Cairn
Every warrior in Maeve's Cadre carries some ancient gift. Cairn's whole power is that he enjoys the work.
Cairn is the Fae torturer Maeve sets on the captive Aelin after her Cadre falls apart, from Throne of Glass — no elemental magic, no honour, only a cruelty that Rowan himself could never discipline out of him. He is the wound Aelin wears out of Doranelle, and the reason Fenrys breaks an oath that was supposed to be unbreakable.
At a glance
- KIND
- Fae warrior — no elemental magic, only strength and cruelty
- ROLE
- Maeve's torturer; sworn in to replace the fallen Cadre
- ONCE UNDER
- Rowan's command — expelled for sadism nothing could curb
- ASSIGNED TO
- Breaking the captive Aelin into Maeve's blood oath
- HIS TOOLS
- Iron mask, iron coffin, broken glass, a heated table
- MADE FENRYS
- Watch, in wolf form — until Fenrys broke the oath to stop him
- KILLED BY
- Rowan — skinned and beheaded on his own torture table
- LEAVES BEHIND
- The wound Aelin carries out of Doranelle, every old scar erased
Bound to
The queen he served.
Swipe to meet them all
His reckoning.
His reckoning
The torturer who lashed a chained queen — undone by one of Maeve's own.
Swipe to meet them all
What he covets
Pain, and a chained thing to spend it on.
He was never ordered to enjoy it. He simply did.
The infliction
Pain for its own sake, drawn out slow, with nothing behind it but the wanting.
A chained thing
Anything that cannot fight back — the only kind of power he trusts.
Maeve's favour
A crueller queen to serve, and boots to lick for the privilege of it.
Dominance
Total command of one body, for as long as she would let him keep it.
To be the one holding the iron
Maeve set him to break Aelin, and he took to it like a calling. He doesn't want power over the world — just power over one chained body, and the time to make it last. His queen's favour is the only reward he's after.
We're Caffeine and Curses. The Library started as my design research — I can't put Manon on a shirt without knowing which way the iron teeth snap — so we keep the notes here where everyone can use them. The pages are fan-made, not official; the licensed designs are in the shop.
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