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illyrian-dreamer · 1 year
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Changing Shadows (Part 18)
Azriel x Reader
Summary: Azriel has you pinned beneath him after a heated spar. What will happen next?
Here we goooo! Smut 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ with a bit of fluff ☁️, 18+ (Minors DNI). If you haven’t read Part 17, I’d recommend you read it first :) 
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Image by koike9023
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5* | Part 6* | Part 7* | Part 8 | Part 9* | Part 10 | Part 11* | Part 12* | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15* | Part 16* | Part 17*
Warnings: Sex, dom, swearing, 18+ (Minors DNI)
Word count: 1,131
Part 18:
And here you were again, wetness beginning to pool below you and scent changing from anger to pure animalistic heat.
Fuck.
“For the record,” Azriel spoke into your ear, his breath on your neck. “It is you who leaves me insufferably horny every night, so much so that I have to fist myself just so I can sleep.”
Mother above.
Your heart pounded as you felt your nipples hardern at the image of him pleasuring himself. Azriel’s shaft was now strong against his leathers as you felt it press to your stomach.
You pushed up at him, and he let you. You prowled over him, straddled him back with your hands were on his chest. You felt the heat radiating from your crotches pressing together between your clothes.
“Is that so?” you asked, braving your position as you slowly moved your hips against his, desperate for friction.
He looked up at you in awe for just a moment before his gaze darkened. You were in trouble.
“Cute,” he smirked, before flipping you under him. He lay between you, pulling one leg up over his shoulder, and starting to grind his hips against your own sex.
You succumbed to his strength. Azriel was not one to be controlled.
The throbbing you felt from your core was too much to handle, and heat spread across your cheeks. He chuckled as your face flushed, eyes fluttering in pleasure as a tiny moan escaped you.
“I’m glad you lost your attitude, Y/N,” he teased, running his hand across the top of your wings. You glared as best you could, but continued to move your hips against his, shuddering under his touch.
“Please,” you whined. You needed him deep within you, this dry humping was not going to cut it.
He smiled. “What was that?” His hips continuing their gentle movements against you.
“Please,” you said more clearly, eyebrows scrunched in desperation.
“One more time for me,” he ordered. You gritted, just one more card you would have to fold to his pile.
“Please, fuck me,” you breathed.
A snarl ripped from him as he kissed your roughly. You could finally get your hands on him, one immediately latching to his hair while you used the other to pry off his leathers.
He was on the same mission, pulling your top down so it bunched in your middle, your breasts exposed as he latched onto one with his mouth.
You moaned, your sex aching in anticipation as you both raced to pull each others pants down. You didn't strip bare, instead let your leathers bundle at your boots, desperate to touch one another.
Azriel ran his fingers down your slit, his hand slick from your juices. He pulled it up to his mouth, it glistened in the moonlight.
“How are you this wet for me?” he asked in frustrated lust, before slowly licking his fingers clean. You contracted at the sight of it.
“Gods Az, fuck me already,” you begged. This couldn’t go on any longer.
“With pleasure,” Azriel’s growled, pumping his cock in his hand before pushing into you in one sweep.
You cried at the delightful fullness as he stretched you. You had never felt so complete.
His thrusts were deep and long as he ground into you, leaning in to suck on your breasts. He let out husky groans each time he pushed into you, the sound of pure sin.
“Oh, yes, Az,” you whimpered, touching his wings where you could reach. “Please, fuck me harder.”
Azriel took that opportunity to pull out of you and flip you on to your front. Your legs were straight as he straddled either side of your ass, entering you from behind. The cold from the ground beneath you went unnoticed as he squeezed your fleshy cheeks in his hand, grinding against your rump.
“How’s that, baby girl? Does it feel good?” Az asked, his breathy voice filling the night air.
You could only answer in moans, air being pushed out of you at each thrust.
Without removing himself from you, Azriel leaned back on his own heels, bringing you up with him as you sat on his thighs, your back to his chest with your legs spread.
He slid a hand to your front, rubbing gentle circles as the other hand snaked out to your breast, latching on as he began to rock back and forth, holding you to him.
This must be heaven, you thought. The intimacy from this new position had your brow clenched in pleasure. You passionately worked together, and a deep sense of pure belonging swirled in your head amongst the lust and heat.
“That’s it sweetheart,” he murmured in your ear between grunts. “You’re taking me so well.”
You felt yourself tighten at his words, the overwhelming release growing closer and closer.
Grinding turned to jutting as you both chased the end, the slapping of your sweaty bodies filling the room.
You reached back for him, lacing a hand in the roots of his hair. His hand left your breast, turning your jaw behind you to kiss him.
“Az,” you whimpered into his mouth, your brow scrunched in pleasure. “Az, I’m going to-”
“Me too, baby,” he rasped. “Come with me.”
You threw your head back into his chest, squeezing your own breasts as your came undone, tightening around his shaft in a deathly grip, wave after wave of pleasure rippling from your as you squeezed him.
“Oh Gods, Y/N,” Az groaned, roaring as he spurted deep within you on each deliberate thrust.
You both slowed to a gentle rocking pace, twitching in pleasure as your breathing slowed.
"Mother above,” Azriel whispered.
You raised yourself off him, turning to face him in the cool of the night, eye to eye.
With one hand on your shoulder, he placed his forehead to yours as he looked past the hair that had fallen into his eyes, staring deeply into yours. His expression was one of absolute awe, his chest rising and falling as he took you in.
You grabbed him by the sides of his face, pulling him in for a passionate kiss, tongue gently sliding past his lips.
He moaned into your kiss, and you fluttered once more at the sound of his voice while you felt his seed seeping from you.
A voice inside your hear willed you to leave, to finish this and never look back. For the sake of your family.
“I should-,” you started.
“Don’t,” Azriel said, pulling you tight into his chest. “Not yet, stay a little while longer.”
You sighed against him, aching at his voice.
You let him pull you into his lap, turning you as you both looked up at the shimmering night sky.
“It’s beautiful,” you said.
“Yes, it is,” Azriel replied, kissing your ear.
You tried not to think about how empty your bed would feel that night.
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Part 19*>>>
AN: Another smutty chapter in the records, hope you liked this part! Would love any feedback :) Drop a comment if you’d like to join the tag list. Part 19 coming tomorrow <3
Tags: @slvtherinseeker​ @judig92​ @kennedy-brooke @hyacinthoideshispanica @brekkershadowsinger​ @its-me-meg​ @acotar-thirst​ @5moremin​ @honeyrydernot​ @azzydaddy @lucyysthings @highladyofillyria @paasrin​ @starswholistenanddreamsanswered​ @littleshopofwhoress
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florencemtrash · 22 days
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The Shadowsinger & The Inkbird: Chapter Sixteen
Azriel x Day Court Librarian Reader
Summary: Y/n's clairvoyance is a gift from the Mother, but it feels more like a curse. With the power to gain knowledge through touch alone, Y/n holes herself up in The Alcove and hopes her powers and parentage will remain a secret. But things will change after the Summer Solstice ball and a chance encounter with a certain Shadowsinger.
Warnings: Lucien Vanserra could kill me and I would be honored. Cannon typical violence. Some angst. Lots of fun
The Shadowsinger & The Inkbird: Masterlist
Masterlist of Masterlists
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Lucien stood in disbelief, mouth opening and closing. Words stuck in his throat.  
You knew as his eyes roamed over your features that he was hunting for some mark of Helion’s that you’d inherited, whether it be the set of your eyes, the curve of your jaw, the slope of your nose, or even the tilt of your sharp ears. But he came up empty. Whatever features you did share with Helion could have easily been shared by two strangers. It was how you’d gotten away with working with him at the Day Court and attending balls by his side. 
But there were some things that went deeper than skin and bones. He could barely make it out in the hum of your power and the faint, charming glow in your eyes. It was something that spoke of warmth and sparkling intellect. A sliver of the sun given form. 
You were Helion’s daughter. 
You were… you were his sister.
You cleared your throat and looked away. “I understand this must be a surprise. Perhaps not the kind of surprise you were hoping for.” 
“You’re my sister,” Lucien finally breathed out, and the wind, so harsh and biting before, ceased.
“Half-sister… technically.” 
“I don’t go by halves.” 
The sharp, sudden rush of cold air into your lungs had you shivering. Lucien noticed and without thinking he reached out with his power, wrapping heat around your body until you may as well have been perched in front of a roaring fire. His magic smelled like woodsmoke and balsam.
“You’re my sister.” He repeated the phrase a few more times, finding it more believable with each swirl of the words around his tongue. 
Elain had known this was coming and had given him a cryptic warning, but that did nothing to lessen the excitement spreading in his chest with each passing second. 
You watched him wearily, hands clasped over your body and eyes furrowed, like you couldn’t tell if he was upset. Which was ridiculous. How could Lucien ever be upset by this?
“You’re my sister!” 
A sharp laugh exited his body that grew and grew until you felt like you were floating on the waves of his happiness. He rushed forward, hoisting you in the air and spinning you around like you weighed nothing. Wind rushed past your ears as the world blurred. 
He gently deposited you back on solid ground.
“How old are you? How long have you known about Helion? Where have you been all this time?” He asked the questions in rapid succession, heart hammering away in his chest. 
He had a sister. A sister. 
“I’m three hundred and forty-three.”
He smiled. He’d always wanted a younger sibling. A younger sister to be exact that he could teach to fight and hunt and ride with more support than he’d ever been afforded. 
“I’ve known about Helion since I was little.” Lucien’s smile slipped at that revelation. “And I’ve been in the Day Court in one of the athenaeums. It was my home up until the point where Koschei burned down my house and I got saddled with Beth’s book. I’ve been here ever since. Although I never expected for any of this—” You gestured vaguely at the House, the sky, at Lucien, “to happen. Not that I’m upset!” You added quickly. 
“What was it like? Growing up in the Day Court?” He looked you up and down again, searching for scars or broken bones that had never healed right. But from what he could tell, you were whole. 
He clenched his fists tightly until you answered.
“It was safe. Lonely, but safe.” 
“Good.” He breathed out in relief. “Good.” 
Azriel watched everything from the deck that wrapped around the back of the house. The wind carried the tang of salt, opening his lungs and easing the pain in his chest that wrapped around him like a vice. He kept his wings pulled in tight and hands clasped behind his back. He was a slice in the fabric of the universe, unmoving and still. 
And he missed you. Gods did he miss you. 
“We shouldn’t stand so close,” Azriel murmured. 
His voice was ragged, filled with more gravel than the walkway that snaked through Elain’s garden. Weighed down with secrets that felt more like anvils. 
Elain dropped the empty bucket onto the deck followed by the clang of her spade. The shovel lay discarded in the field, the ground marked by neat lines of overturned earth. She cupped her hands and blew into them, breathing life back into her stiff fingers. 
Twenty minutes ago he’d seen you run beneath his window, racing towards the Sidra with your robes hiked up to your knees so you could try and keep up with Lucien’s long strides as he pulled you along by your hand, red hair streaming behind him like a bundle of ribbons. 
You’d been calling out for him to slow down, your voice loud and breathless.
And after everything that had happened, the things he’d seen, he couldn’t stop himself from walking down to the deck to watch you. 
Now you stood at the water’s edge with your hands outstretched, dutifully holding onto every stone that Lucien plucked from the river. Your head tipped to the side in curiosity.
His childhood in Autumn had not been kind, but that didn’t mean there hadn’t been happy moments sprinkled in amongst the sorrow. There in the woods with bejeweled treetops and diamond glass rivers he’d learned how to swim and fish and hunt. He’d wrestled with his brothers, fallen in love, and gained the confidence and freedom to eventually travel the Courts and make his own way in the world. 
But you’d been lonely your whole life. Trapped indoors with nothing but your books for company. You’d never learned how to swim. You’d never dug through the soil for slimy worms to go fishing. You’d never fallen asleep beneath a glittering sky, fire smoke curling in the air and the taste of chestnuts lingering on your tongue and filling your belly. 
It had been a different kind of sorrow, but no less real. 
Lucien aimed to change some of that. Your mere presence beside him, as hesitant as it was, filled him with a happiness he couldn’t name. 
He had his trousers rolled up to his thighs revealing powerful legs and freckled, caramel-brown skin. He didn’t mind the cold waters rolling over his hands as he tracked the riverbed for the smoothest, flattest stones. Every time he looked back you were either watching him or examining each stone with narrowed eyes like you’d find some algorithm carved into their edges that would tell you what made them so special for the task at hand. 
Azriel couldn’t hear what you two were saying, and he didn’t send his shadows out to investigate, but soon you were tugging off your boots, then your socks, and tying the long length of your robes around your waist. You gingerly dipped your toes into the river and immediately leapt back. 
Lucien’s laugh rolled over the earth, full of warmth and joy. He was grinning so wide Azriel could see the whites of his teeth and his shaking shoulders.
Inch by inch you walked into the river up to your calves and Lucien dunked his cupped hands into the cold water. 
“Don’t you dare! Lucien!” 
Then you were shaking your head, slapping Lucien’s hands away with a shout when he tossed the water at your face, and threatening to launch the black stones back into the river for him to fetch. Your toes were already starting to go numb.
Azriel’s heart gave a painful lurch, even as he smiled softly at the sight of you. 
“I don’t… I don’t want to give them the wrong idea.” Azriel swallowed and turned his gaze down to where a plump sparrow was digging around in the grasses. 
Elain ignored him, dropping her arms onto the wooden railing and staring out. She let out a lovely, longing sigh and Azriel just knew she was strumming the bond within her chest to feel Lucien on the other side. 
The red-haired male looked up to meet her gaze and smiled softly. You also looked up, and then immediately looked away with rosy cheeks.
“Lucien knows where I stand. He… he’s finally beginning to trust me again.” 
He’d been so eager to give her his heart the first time around, and she’d crushed it beneath her dainty shoes, too angry at the life that had been torn away to look at the one she’d been given. This time around she was determined to earn Lucien’s love, no matter how easy he made it for her. No matter how many times he told her it wasn’t something that had ever needed to be earned.
“It took some time to gain that back.” She shifted. “But then again, we were lucky. We knew what we were to each other. You still haven’t told Y/n you’re mates.” 
“You know about that?”
Elain rolled her eyes as if the answer were obvious, because it was. 
“I don’t think I can tell her, Elain.” 
“And why not?” 
Azriel hesitated. 
Here was a truth he hadn’t been able to express to his brothers — the truth they didn’t understand: They were good, decent males, and when it had come to their mating bonds they’d treated them with the respect they deserved. They’d been patient. They’d never tried to force a hand that wasn’t theirs. 
But Azriel was… wrong. In so many ways he was wrong. 
He either waited too long or he moved without thinking. He fell into obsession like a starling with clipped wings. He scrounged for scraps of affection where he wasn’t supposed to and brooded when it inevitably blew up in his face. He’d been trying to take his time with you. He’d been trying to do it right. He was… 
He was already in love with you. 
He’d been in love with you for some time now.
Elain smiled, still staring towards the river. 
She had loved Azriel once. Not in the way she loved Lucien and not in a way that had been good for them, but still it had been love of some kind. She could feel the waves rolling off his body as he came to his quiet realization, and it felt very different from the way he’d felt about her and very similar to the way she felt about Lucien. 
“I love her, Elain.” He whispered the words like they were fragile as spun sugar, ready to dissolve the moment they left his lips. 
“She’ll say yes to the bond. I’ve seen it.”
Azriel let out a broken, strangled noise and looked at Elain, begging for more. “Even after—”
“Yes. Even after what that boy made you do. Even after what she learned when she touched your hand.” She looked down at Azriel’s hands, leather gloves worn and supple. She gave them a squeeze. “A year ago I had a vision of a white bird flying out of the sun with a golden ribbon tied to one of its feathers. Its wings were dipped in ink so she could leave a trail along the ground for a beast of shadow to follow.” 
Azriel went still as death. “And then what happened?” 
Elain looked up at him, eyes glittering. “She flew to the base of a mountain, laid down, and has been waiting ever since. She’s been waiting for you. For someone who understands what it means to be lonely and what it’s like to hope for more.” 
And Azriel did exactly that. He hoped for more. 
More time with you. More unrestrained touches. More midnight conversations until your eyes were threatening to shut. 
Something changed then. Elain’s brown, doe eyes turned misty and flat. Her voice dropped and the hand she reached out to grab hold of his arm was cold as ice. 
“You need to be careful, Az,” she warned. “Don’t let her go into the mirror. She may not come out.” She clawed at his arms. “Az, you need to be careful. The mirror…” 
He gripped her shoulders, stabilizing her as she swayed on her feet. 
“Elain, what—” But her vision was already gone. No matter how hard she tried to hold on it was like trying to keep water in a cracked cup. 
Lucien kept his arm perfectly parallel with the earth, drew back, and snapped his wrist at the last second. The stone flew out over the glassy river and kept kissing the surface in weakening arches before it was eventually swallowed up in a dollop of salt. 
“Eight.” 
Lucien looked at you incredulously. “I counted nine.” 
“Eight skips,” you argued. “Males always overestimate.” 
“And what experience do you have with males?”
None. Except for that one glorious day you’d clung to Azriel like the world was finally peaceful. It was nowhere near the level of experience you suspected Lucien must have after centuries spent bouncing around from Court to Court. Nowhere near the level of experience Azriel or the others had when it came to touch. 
You bristled. “Enough.” 
Lucien smirked like he knew you were lying and held out his hand for another stone. Soon it too was lost to the river. 
“How many this time?” 
You twisted your lips to the side, but had to admit, “Nine.”
He was grinning. 
“Come on.” He held out his hand for you, beckoning you deeper into the river. “Your turn. Just like I showed you.”
“This is a terrible idea.” 
“Come on!”
“I will kill a fish, Lucien.” 
There was a playful roll of his eyes. “Y/n—”
“I’ll end up throwing a rock so hard into the water I’ll give an innocent, unsuspecting fish brain damage.” So what if you were being melodramatic. That did nothing to counter the fact that your hand-eye coordination was shit. 
“Y/n, you’ll be fine. I promise.” 
Wrong.
You were gods awful at this. 
You tried your best to mimic the bend of Lucien’s spine as he let go of his stone, tried to mimic the way he curled his fingers against its rounded edges. But every single one of your throws was either too strong or too weak. Too high or too low. 
You chucked the last rock in your hand but the spin on it — or rather lack thereof — was abysmal. It plopped into the river three yards away with a splash. 
Lucien chuckled, shaking his head as you stomped back onto the beach, swearing with every step as your robes dragged through the water behind you. 
You whirled around and kicked up river water in his direction. 
“Stop laughing!” A smile tugged at your lips even as you said that. 
“You’re doing very well!” 
“Don’t be condescending.”
“I’m not!”
 “I didn’t grow up in the backwoods of Autumn. I’ve never done this before,” you grumbled, your words tinged with embarrassment. 
And thank the Mother you hadn’t. Yes, Lucien had always wanted a sister, but he flinched just to think of the horrors you would have faced if you’d both shared a mother instead of a father. The ways Beron would have bent you until you broke, especially as a female. Sold to the highest bidder and forced to have as many children as possible. A high-end, noble-blooded breeder.
Suddenly he wasn’t laughing anymore. The smile slipped off his bright face. 
You stiffened. Some of the scars on Lucien’s body took on new meaning. 
“I’m sorry, Lucien,” you said. The fun of the afternoon, as embarrassing as it had been for you, fell away. “I wasn’t thinking.” 
You’d only heard whispers of the way Beron treated his children. Which could only mean that they’d endured infinitely worse. 
Lucien shook his head and more of his scarlet hair came tumbling out of his braid. He looked so much like Helion in the sun that you were surprised more people didn’t know. They had the same strong noses, the same build with their tapered waists and strong legs. They even had the same dimple on their left cheeks. 
But maybe Beron and his brothers had known, or at least suspected that he was different, and that had added to Lucien’s torment.
“Maybe one day you could show me though,” you asked hopefully when the silence was on the verge of becoming too loud, “I’ve never been to Autumn — I’ve not been to most places, actually — but I’d like to see it. I could show you the Day Court too.” 
He shook his head slowly, rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t think that would be a good idea — visiting the Day Court.” 
That was the issue you’d been tiptoeing around the last two hours. You both knew about Helion, but he was only aware of your existence, not Lucien’s. And it was one thing for you to be revealed as Helion’s daughter — there’d be gossip, attempts on your life, and countless marriage proposals. 
But for Lucien? He’d suddenly find himself face to face with the weight of a crown and an entire Court on his shoulders. You wouldn’t blame him for trying to avoid that fate.
Still, you couldn’t help but ask, “Lucien… Why haven’t you told Helion yet? Beron’s been dead for years now, and I’ve heard only good things about Eris. That he’s honest and fair. He doesn’t seem like the kind of person who’d punish you if you claimed your right to Helion’s Court.”
His bright eyes turned bitter, all laughter disappearing. He dipped his hand into the river, picked up a rock, and chucked it back in. Its edges were too ragged anyway. 
“What makes you think he doesn’t already know?” 
You straightened up as if the answer were obvious. “Trust me, he doesn’t know. If he knew you were his son, he would have found ways to see you grow up. We might have even grown up together.”
 It was a pathetic daydream, but one you’d been thinking about. 
“You’re wrong!” 
The outburst was so sudden, so unlike the Lucien everyone else spoke of that you had to take a few steps back. Smoke rose from his clenched fists and his skin pulsed, glowing with an inner light like he was more ember than fae. 
He blinked rapidly then swore, brushing his salt-stiffened hair back. 
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you, but…” He shook his head. “He wouldn’t have come. He didn’t come. He just left me and my mother there with that monster. He must have known what it was like — the things he did to her and the rest of us — but he never showed up. Not for my mother. Not for me.” 
“He didn’t know.” 
You repeated those words with the same conviction you had for everything else you knew to be true. You stepped closer and with the slope of the beach you could face him eye-to-eye. 
“Do you want to know how I know? My mother wanted nothing to do with him when she found out she was pregnant. He had to hear it from one of the healers.  And when I was born she forbade him from visiting, forbade him from even laying eyes on me, but he couldn’t stay away. He found ways to be in my life and protected me as best he could, and when Mom died and I was left on my own, he gave me projects with purpose so I wouldn’t crumble into nothing.” You stabbed your finger against your chest. “He did that for me. Is he a great father? Absolutely not. Is he a decent father? Maybe? Probably not, he wasn’t there most of the time. But he’s trying. I know it’s not the same and we’re still strangers and I understand if you don’t forgive him for abandoning your mother — I wouldn’t — but he would have gone for you.” 
You were breathing hard now. Lucien just stared with shiny eyes and unclenched fists. 
“And I think after everything you’ve been through, you deserve to know what it’s like to have a father who at least tries.” 
The world was too small right now. It was too big. The Sidra had soaked through your skin and your robes were growing heavier and heavier by the second, weighed down by salt water and time. 
“Would you at least consider telling him? Please?” 
Because another pathetic daydream you’d been thinking of recently was that one day it might be you and Helion and Lucien. An imperfect family, but a family nevertheless. That you might not feel so alone anymore. 
Lucien’s throat bobbed and he turned away from you long enough for the crisp wind to dry his tears. 
“Take off your robes. They must be soaked by now. I’ll make sure you don’t go cold.'” His voice was strangled. He cleared his throat. “And I’ll look for more stones. No sister of mine is going to go through life without learning how to skip stones.” 
He threw that word around so casually — sister — like saying it over and over again would somehow make the hundreds of years you’d both spent on your own disappear. 
Clouds gathered steadily overhead painting the world with a wash of grey. But that did nothing to diminish the faint light that emanated from you and Lucien as you waded through the shallows and finally learned to skip stones. Lucien whooped, red hair streaming behind him, and you smiled as your last stone skipped twice over the river before disappearing beneath the surface. 
You leaned back in the tall, dying grasses and sipped on the cardamom tea Elain brought down from the House, listening to the many stories Lucien had gathered over centuries spent traversing Prythian and the Human Lands. You told him about The Alcove, Cherp, your mother, and the books you read, and he listened like it was the most epic tale he’d heard in his entire life. 
Sometimes you both went quiet. It was sobering to think about what you’d both endured alone without your true family. But still… it was good to have one another now. 
When you walked into the packed dining room — barefoot, salt-stained, and rosy from the cold — Lucien pulled out the seat next to him for you, surprising the grey Ione.
Elain dropped gracefully into the chair across from her mate, a knowing smile on her face. 
“Good day?” 
You and Lucien glanced at one another. His golden eye whirred and his russet eye gleamed mischievously. 
You folded your arms over your chest, forcing down the smile that threatened to make its appearance. “The worst.” 
“You’re just upset because you lost,” Lucien teased, casually draping his arm over your shoulder. 
“It was hardly a fair competition. You must have — what? — five-hundred years of experience against me?”
He clasped a hand over his chest. “You wound me, sister. Although, if you must know, I’m four hundred and seventeen.” 
“I’m surprised you’re not a sack of bones on the floor.” 
“I’m not that old.”
“I think I see a few grey hairs here and there.” 
Lucien scoffed, but everyone noticed when he absentmindedly touched his long red locks as the last of the dinner plates materialized on the table. Feyre reached over from beside Lucien and squeezed his hand tightly under the table. 
It wasn’t the drop of Helion’s magic that caused The High Lady’s eyes to glow so brightly. She was just happy. Lucien squeezed her hand back even tighter. 
Azriel was the last to arrive, appearing in the hallway in a swath of shadows like he was stepping out of one of your dreams. He must have flown home today. Mist gathered into droplets that clung to his skin and hair and eyelashes like a thousand diamonds. Not even the faint shadows beneath his eyes could distract from his beauty, and you felt that familiar wash of comfort flow over your body when you caught his scent. 
There was only one available seat left at the table. The one directly across from you and Lucien… and right next to Elain. 
Your stomach dropped. 
The seating arrangement was truly a horrible coincidence. One that no one seemed to recognize until it was too late and Azriel’s chair was screeching over the wooden floor. Both he and Elain shifted in their seats, quietly pulling them further apart. It should have made you feel better that Azriel was trying so hard to distance himself from Elain, but the only thing it emphasized was that they’d used to be so close. 
Cassian looked over nervously at his brother, but Azriel was as impassive as always. The room fell into uncomfortable silence, punctuated only by the sounds of chewing and the clinking of silverware. If the House was a person, they would be sweating buckets. 
Cassian coughed and sipped his wine. “So… lovely weather we’re having.” 
Lightning cracked across the darkened sky, followed by rain that began plummeting to the earth in heavy sheets. 
Rhysand leaned over and smacked his brother on the back of his head and Cassian couldn’t even feign annoyance at that. 
“You never fail to have incredible timing, Cassian.” Lucien drank his wine deeply and some of the tension seemed to lift from the table when everyone noticed how happy he still was. The terrible things in the world had not lessened, but Lucien felt lighter than he had in decades.
In proper Helion fashion, he kept the pleasant conversation spinning over the table, ensnaring you with the stories he tossed back and forth with Feyre. 
“How was I supposed to know you’d be crazy enough to try and capture a Suriel?”
“What? Like it was meant to be difficult?”
Lucien smirked and crossed his arms. “Beginner’s luck.”
“What were the second and third times then?” 
“The Suriel being a terrible busybody who was bored and wanted to spill gossip.” 
Feyre flipped him off and he winked in return. 
Azriel did what he always did and sat still and quiet as a mouse, eyes tracing over the flow of conversation like he knew who would speak before they’d even opened their mouths. But his eyes kept lingering on you, a smile tugging at his lips whenever one grew on yours. 
Lucien noticed it the third time it happened. Then the fourth. Then the fifth. Until he found himself watching the Shadowsinger almost as intensely as Azriel was watching you. 
His grip tightened around his silverware. 
“I am not nearly as uptight as Gwyn says I am,” you muttered, pushing around the potatoes on your plate. 
You’d sunk into your seat when, to your embarrassment, the conversation had steered in your direction. Azriel had been the one to do it, casually dropping a comment about how much time you spent in Cagniv Library and the ways in which you’d already influenced the priestesses who operated there. It was the first thing he’d said all day. 
“You made a fifth year apprentice cry.”
“That’s a lie, Nesta, and you know it.” 
Nesta did know it, but you’d been so quiet the past few weeks. She wanted to poke fun if only to make you smile. 
“Fine, that was an exaggeration. But you interrogated Farrah like she was a war criminal. Azriel would have been impressed.” 
“She’s the only expert on Cyerion Age Bauldish folklore and she was missing half the citations for her thesis! It took me ages to track down some of her sources.”
“She can’t cite a book that’s over 2,000 years old with no identifiable author. Or title. Or publishing date.” 
You grumbled under your breath. Something about, “Your library gives me anxiety” and “You’re making me look bad in front of Lucien.”
“Hmmm? Sorry?” Lucien tore his eyes away from where one of Azriel’s shadows had slid under the table and was now wrapping around the leg of your chair in an effort to gain your attention.  
You shook your head. “Nesta’s just trying to make me look bad.” 
“I don’t think that’s possible,” Azriel said softly, so softly he probably hadn’t even meant to say the words aloud. He looked up from his plate, shocked to hear his own voice continue on. “Maybe after this is all done, you could take on the task of reorganizing Cagniv. I’m sure you’d be saving the next Librarian more than a few headaches.”  
Your wide eyes met his across the table and for a brief moment it was like you two were alone and teasing each other over tea in the middle of the night like you used to. Two shadows illuminated by candlelight in a Court that never slept.
You sat up a little straighter. “Is that a challenge?” 
Azriel smiled faintly, “Maybe. Although I’m sure Bryaxis would give you a run for your money.”
You furrowed your brows. “Bryaxis?” 
Rhys smirked, “He’s the resident shadow demon that lives on the bottom floor of Cagniv. He flew down once on a dare and he high-tailed it out of the abyss white as a sheet. He still doesn’t talk about it.”
“Fuck you for bringing that up, Rhys.” Cassian’s hand trembled as he brought his fork up to his lips, “You’ll never let me live that down will you?” 
“You… you have a shadow demon living in your library?” Your face twisted in horror and you slammed your knife down on the table, “Is that why a third of the catalogue is missing from the shelves? I’ve been searching for ages!”
And there it was — that faint twitch of irritation in your eyes that told Azriel you were already contemplating going down to confront Bryaxis yourself. He could imagine how you’d stand there with a hand tucked into your robes, swinging a lantern from the other as you bullied the monster into letting you move the volumes someplace else. How you’d lecture him on the importance of controlling humidity when it comes to parchment preservation, and perhaps how you’d begrudgingly agree that the creature’s darkness had protected the fragile books from light exposure. 
“I knew that’s what you’d focus on,” Azriel said. His voice was deeper than an ocean, and just as full of hidden meaning. He shook his head in disbelief, a small smile gracing his lips. “You just learned you spent months studying with a monster lurking nearby — a monster that has Cassian trembling in the corner—”
“I am not trembling—”
“And you’re not afraid at all. You’re… you’re incredible, Y/n.” 
You pursed your lips, tamping down the delight that threatened to spill over inside of you like champagne bubbles — light and airy and lovestruck. With only a handful of sentences, Azriel had you wishing that everyone else would just leave. You felt the heat rise in your cheeks as Azriel kept looking at you. It was a quiet, intimate undressing without an inch of skin needing to be revealed. 
A tendril of shadow creeped up your arm and tugged your hair. The rest hovered shyly over a bag you recognized as Azriel’s, as if they knew they’d done wrong by ferrying it over from their master’s bedroom. But the timing was so perfect, how could they not? 
With you watching, they tugged open the strings and spilled the contents on the floor. 
To Lucien’s surprise, Azriel’s notorious stone-face went flush with color when he heard the thud of books and realized what his shadows had done. 
“Wait—Y/n—” His chair groaned in protest when he shot to his feet.
But you were already holding them in your hands. 
The Natural Trials and Tribulations of Leonora Bedroot, Three Knocks for A Kiss, and A Touch of Cinnamon. Your favorite books in the entire world. Two copies each. One brand new, and one whose pages were already flared, leather spines lovingly wrinkled. 
Your breath caught in your throat when you flipped through Three Knocks for a Kiss and saw Azriel’s delicate scrawl on every page. Passages had been circled and underlined with his comments left in the margins. Small tabs of paper poked out with more handwritten notes. 
Azriel’s been reading these over and over again for months now. He bought them a week after you came to Velaris because he remembered you liked books that are well loved and full of memory. The nights he couldn’t sleep and dream of you, he’d perch on his windowsill and read until morning came. You’ve given him a peace he’s never known before. 
A kind of peace you thought you’d been alone in feeling. 
The scent of night-chilled mountains and parchment paper filled your nose. 
Azriel bowed his head ever so slightly, eyes focused on your hands now clutching the books like they were gold. 
“I remembered seeing them in your apartment. I was going to give them to you at some point but…” Azriel trailed off, then whispered. “I remember what you told me about your mother reading them to you.” I remember everything you’ve told me. 
“I can keep them?” Your voice was a hush over the room. 
You cradled them protectively against your chest, as if at any moment they’d be torn away from you. You’d been hesitant to buy new copies after the original ones had been burned down in the Alcove. Part of their charm had always been the memories of your mother reading them aloud like they were flowers growing from her lips instead of words, buzzing and honey-laden. The books felt different now, but they still felt like something. They weren’t sterile and blank. They were filled with Azriel and all the good memories he carried with him. Few and far between as they were. 
“They’re yours,” Azriel breathed, “All yours.”  
Lucien looked back and forth between you two, focusing on the blush of your cheeks and the wetness in your eyes and the thinly veiled adoration in Azriel’s face now that you were looking back at him. A sick, knowing feeling had been building inside of him throughout dinner, but he’d repressed it. He couldn’t repress it any longer.
No. Absolutely not. There’s no way. There’s no fucking way.
He let his shock flow through the bond and looked to Elain for confirmation. 
Please tell me I’m wrong. He begged silently. Anyone but him. Literally anyone but him.
They’d yet to accept the bond, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t read each other like an open book. And right now Lucien was doing nothing to hide his seething temper. 
Elain bit her pale, pink lips and nodded, confirming what he already suspected. Then, in a move of silent permission, she slid her chair six inches away from Azriel’s until she was practically sharing a seat with Nesta. 
“Here we go again,” Nesta groaned and looked at Cassian. You want to get her?
Yeah I got her.
You straightened up, pressing the books to your chest in confusion. What had started off as a graciously uneventful dinner had turned into a moment of beauty that you wanted to preserve for a little while longer.  
But everyone around you parted, leaning back in their chairs and pulling glasses of wine off the table before draining them in one long chug. Even Ione held her plate in her hands, popping a tomato in her mouth with interest. Mor looked nervous clutching a sweaty bottle of wine against her chest. Feyre and Rhys looked resigned and Lucien… Lucien looked livid. After all, he owed Azriel for the Blood Duel.
Cassian hoisted you out of your seat with his arms wrapped firmly around your middle and stepped back and out of the way.
Your eyes widened when Lucien stood up, skin rippling with light and power. He calmly rolled back his sleeves revealing muscular, scarred forearms, then took off his rings one by one and dropped them on the table. 
Clink. Clink. Clink. 
He wanted to feel it when he beat the Shadowsinger to a pulp.
Oh… Oh shit. 
“Wait—Lucien!”
Lucien gritted his teeth and launched himself over the table. 
Azriel didn’t flinch. His hazel eyes didn’t even flicker in surprise. In fact, you swore you saw them flutter closed in acceptance. 
In another fight, Azriel might have had the advantage of wings and height, but Lucien had the wider build and the fucking motive. He slammed into the Shadowsinger’s chest and together they disappeared beneath the lip of the table before landing in a sprawl on the floor that knocked the air out of Azriel’s lungs. 
Cassian winced when he heard the first of Lucien’s blows land. 
“Let me go!” You kicked and squirmed in his grip, but you would have had more luck fighting a mountain. “Cassian, what the fuck?!”
“I’m really sorry, Y/n. But even I have to admit he had this coming.” There was another bloody crack. “Oh damn that sounds like it hurt.”
“Honestly, I didn't know he had it in him,” was Nesta’s only comment. Ione moved to stand beside the eldest Archeron sister so she could get a better view, a faintly amused smile on her face. 
“I did,” Elain said simply. That was one of the many things she and Lucien had in common. Their general patience and understanding could only stretch so far before snapping. “Ione, perhaps you should go upstairs.”
The older woman looked offended. “Why? This is the most fun I’ve had in ages. Such drama.”
When Helion had fought Azriel, there’d been an elegance to it — something altogether noble about the event as the two stared each other down as equals. 
This was nothing like that. 
Lucien was pissed and even Azriel had to admit that he really, really deserved this one. 
Lucien’s chest heaved, every blow of his fists against Azriel’s face punctuated by snarling words. 
“First you go after my mate—” Punch. “Then my sister—” Punch. Punch. “Are you—” Punch. “Fucking—” Punch. “Kidding me?!”
The last blow sent Azriel’s head snapping back hard enough to crack the floor tiles. Blood splattered from his nose like a spray of paint lobed at a canvas and Azriel knew from his sudden inability to breath that it was broken. 
“Lucien! Stop it!”
“We just redid the tiles,” Rhysand groaned, rubbing his temples. 
Lucien growled and grabbed Azriel by the front of his leathers, throwing him over and onto the table. The long mahogany table, shiny and expensive as hell, snapped in two with a deafening bang. Silverware flew into the air, catching the light like holiday tinsel. Porcelain plates shattered and Azriel finally groaned in pain from the harsh twisting of his wings. The fearsome Shadowsinger and Spymaster of the Night Court could only lay there as green peas rolled down on top of him, gravy sinking into his hair. 
“Not the table too,” Rhys whined. He’d had it specially commissioned for the River House. 
Lucien dragged Azriel off the glorified heap of wood chips before tossing him back onto the floor, fist raised in the air. 
“Alright! That’s enough,” Feyre said with a loud clap of her hands. “If you two want to fight, do it outside. I don’t want anyone breaking my house. Again.” 
The River House sighed in relief. 
Lucien paused just long enough for Rhysand to haul the redhead off his brother with little regard for anyone’s pride. 
“Get off me,” Lucien snapped, shoving Rhys away. “I can’t fucking believe this.” 
When Cassian finally let you down, you rushed over to Azriel’s side, swiping the handkerchief Rhys held out for you as you passed. 
Azriel sat on the floor, face impassive despite the brutal angle of his nose and the blood sprayed over his face and neck. You cradled his face, gently nudging it this way and that as you surveyed the damage. 
“Oh Azriel,” you breathed. 
Bruises bloomed over his cheekbones, muddy as paint water. His right eye was almost swollen shut, and his split lips bled anew when he gave you a tentative smile. 
“Hi,” he murmured reverently, leaning against the palm you cupped beneath his jaw.
Lucien gagged. “Can someone rip my eye out again? Both this time, please?”
“Damnit, Lucien!” You held the handkerchief up to Azriel’s nose, trying to stem the flow of blood before it could continue dripping from his chin. “Don’t be an asshole.” 
“Really, Y/n?! You’re defending him?!”
Azriel wrapped one arm protectively around your waist, eyes narrowed in a glare. With the blood coating his face he looked positively murderous. Like he’d done the beating and not Lucien. 
“Don’t yell at her,” he growled, his voice dangerously low. 
“For fuck’s sake.” 
It had been a momentary outburst — a rare occurrence with Lucien that held no anger towards you. But you still felt the flare of Azriel’s power as shadows wrapped around you in a layer so thick you couldn’t see past your waist. 
“Azriel—” You didn’t want another fight. “It's ok.” 
“No. It’s not.” 
Lucien was a mixed bag of emotions and he felt a dozen of them go off at the same time like fireworks. There was rage at the male who had the audacity to lay a hand on you, who’d hurt you if the rumours in Velaris were true. A bitter desire for revenge that still lay heavy on his hands after the utter hell he’d gone through watching Azriel and Elain for years. Protectiveness over you — his sister. And a tiny sliver of shame that grew every time you prodded the Shadowsinger’s bent nose and winced. 
“Do you know?” Lucien’s voice shook. 
“Do I know what, Lucien?” 
He swore and looked at everyone in turn. The members of the Inner Circle were trying their damned hardest not to meet his eyes, nervously angling their gaze towards the ground or out the windows like the evening fog was the most interesting thing they’d ever seen.
Fucking hell. You didn’t know.
Lucien reached down over your shoulder, grabbed Azriel’s nose and shoved it back into place with a loud pop. 
You cringed at the sound, but Azriel didn’t react. He was well acquainted with pain and knew how to hide it. 
He breathed through his reset nose, touching the swore flesh gingerly. “Thank you.” 
“Shut the fuck up.” 
“Lucien!” 
He clenched his teeth so hard he thought they might crack. Elain chose that moment to quietly slide her hand into his from behind, resting her chin on his shoulder so he was surrounded by the smell of wildflowers. She tapped the center of his chest, right where he’d told her he felt anchored by the bond, and then looked pointedly to where you kneeled on the ground in between Azriel’s legs. 
And Azriel… Azriel looked lost to the world. Centuries spent relegated to the shadows as a Spymaster had wiped away his feelings, at least outwardly. But everyone could plainly see the way he kept his hand on your arm, thumb brushing circles over your warm skin and the settling of his breathing the longer you held onto his jaw with careful fingers. 
Of all the people. It had to be him. 
“The Mother works in mysterious ways,” Elain whispered so only her mate could hear.
“Unfortunately for me.” 
Lucien took in a ragged breath and clenched his fists, waiting for the worst of his anger to fade away before he collected the books back into the discarded bag and held it out for you. 
A peace offering. 
You pulled Azriel back onto his feet, keeping one hand firmly clasped in his, and glared at your brother. “That was completely unnecessary.”
“I’m sorry, Y/n.” And he meant it. 
Your lips flattened. “Shouldn’t you be apologizing to Azriel?”
His mismatched eyes flared with irritation when they flickered to the Shadowsinger. 
Azriel stood quietly at your side, his face a motley of red, purple, and blue. Still handsome though, much to Lucien’s annoyance. 
“I’m not going to apologize for that. He deserved it. I’m just sorry you had to witness it.” Lucien hesitated, then said, “Y/n, I’m not usually like this. I don’t want you to think poorly of me just because of… him.” It was taking everything within him not to use more colorful language to describe the Shadowsinger. “It won’t happen again… unless you ask me to… which I hope you do.” 
Lucien wasn’t sure what to expect. He didn’t know what anger looked like painted on your features, or sadness, and he didn’t want to. So, it was a pleasant surprise when you only rolled your eyes and muttered, “First Helion and now you. Fucking males,” before slinging the bag over your shoulder and tugging Azriel towards your room. 
The Shadowsinger trailed after you without a second thought, heart hammering away in his chest. 
<- Previous Chapter Next Chapter ->
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Author's Note:
LET'S GO BIG BROTHER LUCIEEEEENNNNNNNNN
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Y'all I had so much fucking fun writing the Lucien/Azriel fight scene. And to think that for a hot second I considered not writing it because I was worried it would be too repetitive to have Azriel get his ass beaten by both Helion and Lucien. Azriel, you poor, poor man, I'm sorry to have put you through all this. But also I'm not sorry at all.
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! As always, please feel free to send me your thoughts!
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aprill-99 · 5 months
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Rhys: “So let’s see if I’ve got this; you have immense shadow power, incredible combat skills, height, tattoos, secrets, dead parents, a thirst for vengeance, the weight of the world on your shoulders, a rebellion to lead, and a dragon?”
Xaden: “Yeah? I mean, there’s also my girlfriend who I’m completely in love with and 107 people under my protection but-”
Rhys: *frantically flipping through papers* “this is the hyper-intelligent girlfriend with unprecedented lightning powers? The one you speak to with your mind and call a nickname permanently?”
Xaden: “I do only have the one girlfriend. Kinda offended you’d think otherwise.”
Rhys: *signs a paper* “Adopted. The rebellion thing is handled. Me and your aunts and uncles have got this. Your new mom is going to need some time to add you and your mate to the family portrait gallery. Your bedroom is upstairs, knives are in the training ring, family dinner is every Thursday, your allowance is infinity and your curfew is never.”
Xaden: “I am…. Older than your wife?”
Rhys: “Did I fucking stutter?”
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starswhogaze · 5 months
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Azriel officially going 299 to 1 in snowball fights ❄️🪨
@azrielappreciationweek Day 7 | Free
“Rhys & Az were so mad at each other during the snowball fight that they were fighting dirty. Like putting ice & rocks in the snowballs & throwing them at each other at 500 mph. And Cassian, because he was all twitterpated, was just kind of smiling & half-paying attention, so after Rhys & Az just beat the sh*t out of each other, they both threw a snowball at the same time and knocked each other out, leaving a smiling, stupid Cassian the winner” — SJM in a post-acosf interview 😆
Here is the depiction of Az after he lost the most recent snowball fight, we imagine he was quite fed up with Rhys 🤭
♡ 🎨 by the remarkable @nanna.arts on Instagram
♡ Commissioned by @duskcowboy and me!
♡ Please do not repost. Reblogs are preferred.  
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simmanin · 12 days
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genuinely how it felt when Rhysand told Az to back off of Elain in that ACOSF bonus chapter
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animezinglife · 2 months
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Rhys [furiously]: If Lucien finds out you're pursuing her, he has every right to defend the bond as he sees fit. Including invoking the Blood Dual. Azriel: [internally grumbling] Lucien:🧍‍♂️
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queercontrarian · 5 months
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Azriel in Summer
Y'ALL. TODAY. I come with a treat for you.
This is a scene from one of the wips living in my head where Azriel and Eris visit the Summer Court for diplomacy reasons (and also to look hot). Couldn't get it out of my head so I went to scream in @krem-does-stuff 's DM's about it anc commissioned her to paint Azriel for me.
And I. Am. OBSESSED. I've selfishly kept it to myself this past week but I think you should also all see this.
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ILY KREM THANK YOU SO SO MUCH YOU HAVE OUTDONE YOURSELF
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emmitaaa4 · 1 month
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Elriels... I am sorry. I fear I may have come to my senses.
I hate to say it, but from my time in the fandom, it has become increasingly clear that Elriels tend to have superficial views of Elain and Azriel: when you actually deep dive into their characters, it's hard to ignore how toxic they'd be for one another. And they’ve been telling us:
"… Elain and Azriel are such different characters; Elain wouldn't understand Az nor fully accept him. After all, how could she deal with his darkness, when she couldn't handle Nesta's? They would stunt each other’s growth by enabling the other’s ‘toxic traits’—Az would coddle Elain and she would let him."
Right ?! I just—I didn’t want to see it, but their incompatibility is so evident.
I mean, it’s not like:
It’s not like they are both said to draw their strength from hope, even as the world holds that hope by the throat and tells them to despair.
It’s not like they both power through their lives quietly, not making too many waves as to not bother anyone: after all, they couldn't possibly both feel like burdens to their families, however differently they may cope with it... Elain hiding the parts of herself that do not conform to what others have made of her, while Azriel defines himself through his ceaseless work as the NC's Spymaster and torturer—for if he is needed, he cannot be abandoned.
It’s not like they both would do—and have done—absolutely anything for their loved ones, nor like they both tend to be overlooked amidst the stronger personalities of their entourage.
It’s not like they both explicitly say that they value fae traditions & celebrations for how they bring loved ones together.
It's not like they both seem to be a little lost in the world sometimes, Elain rebuilding her life & finding a home wherever she must, and Azriel saying he is unsure of where he belongs even after 500yrs. If at least Az didn’t already have an established place/apartment for himself in Velaris, I could maybe imagine them carving their own place in the world, where they are free to be whoever they want (wait—).
It's not like they both tend to wear a mask around others—one warm & pleasant, one cold & distant—nor like we see freer, more genuine sides of them when they are with people they are comfortable with. It’s not like they both reveal themselves through actions, gestures & well placed quips, nor like they both show their care through thoughtful gifts—imagine if even their gifts were complementary: one giving paints the other brushes, one giving books and the other a reading lamp… nah, couldn’t be.
Right ?
… Not to mention their lack of understanding:
If at least SJM showed that they understood one another despite all of the red flags described above, they might be able to grow together, but let’s be real, she just hasn’t.
She’s never pointed out that Azriel, like Elain, understands what it is like to struggle with rare, prized powers in silence; what it’s like to be othered by them. All that time together and he's never bothered to actually listen to her.
Those two can’t even read each other without words nor communicate with just a look, so how could they work? Anyways, even IF they could (which the bonus shows they can't), everyone knows that the basis of any healthy relationship is ceaseless friendly banter, so even then they make no sense. She doesn't even bring him joy, let alone make him laugh: even their senses of humor are incompatible!
Their powers are too different, and in no way complementary; she sees everything and he hears everything, that’s like, not even the same senses. He walks through a shadow realm and she Sees through a murky realm—not to mention that what she doesn’t See is all « mist and shadows », so obviously their powers could never work together.
After all, Azriel is a Shadowsinger, it’s not just some title people have made up, and honestly Elain would not understand that.
She’s never looked at his swirling shadows, wide eyed (with awe)…. nah she just ignores them. His shadows lightening at the sight of her smile has such a negative connotation, too.
All those visions she has, plaguing her mind, they’re just too dissimilar to the voices howling in his head, which is obviously why she hasn’t noticed his headaches. His head quieting around her is such a red flag, I’m sorry.
PLUS, don’t you guys remember all the times she’s flinched away from him? She won’t even see beauty in his scars, for Mother’s sake, how could she ever possibly love all of him? If you want to see all the ways in which Elain is clueless in terms of who Az is, check out this post (shoutout to my fellow enlightened Elriels, @nikethestatue and @rahjasmine).
I mean, does everyone forget that Elain even loses her newfound boldness around hi—
...
Like babes.
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nikethestatue · 4 months
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A friendly reminder:
Azriel is so powerful, an actual HIgh Lord--Beron--could do nothing to break through his shield and save his heir-apparent from Azriel's wrath.
Eris, the heir-apparent, folded in about 2 minutes, and he is the commanding General of the AC's armies.
Cassian can't beat him physically.
His shield cannot be broken by Hybern's arrows.
He makes accommodations for Rhys, so Rhys can spar against him, and not be beaten...quickly.
And someone thinks that...Lucien can beat him? Okay.
(I'd say that potentially, maybe only Nesta could've beaten him, and that's when she was with full powers and all fucking ragey and with Ataraxia in hand. And even that is questionable. She is a death god slayer, but I don't know if she could defeat Azriel in a physical fight. She'd need to use some serious magic.)
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delphi2431 · 23 days
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Fictional men>real men
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mycadences · 2 months
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You know, a common anti-Gwynriel argument is that Azriel and Gwyn have known each other "for years" but they were not friends (according to Azriel's inner dialogue in the bonus chapter, which took place earlier in ACOSF) so Azriel supposedly didn't care about her. But Gwyn had literally been in the library for two years and had never left it until Nesta came? The same library that acts as a safe haven for the traumatized priestesses so that males like Azriel can't enter without permission?? Where, when and why would they have even gotten the chance to interact with each other??
It's so bafflingly obvious to me that Gwyn and Azriel only really started interacting in ACOSF that I wonder how others don't see it. I really don't. Or maybe people really do see what they want to see -- and only that.
And yes, Azriel cares soooooo little about Gwyn that his "shadows deepened" and "his siphons gleam[ed] like cobalt fire" and he stuttered for the first time in the series at the mention of her being in danger.
Yep. Clearly he doesn't care about her. Like, at all.
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illyrian-dreamer · 1 year
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Changing Shadows (Part 17)
Azriel x Reader
Summary: Azriel has a chokehold on you that you can’t shake. When it’s clear you won’t be able to sleep, you head to the training pit to let out some frustration.
You and Azriel spar in a fight for your own dignity. Leading to smut, 18+ (Minors DNI). Dom Az is back (did he ever leave though?)
Thank you so much for the support on the series so far 💕
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Image by koike9023
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5* | Part 6* | Part 7* | Part 8 | Part 9* | Part 10 | Part 11* | Part 12* | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15* | Part 16*
Warnings: Mentions of smut, minor violence, swearing 18+ (Minors DNI)
Word count: 930
Part 17:
You hadn’t seen Azriel at all day the next day. Cassian explained he was out at a mission.
“And why, may I ask, are you so concerned with his whereabouts?” Cassian teased.
You rolled your eyes at him before telling him to shut it, throwing a playful swat which he dodged.
He raised his hands in surrender. “Hey, when you two sort out what’s going on between you, beyond the obvious fucking, you let me know.”
You shook your head before throwing a vulgar gesture. Subtlety was never Cassian’s thing.
It raised an important question in your head — what was going on between you and Azriel?
You had never spent the night in the same bed together, not after sex. It was an unspoken rule, as if being intimate after sex would make what you were doing too real.
Later that night, you found yourself tossing and turning in bed. You couldn’t stop thinking about the way Azriel had you fucked in his chamber, recalling how his pushed deep into you, taking you in the chair and against the wall. 
You squirmed at the memory, insides throbbing. You wanted him so badly tonight that you ached, but you were becoming too invested, too attached for something that could never be. This would have to stop.
Sleep did not find you, something deep within you screaming to be satisfied despite your many orgasms the night before. What the hell was wrong with you? This was torture!
You decided a workout would set your mind right, dressing and heading to the training pit at the top of the house.
You warmed up with a jog, before practicing swatting the sparring dummies, throwing jabs and quick kicks while dodging wooden limbs as they spun.
You could see your breath cloud from the cold, sweat running down your neck. This was helping, somewhat.
“Y/N,” a cool voice said from behind you. You saw shadows reach your boots.
Your heart stopped. This was no longer helping. Fuck.
Of course he was here. Could you not get one second alone to unwind?
You let out a quick huff, turning to face Azriel.
“What are you doing here?” You knew you were being unfriendly, your frustration answering for you before you could think twice.
“I thought I might fit in a quick workout,” he replied awkwardly, sensing your anger.
“Ok,” you said plainly. You turned back to the dummy.
“Did you- do you not want me here?” he asked.
You rolled your eyes, you couldn’t help the attitude that escaped you. There was no point in being shy. You had fucked in more ways than one.
You turned to face him again, expression cold. “No, I don’t.”
Azriel frowned, a touch of hurt in his eyes.
“You torture me, Azriel.”
“I beg your pardon?” he asked, crossing his arms defensively. His definition of torture was entirely different to yours.
“You torture me, because there is not one moment that I don’t want you,” you said, scowling at the male. “Every time we fuck, I leave needing more. I feel insatiable, like I’m going insane, and it is torture that you have that power over me.”
Azriel’s eyes darkened at your confession. He stalked over to your, chest moving in passionate breaths. He grabbed the back of your head, fingers lacing in the roots of your hair, the other pulling your hips flush against him.
“And what is it, that you think you do to me?” He growled, breathing on your neck. You snarled back. This was not affection, this was a battle for control. You would not let him make a fool of you anymore.
You pushed off him, bracing yourself defensively. Neither of you needed to say it, the Illyrian in you both taking over. You were going to spar.
He flexed his neck and narrowed his eyes on you, letting out a dark chuckle. Prick.
You launched at him, wings tight.
He was a better fighter than you, but you were faster. After a burst of limbs and grunts, you had a steady rhythm making frustrated passes that Azriel gracefully dodged. Not once did he punch back.
You snapped a right hook which he avoided again. You gritted your teeth annoyance.
“You’re going to have to try harder than that,” his deep voice teased. You were in no mood for jokes.
He went in for a low kick, trying to knock you off your feet. You used his imbalance to tackle him, rolling a few times before he got his grasp on you, pinning you to the ground. You were no match for his strength.
You grunted in frustration, squirming beneath him as you tried to free yourself.
“Is this what you wanted?” He smirked down at you, shadows seeping from all around him.
You had sparred plenty of times before, but never like this. Azriel would always empower you and show you how to beat the enemy, even from this position. But tonight, he enjoyed dominating you.
Quick movements were made, and he now straddled your waist, boots pinning your legs down as he gripped one wrist in each of his hands to the ground.
You continued to struggle, considering using your night magic. He saw the stars swirl in your eyes, moving your wrists to one hand before placing a firm, yet gentle grip on your throat.
“I dare you,” he warned, snarling in your ear.
You let your magic fizzle, your body slackening slightly.
“Good girl,” he purred.
And here you were again, wetness beginning to pool below you and scent changing from anger to pure animalistic heat.
Fuck.
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Part 18***>>>
AN: The next part coming tonight! I am SO excited to share it with you guys, it’s going to be steamyyy. I would love your feedback on the story so far, and comment to join the tag list 💕
Tags: @slvtherinseeker​ @judig92​ @kennedy-brooke @hyacinthoideshispanica @brekkershadowsinger​ @its-me-meg​ @acotar-thirst​ @5moremin​ @honeyrydernot​ @azzydaddy @lucyysthings @highladyofillyria @paasrin​ @starswholistenanddreamsanswered​ @littleshopofwhoress
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duskwhisperer · 1 year
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Bat boys snowball fight.
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florencemtrash · 1 month
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So like…..who’s gonna have the unfortunate job of telling Helion that Az accidentally and unknowingly stabbed his daughter 😅
I would NOT want to be that person that's for fucking sure 😅. Not my circus, not my monkey.... except it IS my circus and my monkey so... fuck
Either way, don't you worry, Helion will learn very quickly what went down and he is not going to be happy about it....
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bloomingdarkgarden · 5 months
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me and approximately 1% of the fandom being equally hot for Azriel and Lucien and refusing to spew hate about either of them or their love for one particular plant girly lol.
its a lonely island.
whatever, ill die on it.
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jayktoralldaylong · 3 months
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It wasn't till I realised how gigantic Cassian's wings are that I remembered he and Azriel are lesser Fae. They really do walk everywhere with giant wings at their back because they can't make them disappear and reappear. Giant bat wings are the Illyrian version of a tail, green skin, webbed feet or sharp teeth. They don't have super powers, they're just elves with wings (and Siphons of course, but we get the idea).
I figured Human vs Fae would be the biggest point of racism in this world but OMG how the Old Generation of Royals detest the Lesser Fae.💀 Like ah ahn, your own race again?? Lucien's execution was ordered cause he insisted on marrying one. Rhys' father was furious too.
It was bad enough that he found out his mate was Lesser Fae. Bad enough that he'd decided he'd take the risk with a hybrid child and raise Rhys so strong and cold enough to withstand the hate he'd been born into. Then he sends his son off to training and Rhys comes back having befriended the two most infamous bastards in the entire of Illyria and was calling them "brother". Nah, Rhys' father boiled. 💀💀💀 Legit sent Cassian to the front lines of every battle and kept Azriel so busy he'd never leave his side.
(Also hypocritical about the Lesser Fae being less cause they barely pass as human).
Cassian - An orphan titled the prince of Bastards for reasons that are spoilers.
Azriel - Born from a 'mistress', speaks to shadows, mangled and scarred by his family's torture.
Baby Rhys: They are my brothers. 😌😊
His Dad, explodes with rage: Lesser born half breeds and you call them your family?! Do you think I worked this hard to raise you to perfection just for you to throw it all away.
Rhys: But they're my brothers. 😭
His Dad: They're weaknesses that's what they are. 😒I will not have you be the death of me Rhysand! Rhys: (Ends up bringing about his father's death because he befriended TAMLIN! 💀 - Real ironic. Tamlin, the pureblood High Fae, the downfall of Rhys' family.)
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