He just left me there." She whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her head on his shoulder. She was so exhausted. She just wanted to eat and sleep for the rest of her life. However long that may be.

"Are you in pain?" She nodded against his chest, the tears dropping onto his shirt. He was going to kill Rhys. There was no doubt about how badly he would beat Rhys. Cassian would never do something like that to Rhys' mate, why would Rhys do that to his? It didn't make sense. Cassian couldn't wrap it around his head that Rhys would do something like that. No matter how angry he was at her.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered to him.

"Don't you dare apologize." He said flying them right back to the house. A bath was already drawn when they got there. Food was already prepared and sitting on the table waiting. First, Cassian needed to check her and make sure there were no infected injuries. He made sure Madja was called and was on her way to check on her. "How about a bath and I'll bring the food up to you?"

"Don't leave me." He nodded carrying her up to her room. He set her down in the bathroom to let her have some type of privacy. But knew that she didn't actually want that. He just had no idea what would happen if things got out of hand. She didn't need him thirsting over her in this state. Instead, he turned to grab her towels.

Nesta stripped and looked at herself in the mirror. Her body had never looked so dirty. Even when they had no money and she would go days without showering, she had never seen so much dirt covering her body.

Her knees and hands were cut, she had a swollen lip from when she fell fast first into the dirt. Her back was black and blue.

"Jesus." Cass said as he turned to look at her. He had never seen bruising that bad. She had to have broken something. He stepped closer to her, she watched him in the mirror as he stood behind her and looked her over.

"I need something for the pain." She whispered. Immediately two pills were on the counter with a glass of water. She took them as Cass continued to look her over. She drank down the entire glass of water before turning to face him.

"I'll help you get in." He commented. "Madja is coming, she'll take care of you." Her bedroom door opened and Azriel stepped in. Cassian closed the bathroom door with both of them inside. He slowly helped her into the water. She hissed as she settled back into the hot water.

"I have food." Azriel said from outside the door.

"I'll be out in a second." Cassian was moving around the bathroom. Trying to focus on anything other than the injuries covering Nesta's body. It was really hard not to focus on them. She groaned every so often as she tried to get more comfortable.

Once she finally seemed to settle and closed her eyes, Cassian stuck his hand out the door and grabbed the food from Azriel.

"Let Madja in the second she gets here." Cass said before closing the door again. He sat beside Nesta with the plate. "Hungry?"

"Yes." She whispered, opening her eyes. He scooped up a spoonful of the soup and held it to her lips. She slowly ate the soup before Cassian fed her the grilled cheese. "Don't let Rhys come here." She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. The last time she had been that terrified was when Tamlin showed up and busted in the front door and kidnapped Feyre. "Or Feyre." Nesta didn't know if Feyre knew. But she did know that no matter what, she would forgive Rhysand for what he did. Becuase at the end of the day, she loved her mate and could never stay mad at him for long.

"I won't let anyone hurt you." Was all he replied. "Just rest." The plates were gone the second he put them down and two more replaced them. Chicken, rice and potatoes. "More food?" She shook her head. Even though she still felt hungry, she couldn't bring herself to eat. Cassian carefully put some soap on a loofah before starting to gently clean her body. He only did the obvious spots. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

Madja knocked on the bathroom door. Cassian opened it to make sure Azriel wasn't with her before letting her into the bathroom. Nesta finally looked like she was relaxed as she got to work on healing her. Once Madja assessed and deemed Nesta okay, she headed on her way with the instructions to rest. No training whatsoever. Not that Cassian would ever do that to her. After Madja left, Cassian helped Nesta out of the tub. He dried her off before helping her get dressed and into bed.

She was emotionless the entire time that Cassian was running around her. He had never been so scared before. Had no idea what was going to happen after this. He knew that things were going to change. He could already see the change in her. She was giving up.

"Will you stay with me?" She asked him.

"Yes. Can I get you anything?" He asked, helping her into the bed. There was nothing that he would be able to say or do that would help her feel better. He knew that. She knew that.

"No." He carefully climbed into the bed beside her. He tried his best to not jostle her. She rolled on her side to face him. He laid on his back looking up at the ceiling with his hands resting on his stomach.

"I didn't mean it." He said.

"Didn't mean what?"

"That everyone hates you. I'm sorry I said that."

"It's okay that they do." She answered, resting her hand on his chest. The comfort of his breathing calmed her.

They both said nothing but they didn't need to. The comfortable silence was enough for her. They would figure out the rest tomorrow.