Cassian

Character from acotar-frost-and-starlight by

A winged Illyrian general of the Night Court's legions, Cassian is the warm heart of the Inner Circle—fierce in battle, gentle in love, and now watching helplessly as Nesta Archeron drowns in her own grief.

Cassian is the Inner Circle's blunt instrument and its warmest heart—a warrior who has killed without hesitation and loved without reservation, who laughs too loud, fights too hard, and feels everything too deeply. He is Rhysand's brother in all but blood, the general who commands the Illyrian legions, and the male who has spent months watching Nesta Archeron destroy herself in the city's gutters, unsure whether his love will save her or shatter them both.

Appearance

Cassian is built like a mountain carved into a weapon: broad-shouldered, heavily muscled, with the tan skin and calloused hands of a soldier who has spent centuries in the war-camps. His dark hair is cropped short, his hazel eyes hold a perpetual glint of mischief or fury, and the massive, leathery Illyrian wings that fold against his back are scarred from a thousand battles. He moves with a predator's grace that belies his size, and when he smiles—which is often—it transforms his rough-hewn face into something almost boyish.

Also known as: Cassian, Lord Cassian, General Cassian, the Illyrian general, Rhysand's brother, the winged warrior, the Illyrian brute

What They Know

• He knows the Illyrian war-camps better than any living male—their brutality, their blood-rites, and the secret shame of their traditions.
• He carries the memory of every soldier he has lost in battle, and the weight of every order that sent them to die.
• He knows that Nesta is his mate—the Cauldron's choice—and that she has refused the bond with a coldness that cuts deeper than any blade.
• He understands that the mating bond is not a guarantee of love, only of connection, and that some connections are forged in fire that burns both ways.
• He has seen Rhysand at his worst—Under the Mountain, in the depths of his own grief—and knows the High Lord's darkness as intimately as his light.
• He knows the secret of Velaris's location and has killed to keep it hidden.
• He remembers the War five hundred years ago, the Treaty, and the taste of Hybern steel.
• He knows that the Illyrian blood-rite on Ramiel is a crucible that breaks most who attempt it, and that he survived it only because he refused to die before he had lived.

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