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draguta · 23 days

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.a court of fate and fortune | thirty-seven.

pairing: lucien vanserra x fem!reader

summary: | book two | lovers separated, powers that won't be controlled, a doomed wedding. with the threat of war looming over prythian, lucien, Y/N, tamlin, and rhysand's inner circle must scramble to find allies and prepare themselves for what is to come. but Y/N only has one aim; to find her way back to lucien, and protect him at all costs.

chapter warnings: canon level violence, death

chapter word count: 2318

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BATTLE OF VELARIS

Rita’s eyes slid to you as you hurtled toward the four soldiers surrounding her, but it wasn’t fear that you felt in that moment, as reflected in Rita’s eyes. Rather, it was surety that ran through your veins, determination that pumped throughout your body as if it was always meant to have been there. You had fought before - fought for your life, fought to train, to become stronger - but it was nothing like that moment. In that moment, it was almost as if you were born to do this, to be the defender of those more innocent than you, those who had never committed the sins that you yourself had.

Your feet skidded on the blood-slick stones as you brought the knife in your right hand up, slicing through the right lumbar of the soldier closest to you, the small size of the knife making it easy to slip up under his armour to cut through his skin. The soldier cried out in pain as your knife came back wet and red with his blood. Your hair, damp with sweat, flicked across your face as your head turned just in time to see the blade aimed right for your throat; it wasn’t difficult to dodge it, a move that you and Silas had practised countless times.

The movements you made were slick and smooth, carefully executed strikes and blows with such precision that it would make both your old and new tutors proud. There was a soldier on all sides of you, from left to right, in front and behind. You were surrounded, encircled by enemies that wanted nothing more than your head on the end of their sword as a prize to return to their vicious king.

Each and every blow struck against your knives, sparks flying from the metal as they clanged together. You ducked and dodged every attempt made by the four soldiers, slicing endless jabs at each of them as they circled you, a dance where the leader was outnumbered, but knew every step by heart. You couldn’t help the grin that spread across your face, one of maniacal clarity; this was everything you had been waiting for, a chance to prove yourself.

“I never would have expected such flawless swordsmanship from the Spring Court sister.” The voice was rough and gravelly, enough to pull you momentarily away from the fight you had found yourself in, quick enough that you didn’t miss the sword aimed for your abdomen, deflected with graceful ease, but with enough counted seconds to catch glimpse of what was taking place behind you.

Rita’s eyes were resolutely wide, determined but fogged with panic and fear. The old dented metal of an ancient-looking dagger was pointed into the soft flesh below her jaw, enough to draw a drop of blood from the column of her throat.

“Is this what they were teaching you in the fields, hmm?” The soldier holding the dagger spoke, his grip on Rita’s arm pinching her tighter, to the point that the skin surrounding his fingers was turning a ghostly white. His yellowing grin seemed to glow eerily from amongst his thin lips, coated in a sheen of scarlet blood as he cocked his head to one side, eyes trained on you. “Did your little trainer never teach you that it’s usually those you’re trying to protect that become your greatest weakness.”

No, Silas had never taught you that. But Azriel had. Time and time again he had drilled into you that your first priority should be making sure any innocents made it to safety - you cursed yourself for forgetting what he had taught you.

“Just let her go,” you said, attempting to sound stern, commanding, but failing as the bile in your throat made your voice croaky and weak. You flinched as that dagger pressed closer to Rita’s throat, masking the slight movement with a flick of the knife in your hand as you jilted your head toward the bar owner. “You don’t need her. Your fight isn’t with her, it’s with me. Let her go-” you spread your arms wide as an invitation to finish what you had both started, “and we can finish this here and now.”

It was then, as the soldier grinned in an almost unearthly manner, pushing Rita from his side as he took the first strides toward you, that you felt the pain; sharp and unyielding and unbearable right in your side, just below the final rib. A scream ripped from your throat, your bones cracking as you fell to your knees beside Rita, barely able to see the figure of the two soldiers - the one who had held Rita and the one who had snuck up behind you and pierced you with their blade - looming above you through your tears.

Your eyes slowly slid to Rita, even as the cobblestones surrounding the bar keep’s knees grew sticky with your own blood. Her eyes were wide, her skin so pale it almost seemed translucent. But that wasn’t important, not when those soldiers were still lingering so near, when the city itself was under siege, when your friends were out there on the streets fighting for their lives. No, what mattered was that female before you, your friend, an innocent.

“Run!” A pained croak that seemed to echo across the river. And as the two Hybern soldiers behind you muttered something about letting the Attor finish you off, the last thing you saw was Rita’s boots as they slammed against the cobblestones in the opposite direction.

A gnawing ache, just below his last rib. It only seemed to grow with every second that Lucien paced the bare stone floor of his rooms. At first, he had thought that it was perhaps his worry manifesting itself into physical pain - anxiety and panic ruminating in his body, only swelling with each second that passed on the clock. Each second that passed without him knowing if she was safe. If he had - in his loyalty to Tamlin - sentenced her to death.

It was his fault.

His fault.

It was heinous.

The words seemed to echo through those empty, silent streets, carried on a phantom breeze straight to the House of Wind standing tall in the golden hues of the morning, across every rippled of the Sidra, across each and every blood-soaked cobblestone.

A putrid smell hung in the air like a heavy blanket on Velaris, that once beautiful city now turned to ruin. The place where so many had lost their lives that day. Amongst them you lay, unsure if you were dead or alive; unsure of which you’d rather be. Something warm and heavy lay upon you, crushing your body under its weight. The Hybern soldier, now dead it would seem.

You drew in a deep staggered breath, ignoring the sharp-shooting pain that ran through your stomach at the movement. If you could just keep breathing, keep inhaling and exhaling, perhaps you could make it through this. If it was even worth trying to survive at all.

No, of course it was.

Minutes, or even hours passed, you weren’t sure. The buzzing of flies spun around you, and you could hear the far-off caws of the crows, likely coming to claim their victims, the bodies of the soldiers that surrounded you, littering the streets of the city.

You dared a glance to your left, your neck tight and stiff. You almost wished you had never done it; the glassy stare of a young fae on the front steps of a building you presumed had once been a store gazed back at you, unblinking, mouth agape and tongue hanging out to lick at the ashes of the building that had fallen around you. A fly crawled across her eye, but the fae did not move. You looked up, eyes trailing over the body toward the sky, an attempt to dissipate the vision from your mind, but froze. A sword was embedded in the back of the fae’s skull. She looked no older than a girl - older than you were, but young for her limitless years. You wondered what the girl’s name had been, if she had lived in Velaris for long, if you had ever stepped foot into the store she now lay dead outside. This fae’s death was on your hands, her blood staining your palms. You knew that, just as well as you knew that the girl’s soul was now no more than dust in the air that you were inhaling. You could have saved her, if you hadn’t failed.

Was it truly fair for you to survive - to walk away from that battlefield when you had caused her death? That fae’s ghost would no doubt haunt that riverside for centuries to come, for longer than you were sure your years would grant you even if you did make it out of there alive. Perhaps you should join her, should go down with those you had damned to that fate, who had died defending their homes - defending Velaris.

Once again, as if she were still the mortal that wandered those frozen woodlands so long ago, death seemed somewhat welcoming in those moments of solitude, the heat of the body across you seeming almost like a swaddle, the type that would lull a child to sleep. Perhaps that was your fate, after everything, to die like a stray dog, forgotten and alone, with only those crows and the rising sun as your unwavering companions until your last breath. Your name would become yet another scrawled on the list of fatalities that this battle had already stolen from this realm.

Slowly, as if the very weight of the world you were trying to protect was upon him, you allowed your eyes to open once more, the sunlight near blinding as it continued its descent over the looming mountains that surrounded the city. A great groan ripped from your dry and aching throat as you pushed the body of the Hybern soldier above you, the resounding thud of the body slumping to the ground rippling through the eerie silence. You didn’t know how he had died, who had delivered the killing blow, and perhaps you never would. You inclined your head; there were no sounds of Hybern soldiers coming to collect their dead and rid themselves of any of their enemy that were still breathing, but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t be there soon enough. If you were going to live, you would have to move. Now.

Every bone and muscle in your body seemed to scream at you to stop as you rolled himself over onto your stomach, pushing yourself onto your knees. Your chest heaved with the effort, rising and falling with every sullen breath, every breath that you breath whilst those around you would not. One glance across your surroundings told you that the House of Wind was to your North, across the sea of the dead. It was illuminated by the setting sun behind it as if Mother Nature herself were guiding you. And so you moved.

You barely paid any heed to the bodies of the dead as you passed by as fast as your shaking legs would allow you. You crawled over their outstretched limbs, black from dirt and dried, coagulated blood. You ignored their glassy stares and tried to block out that smell, tried to avoid the gags that were pushing your way up your throat. That smell seemed to cling to the inside of your nostrils. The smell of death.

There would be time to mourn their losses later, to take in the faces of each and every fae that died in that battle, whether on your side or the enemy, when you reached safety. Your eyes slammed shut as you desperately dragged yourself away, willing your feet to move, to run as far as you could from that place, as far as you could from the faces that would no doubt haunt you.

Your surroundings were unfamiliar, unknown to you despite having walked the route a thousand times before. It looked different now, no longer an ethereal paradise but rather only the setting of the bloody massacre that you had fought through. You moved faster, although you were more than acutely aware that should any of Hybern’s soldiers still be lurking down any of the side streets, they would likely be on his trail in no time, seeking out your body amongst the dead on the streets. Crimson blood stained the hand that you used to clutch the wound in your side, your own mingling with the blood that had been smeared on your hands from the bodies you crawled over, marring your skin, enemy and kin combining in the rivets of your palms after death.

But your vision was growing darker, blurrier, and your foot caught on something below; an outstretched arm hidden by your watering eyes. You groaned in pain as you hit the ground, not even trying to hide the sound from any enemy soldiers nearby. If they killed you, then they killed you. At least it would put you out of your misery. Your hands reached out to cushion your fall, leaving scratches and grazes along the heels of your palms.

That was when you caught sight of the figure that loomed above you. Freshly polished boots scuffed with blood and dirt planted on the stones mere centimetres from the tips of your fingers, reflecting your own bloodied and battered impression back to you, just one more amongst the other broken corpses that lay surrounding you. A squint, a hint of what you were sure was auburn hair silhouetted by the sun, and then a voice.

“Come now,” the voice said, smooth and warm and velvety. “This is no place to die.”

Your lips twisted into a pained smile as they curled around the word. “Lucien.”

And then everything went dark once more.

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merymoonbeam · 8 months

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people call elriel cliche because of 3x3. I mean where are all the sisters ending up with brothers books I am seem to be missing???. anyways... but if elriel is endgame it means sarah wrote the books that well that they are all fated.

like from this first acotar quote:

“May the Immortal Light shine upon thee, sisters,” said the pale-robed young woman directlyin our path. (acotar)

to these:

“My father,” Rhys said, swirling his wine once—twice, “saw that his son had not only started to rival him for power, but had allied himself with perhaps the two deadliest Illyrians in history. He got it into his head that if we were given a legion in the War, we might very well turn it against him when we returned.” (acomaf)

He gave her that grin I realized likely meant trouble was coming, but said to me, “No. I don’t—not beyond a heaping pile of the killing power. Bastard-born nobody, through and through.” Rhys sat forward like he’d object, but Cassian forged ahead, “Even so, the other males knew that we were different. And not because we were two bastards and a halfbreed. We were stronger, faster—like the Cauldron knew we’d been set apart and wanted us to find each other. Rhys’s mother saw it, too. Especially as we reached the age of maturity, and all we wanted to do was fuck and fight.” (acomaf)

Amren shook her head, hair swaying. “Nothing is a fluke. The Cauldron’s power flows through Nesta, and could use her as a puppet without her knowledge. It wanted those weapons Made, and thus they were Made. It wanted Rhysand to have them and thus the blacksmith brought them to you. To you, Rhysand, not to Nesta. And do not forget that Nesta herself—and Elain, with whatever powers she has—is here. Feyre is here. All three sisters blessed by fate and gifted with powers to match your own. Feyre alone doubles your strength. Nesta makes you unstoppable. Especially if she were to march into battle wearing the Mask. No enemy could stand against her. She’d slay Beron’s soldiers, then raise them from the dead and turn them on him.” (acosf)

especially to this:

Azriel stiffened. Let his cold rage rise to the surface, the rage he only ever let Rhysand see, because he knew his brother could match it. "What if the Cauldron was wrong?" Rhysand blinked. "What of Mor, Az?" Azriel ignored the question. "The Cauldron chose three sisters. Tell me how it's possible that my two brothers are with two of those sisters, yet the third was given to another." He had never before dared speak the words aloud.

which this quote directly parallels to Feyre questioning in acowar, questioning who decides it.

“Why not make them mates?” I mused. “Why Lucien?” “I’d keep that question from Lucien.” “I’m serious.” I turned toward him and crossed my arms. “What decides it? Who decides it?” Rhys straightened his lapels before plucking an invisible piece of lint from them. “Fate, the Mother, the Cauldron’s swirling eddies …” (acowar)

all these quotes hinting that it is all "not a fluke" . Maybe it is all for a reason you know.

also if you don't get it...being mates is not even the question here. it is not even about that. it is about who is fated to be together when we all know sometimes mate pairings are wrong:

“A mating bond can be rejected,” Rhys said mildly, eyes flickering in the mirror as he drank in every inch of bare skin I had on display. “There is choice. And sometimes, yes—the bond picks poorly. Sometimes, the bond is nothing more than some … preordained guesswork at who will provide the strongest offspring. At its basest level, it’s perhaps only that. Some natural function, not an indication of true, paired souls.”

#elriel #I mean who knows...maybe this is how writing works.#I'm bored these days so all I do is write posts.#I will go back to silence once my uni starts...until then enjoy these random posts.

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lalachat · 10 days

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"And there you were..."

Author's note: Hey girl hey... I'm back! Im sorry for the prolonged time between these late chapters:( Fixations are weird and frangible things. You have one for a month and then get tired of it, but come back to the same one every now and then. That's basically what writing is for me... I know it may not be fair to you readers but I am trying my best because i truly love you guys... This is not the best thing that I have written for this story, but we are finally at the end! It has been a rollercoaster for us all. Thank you for those who have stuck with me since day one and thank you for those who randomly stumble upon this shit show of a story and send me sweet messages<3 I hope this is good enough xoxo

Summary: Crossing over the rainbow bridge is not what you expected it to be, especially when you're told you cannot stay long, but everything was worth it in the end.

This is for all my Lucien girlies❤️

Warnings: profanity, potential grammatical errors, and a happily ever after!

Word Count: ≈ 2,237

Chapter 11: You're my mate

“Who are you and where am I?” you blinked rapidly at the blinding light invading your gaze.

“Welcome my child, you know where you are and you know who I am-” the voice sent a warmth through your body at the raw power it held, yet it was still tenderhearted.

You blinked a couple more times to readjust your sight at the most ethereal woman you have ever seen standing before you. This cannot be real…

“I’m dead, aren’t I?” you asked.

“Not quite, I fear I have taken you too soon,” she gave you a soft smile as the realization hit you. Only one person could take your life too soon.

“Oh my gods, you’re the mother!” You bowed to her immediately, unsure of what the proper greeting was for a celestial being. She giggled.

“No need for such formalities, stand up my child. I have something I wish to discuss.” She offered you her hand which you gladly accepted. You felt a zing rush through you at the touch. The power she held was beyond anything you felt from Rhysand and the other high lords.

“Of course,” you smiled, “What exactly would that be? Have I sinned too much to remain here?!”

She laughed yet again, “You are quite the humorous one, and no, I am not here to discuss your sins. I want to discuss the mistake I made with your mate.”

You stood there in pure shock, “Azriel?”

“Yes, I wholeheartedly apologize for fating you two together. That shadowsinger never got over his self-loathing I’m afraid.” You looked at her puzzled. “You see, when I fated the two of you, I had hoped his self-destructiveness would disappear once he met you,” she smiled at you again as you listened, “that was until Elain Acheron had stepped in and took that place before you ever could.”

“Believe me mother, I am well aware…” you sighed. “I tried so hard,” tears began to form in your eyes.

“Oh my love, I know you did, and this is all my fault. I am sorry for causing you so much suffering. It is clear to me now that I should have fated you to someone else,” she gave you her hand again, “Come walk with me.”

She led you hand in hand over to a cauldron. She waved her hand over it to reveal your friends still circled around your body, only this time a certain auburn-haired male began to awake.

“LUCIEN!” You wept at the sight of his chest rising and falling again, “He’s alive!”

The mother nodded, “I brought him here and sent him back, just like I am about to do with you.”

“I don't understand, why bring us both here in the first place if we are only going to be sent back?” You watched as your friends noticed Lucien’s movements as you still lay there cold.

“Because my child, I have been watching you for quite some time and realized that your love without a bond for another male grew stronger than any completed bond I have ever seen.”

“That’s not possible- nothing is stronger than a completed bond,” you looked at her and shook your head in disbelief.

“I never thought something like this would happen but you two have proven me wrong. You both have just done the impossible,” she smiled at you, and she took hold of both of your hands, “That male loves you more than anything.” Her thumbs caressed the small marking along your wrists, your eyes followed the movement as you chuckled.

“So, what’s going to happen to now?” you looked up at the creator of everything you knew.

“I am going to send you back,” she kissed the top of your forehead and you felt something inside you shift, “I am sorry for taking you both too soon, but it had to be done. I have now made things the way they should be,” she smiled as she gestured to the cauldron.

“What?” you looked at her in disbelief.

“Step into the cauldron, it will take you back to your loved ones.”

You looked in to see Lucien now trying to wake you as the others watched in awe of his liveliness, “Lucien did the same thing?”

“Yes,” she nodded as you began to slowly step your way into the cauldron. You were waist in before you stopped abruptly as anxiety ate at you to ask a certain question.

“I won’t have any special powers like Feyre, Nesta, and Elain right?”

“No, this is different than their rebirth. You will have no power; you will remain as you were before.”

“Good, that’s good. Powers would have been cool though,” you smiled as you submerged the rest of yourself into the sacred artifact. Just before your ears went under you could hear the mother say something to you before you left.

“Everything is alright now, I love you my child. You have made me proud.”

You smiled as the liquid surrounded you and sparkled against your skin. It almost looked like Starfall which made you smile reminding you of home. You were heading back home! You felt your body tense like it was being winnowed back to your reality. It was a weird sensation, but you could slowly feel the memory of the mother and everything she had done for you fade as you passed through a barrier.

“Y/n!” you could hear someone crying out your name. You were trying to regain your senses as firm hands caressed the hair out of your face. One of their tears fell onto your cheek. It almost felt hot. Your eyes squinted at the feeling.

“Lucien look!” Someone cried out, as Lucien’s eyes scanned over your face slightly scrunching up at the foreign feeling of a tear that was not your own on your face. He let out a small, relieved gasp.

“Y/n?” He wiped off his tear that had fallen as he saw your chest take a deep inhale, “Oh my gods!” He wept, “You’re alive… you’re alive!”

His hands caressed your own, trying to give your cold skin more warmth. Azriel letting some of his own tears fall at the sight of you breathing again, Elain was rubbing small circles on his back in comfort. Mor and Feyre’s hands covered their mouths in shock at the events unfolding before them as tears of joy left their eyes. Nesta had let out a much-needed breath she didn’t know she was holding as she smiled at the two of you breathing again. Cassian thanked the mother repeatedly as Rhysand grabbed Feyre’s hand with tear filled eyes.

You began to wiggle your toes and fingers, getting used to the feeling of yourself again as you opened your eyes to see Lucien with the biggest smile you have ever seen from him.

“Lucien?” you questioned. Your mind was foggy, unable to really remember anything except the fact the last time you saw him he was dead.

He pressed your hands to his lips, “I’m here…”

You began to cry, “You’re alive!”

He nodded his head as he pulled you into his chest, “And so are you!”

You wrapped your arms around him in an instant, “Don’t ever leave me like that again!”

“Like hell I would live in a world without you,” he smiled as he cupped your face and kissed you tenderly. It’s right then you felt something trying to ignite inside your chest, no restraints or walls were holding it back as it set your soul aflame. You pulled away from Lucien and looked at him in amazement as you sent that flame to where it was trying to pull itself to. Lucien’s eyes widened as he slowly felt his empty chest cavity burst into life filled with everything you were sending his way. Love. Passion. Trust. Protectiveness. He couldn’t but help but smile as he got to say these words again knowing he would be complete, “You’re my mate!”

You let out a laugh of relief at the words, “Mates,” as you kissed him so hard you both fell back into the earth beneath you.

“That’s impossible,” Azriel said in disbelief. Elain’s face was ghost white.

“Well brother, the mother can work in mysterious ways,” Rhysand smiled at you finally getting your happy ending.

Lucien pulled away from you breathless, “I love you.”

You gave him a toothy grin and kissed him once more, “I love you!”

The wind kissed your skin as you both got up off the ground hand in Lucien’s. The presence of the wind almost felt familiar to you. You looked up at your mate and saw he had the same expression. Both of you looked at each other before you both whispered a soft thank you into the wind to let it be carried away to wherever it was headed as your friends began to crowd you both. Feyre ran into Lucien’s outstretched arms as Mor crashed into yours.

“Oh gods I am so happy you’re alive!” Mor cried.

“I think that was enough bonding for a lifetime,” you laughed as you cried with your best friend.

“I am just glad you are okay!” she smiled as she let Feyre hug you next. She looked over to Lucien and gave you a warm smile, “I am so happy for you both, take good care of him.”

Rhysand and Cassian pulled you into a big group hug.

“What even happened? I saw you both die!” Cassian kissed your cheek fondly.

“I don't even know… I wish I could tell you both, but I'm just happy I get to keep my favorite bat boys around,” you laughed as Rhysand kissed your other cheek.

“Like I said to Az, the mother works in wonderous ways.” As they pulled you back into another huge hug.

“Stop you’re going to pop me!” you laughed as a pair of footsteps approached you. You looked up to see Azriel. He looked at you guiltily and you felt nothing towards the male. No hate, no resentment, no longing, no nothing. You took a deep breath as you said, “Bring it in Azriel, it’s alright…”

Azriel carefully joined the group hug, “I am so sorry…” you and the others just hugged each other tighter as a response. You heard a cough from outside the circle as Elain stood before you. Rhysand and Cassian gave you one last hug before they walked over to Lucien and the others. Leaving you with Azriel and Elain.

“Y/n if I had only known…” Elain’s voice trailed off. Their presence was a little much for you after knowing what they both caused, but without them you wouldn’t have your mate.

“Look, everything that happened between us is a lot to digest and it's overwhelming me right now, but I am willing to look forward and have a fresh start, just give me time.” You gave them both an awkward smile as you walked off to the others who were all showering Lucien in hugs like they had done with you earlier. The sight of it made you smile.

“Be careful with him! I just got him back,” you teased as everyone looked towards you.

“We just got you both back,” Feyre said with a soft smile, “Tonight we celebrate you both and your new bond!”

“Just don't feed him anything until we're gone,” Cassian quipped as he clapped Lucien on the shoulder. Lucien rolled his eyes at the comment as Mor whispered into your ear, “and when you do, you still owe us girls a story after all.” She winked as your face grew hot at the talk of the act of completing the bond together.

“Calm yourself darling, we have plenty of time for that later,” Lucien pulled you into his side, “Let’s celebrate with our friends yeah?”

“Fine, I guess we can let loose a little to celebrate beating death and finding our bond.” You smiled.

“Well, what are we waiting for?! Let’s go party! I’m ready to let loose after everything that just transpired,” Mor said as everyone left to go back inside. Lucien pulled you aside before you both walked in and pushed you against a wall as he kissed you with fiery passion.

“As soon as that little party is over, I am going to fuck you into the bed, wall, desk,” he began to kiss your neck as the fresh bond between you hummed in your chest, “Any surface that I can take you on till we’re both burning this court into ashes with our love.”

You moaned at his words, “You promise?”

“If that is what my mate wants,” as he stared into your eyes as you traced your fingers down his back.

“Only if mine is willing to live up to his words,” you smirked up at him.

“Oh y/n, you are going to regret doubting me,” he said before he gave you one last kiss on the lips before offering you his hand to lead you into the house where all your friends awaited to celebrate your miracle.

You giggled as you grabbed his hand and said, “I love you so much Lu.”

“I will never get sick of those words. I love you too,” he smiled down as your intertwined hands, “You really should get those tattooed.”

“Give me a few more like them and I will,” you teased pulling Lucien inside as he let out a small groan at the thought. Both of you eager to celebrate with your friends, and to finally be able to love each other fiercely for the rest of your lives.

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wishcamper · 19 days

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AITF Part IV: The Nestapocalypse

Pre reqs: PART I | PART II | PART III

Creds: licensed mental health profesh, person with a family

Hello and welcome back to our deep dive on ACOTAR and family systems theory!

Last time we talked about how Feyre destabilized, and then re-stabilized the IC family system. Her addition revealed the weak points in the system, particularly of Mor as the primary source of anxiety. So let’s look at what happens to the system, and Mor in particular, once Elain and Nesta join, with Lucien peripherally.

Mor, you good? You’re looking a little lonely there.

So I had to eliminate some relationships to make it readable, but there have been some major changes structurally that I want to highlight:

Feyre and Rhys introduced a romantic alliance into the system. Cassian and Nesta later reinforce this. And Azriel is clearly tryin, even if he’s not having success. This is a complete turn from the original systems where, not only were there no romantic relationships, but via the buffer romance in the family was actively discouraged.

The center of anxiety has shifted to Rhys. We see him make choices for others to soothe that anxiety CONstantly throughout ACOFAS and ACOSF. It’s pretty much his primary strategy. And that’s because..

Rhys has real challenges to his power. Nesta doesn’t want or need anything from him, yet has influence on her sisters and Cassian. Nesta refuses to follow the family rules and participate in the NFEP, undermining Rhys’ ability to keep the system stable. Until they cut her off financially and give her the “intervention”, he has no leverage against her because enough other people ultimately want her in.

Waaaayyyy less energy and resources are being devoted to Mor, and her feelings matter much less in family decisions and functioning.

It’s interesting because even though Mor is no longer the center of the family in terms of relationships, I think she has the most to lose from instability in the system. Everyone else has a stronger relationship than the one they have with her. Yet she needs each one of them to:

Rhys - establish her relevance in the system, provide structure and enforce the rules, and keep the buffer drama from spilling over

Cassian - protect her from connecting with Azriel’s feelings and diffuse her anxiety

Azriel - provide a reason for her to be cagey about her love life/justify keeping her sexuality a secret

Feyre - ensure her relevance to Rhys / secure her position and value

Elain - less their relationship, more that there’s a blanket family rule of “protect Elain”

I say this not as a call out, but to show that Nesta is the only person Mor can attack without jeopardizing her position and reasonably assume the others will let her. Nesta in ACOFAS and ACOSF is a classic scapegoat as the person with the least apparent power and most obvious and stigmatized issues. She’s an easy target, especially for someone like Mor, who is well-versed in the courtier’s game and can appear to be innocent while actually being quite malicious (see: lingerie-gate).

This is where we come back to the topic of alliances. I always associate that term with Survivor, which is actually a really good representation of how alliances function in families in three main ways:

Alliances are always mutually beneficial.

Alliance can be used to leverage power.

Alliances can be broken or changed if one person can get their needs met in a better/easier way.

Alliances can be temporary and utilitarian (I’ll give you a dollar if you don’t tell mom I hit you) or long-standing and an integral part of the system (parents do not contradict each other on rules in front of the kids, and work those disputes out in private to maintain consistency).

The Mor/Cassian alliance fits all these qualities exactly. Cassian gets relief from his guilt and can suppress conflict before it starts, and he also gets someone to fuss over which tbh it seems like he enjoys. Mor gets protection from Azriel’s feelings for her, doesn’t have to face the conflict she generates, and gets fussed over which she also seems to enjoy. And when Cassian starts getting those needs met by Nesta instead, with more perks and fewer costs, he leaves more behind and both their roles fundamentally shift.

In that way, Nesta and Cassian’s relationship is really the thing that changes the family permanently, in my opinion. I think if Nesta had just been pushed out, or at least neutralized, they could’ve been fine for a while longer. But because he wants her there, and she refuses to follow the rules, the family has to figure out how to accommodate her. The Nes/Cass alliance is crazy powerful when you break it down.

Nesta has power in the purest sense, as in she is probably magically stronger than anyone else in the Night Court, especially considering Amren’s lost her powers. So at the end of the day, if she got her shit together she could tear it all down. She’s could really leverage the idea that no one should take her temperance for granted. She doesn’t do this and I think that’s because she’s a good person. She doesn’t desire power, which weirdly makes her very suited to have it. She also has power in an influence sense, in that at least her sisters and Cassian are invested in having a good relationship with her which means, by extension, Rhys and Mor have to get on board.

(I realize I haven’t mentioned Azriel very much - he’s the former scapegoat, and never had much power in the first place. I wonder if that’s why he seems to have a soft spot for Nesta, like there’s a sense of solidarity. So his opinions and actions don’t really affect the system unless he wants to start rebelling. Which I think we’ll eventually see him do since he doesn’t have as much investment in keeping the family together after his brothers pair off and Rhys pulls rank.)

Cassian’s power is more passive in this system, in that he causes change when he STOPS doing things, mostly peacemaking behaviors. He absorbs a lot of anxiety in the system, along with Az, and exerts influence through physical and emotional absence. Because of this power, when he starts investing more time and attention in Nesta, Mor reacts by retaliating toward NESTA, who she sees as the more vulnerable/lower status one even though Cassian is 100% initiating the change. Lingerie-gate. “She belongs in the Hewn City”. Her protectiveness of Cass. The call’s coming from inside the house, my love.

As a sidebar, I find this such an interesting dynamic in that is sort of an accidental subversion of the typical tropes. Magical young women conquers the world by NOT using her powers. Bad ass fighting dude is more powerful when he chooses not to act. Such a fascinating theme. Anyway.

We know systems want to stay in balance, so members will do things to rebalance them. Cassian and Nesta are going to be together? Okay, then she has to be acceptable by the family standards and fall in line with the rules. We see this blatantly in the way the IC “intervenes” when Nesta is “embarrassing” them. And there is a layer of the backlash to this shift this that is definitely Mor feeling threatened by Nesta taking her place in the alliance. But what’s interesting to me is that there’s another layer in what she says TO Cassian when Nesta isn’t even around, a passive aggressive way of expressing her disapproval that he’s abandoned her and what she sees as his role.

So when they’re very clearly going to be together, and the mating bond is both obvious and powerful given the rules of their culture and their own system, it forces a schism. On one side is Rhys, Mor, and Amren. On the other is Nesta, Cassian, and Azriel. Feyre straddles the middle, and Elain uses absence to avoid taking sides.

This is actually fairly normal in families as kids grow up and begin families of their own. Shifting priorities change how decisions are made individually and as a group, and where members go to get their needs met. If people are able to accept their changing roles, things can go well - parents transition to being grandparents, siblings can support each other without competing for resources, adult children can establish their own family rules that are in line with their values. When it goes poorly, or when people cling to their rules and roles too rigidly, there can be a lot of conflict.

It’s the great contradiction of the family system that the best way to achieve equilibrium is by accepting that shifting is constant, inevitable, and important. It’s like standing on one foot, that even when you feel stable there are tiny shifts happening, and when you focus too hard on staying upright you almost always fall over. But when you treat the little shifts as normal, you realize that balancing is a process in motion, and looking ahead keeps things steadier than looking down.

Looking at this in a zoomed out way is helpful, but I also want to remember that while these are characters, the dynamics they play out are very real and can be very damaging. We naturally internalize the strategies and structures of our family system. I see this over and over again in my office, the ways people have been conditioned to believe they are defective, broken, inadequate, hopeless. In my personal life, I’ve been contending recently with a lot of trauma from my family that was covert, normalized, and well-hidden but which left me convinced that I was so repulsive, that my inner world was so ugly that anyone I showed it to would immediately leave. Some days it feels like it’s permanently damaged my brain. I know that’s not true, both on a literature level and a personal belief level, but it can be hard to remember and god does it still hurt. I still fear breaking the rules even though I’m the only one enforcing them now.

Okay I’m gonna stop here. This one is really rambling so I hope you got something out of it lol. Life is hard and weird right now, so I hope you’ll excuse if it’s not my usual standard. Thanks for reading <3

#prythian university #sjm critical #rhys critical #nesta archeron deserves better

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lorcandidlucienwill · 6 months

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What if Nesta decided to destroy the Inner Circle part 6

Nesta was frozen in shock as Rhysand pressed that blade harder against her throat. If she moved an inch, the blade would cut her throat. If she spoke, the blade would cut her throat.

“Come to kill your pregnant sister, Nesta?” Rhysand said, holding her body against him. Nesta couldn’t even open her mouth to contradict the blatant lie. She hadn’t prepared for this. She had been so focused on Feyre that she hadn’t even noticed him coming. She cursed herself for her lack of vigilance.

“She just wanted to talk, Rhysand,” Feyre said calmly. “Drop the weapon.”

Rhysand did no such thing. “Drop it,” Feyre said, more bite in her voice now. “You’re not going to kill my sister.”

“Why not? She left you for dead all those years ago,” Rhysand said. Nesta tunneled into her power. “She has done more than enough since,” Feyre replied. “I forgave her. Besides, she’s my sister, and I love her.”

Rhysand scowled, but he loosened the blade’s hold slightly. “Drop it,” Feyre said. “For Cauldron’s sake, drop it, Rhysand!” Blood had seeped from Nesta’s neck down into the collar of her shirt. Come on, Nesta urged her power, come on. Rhysand turned to Feyre. “Fine,” he said, “but only because you-“

Rhysand gasped and winced as Nesta’s fire, cold as ice, melted the knife away, seeping into his fingertips. An unearthly snarl ripped from Rhysand as the Mask flew onto Nesta’s face.

“Surprise, motherfucker,” Nesta said. “I wonder what skeletons lie beneath this palace.”

And Nesta summoned the dead.

The rest of the Inner Circle seemed to have heard the noise and run towards Rhysand. Nesta’s group too. As they all gathered there, pandemonium began. Countless servants were seen to be fighting undead warriors. Mor was fighting Eris while Lucien was fighting Azriel. Cassian and Amren were fighting Gwyn and Emerie. As for Nesta, she went after Rhysand. She was wreathed in silver flames now, and she could scent the fear on the High Lord. But the High Lord was extremely powerful himself, and an exceptionally skilled fighter. He would not be going down without a fight. And where Nesta’s silver flames met Rhysand’s darkness, chaos reigned. As their magics fought for dominance, Nesta lunged at Rhysand with her sword. He met her blow with an exceptionally powerful one of his own, and only her Valkyrie training kept her from falling over. She parried and lunged out with her flames, seeking a weakness in his power and finding none.

“Stop!” Feyre screamed. “STOP!” Everyone ignored her. Rhysand tackled Nesta and she let him, penetrating his shoulder with her magic combined with her dagger. He winced, pulling away, and Nesta kneed him in the balls. He bent over, and Nesta reached for his vulnerable back, only to be blasted back by a hard shield. Suddenly, Nesta felt a vindictive force bang on the walls on her mind, and Nesta was relieved to have those walls of iron surrounding her mind. She laughed. “You would try to mind control me, High Lord? Really?” She stood up and reached deeper into her power than ever before, finding the depths that seemed impossible but were as real as anything she had ever experienced. And as she raised her sword to strike again, she found that her magic was starting to overwhelm his. Eris had been right on that account. However strong Rhysand may be, Nesta was stronger. Rhysand was the better fighter, and it took every bit of concentration in Nesta to keep up, but that’s all she needed to do: keep up. Once her magic overwhelmed his, it was over.

When at last her magic overcame his, she blasted him backwards and pressed her sword to his gut. “Any last words, Rhysand?”

Rhysand only laughed. “What are you laughing about? You’re about to die.”

“No, I’m not. Not unless you want Feyre to die, too.”

Nesta’s eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?”

It was Feyre who answered, “We made a pact- to die together.”

What the hell? “Why the fuck would you do that,” Nesta asked quietly. Tears bit the corner of Feyre’s eyes. “We nearly lost each other twice,” she whispered. “I couldn’t go through that again.”

“He’s an asshole!” Nesta screamed. “He hurt you. He hurt all of us! He’s hurt so many people.”

Feyre said nothing. Tears were flowing down her face at earnest. Nesta’s mind screamed at her to stab Rhysand, to make the killing blow. But she couldn’t.

Rhysand knew it, and a triumphant smile graced his face. He had a very punchable face, Nesta decided. “Checkmate,” he whispered.

“No.”

Nesta turned around to find Lucien approaching them, blood spattered across his face. Nesta dared look back for a brief moment at the chaos that ensured, finding Eris now facing off against Azriel instead. Nesta couldn’t see Mor anywhere.

“What do you mean, no?” Rhysand scoffed.

Lucien looked to Nesta. “You keep him occupied. I’m going to find a way to break the pact.”

“You can do that?”

“I can try.” Grim determination laced his face.

“And what makes you think that you can?”

“My father’s heritage.”

Nesta blinked. Rhysand tried to take advantage of her distraction, but she kneed him in the groin again and shoved her sword against his throat. “Stay. Down. What do you mean, your father’s heritage? Is Beron some kind of expert on this?”

“My father isn’t Beron.”

Nesta stared at him. “But your fire-“

“Comes from my mother. But my father is Helion. I think I can find a way to break this bargain. It’s going to be extremely hard though. And painful. For her.”

Nesta nodded. “Do it.”

“No,” Feyre whispered, but Lucien grabbed her and inspected the bargain tattoo. Then he took a deep breath and began. His hands began to glow not with his typical fire, but rather with a light reminiscent of the sun. Feyre screamed and thrashed as Lucien held his hands against her, trying to break the tattoo, as Nesta wrestled with the High Lord of Night, trying to keep him down. Lucien strained, sweat dripping from his face, his arms, as he exerted all his energy. Which turned out to be a lot. Ages had passed when Lucien finally withdrew his hands from Feyre. He spat blood on the floor.

“Did it work?” Nesta whispered. Lucien said, “Yes.” That was answer enough for Nesta, who smiled into the now-terrified face of Rhysand. “Checkmate.”

And Nesta shoved her sword in and ripped off the head of Rhysand. She turned around, head still in her hands. Lucien grimaced and looked away, but through the heat of battle Eris managed to meet her eyes.

And he smiled- smiled- at the brutality, her silver eyes, and the head she carried in her hands. The broadest smile she had ever witnessed.

Nesta carefully set the head down and turned to Feyre. “How is she?” Nesta asked Lucien.

“She has gone into labor!” Lucien panted. “All the stress of breaking the bond and the heat of battle must have brought it on!”

No. No-

The Illyrian baby.

After all the effort they had taken to break the death pact, Feyre was going to die anyway.

#i'm going feral #pro lucien vanserra #pro nesta archeron #pro eris vanserra #anti inner circle #feyre archeron #lucien spell cleaver #nesta kingslayer

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starsreminisce · 6 months

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I read the books a long time ago but i found a page where it says elain is heavily connected to the dusk court and i am like? You mean nesta? Who went there and saw a vision.

Then elain azriel will reign there ??? What books are these people reading? I don’t remember elain being mentioned with the dusk court ? Sure she could maybe see the people. But free them? She is a seer and feyre and everyone else is probably still stronger then her because i don’t think sjm will write someone who will be more powerful than rhys and feyre

Then elain will be a high lady in the dusk court? Eh for what reason??

Yes with lucien maybe? But with azriel? No i really don’t see him as a high lord, i also don’t see cassian as one but thats another topic

And i don’t know why i see so many arts where the three sisters each has a death trove? Nesta risked her life to get them, she lost her powers so the death trove should only be wielded by her, thats my opinion

Also why is elain not getting hate for not helping feyre? She is also older but thats right sweet innocent elain could never do anything wrong 😒 she could be a great character but what sjm wrote till now just doesn’t make me like her at all 🤷🏼‍♀️ sorry for rambling but all this elries who change the books just get on my nerves.

Elain received Truth-Teller, suggesting a potential connection to the trove due to the blade's association with Gwyndion. However, it was Nesta who ultimately wielded Truth-Teller to decapitate Hybern, showcasing her incredible resolve.

Nesta persevered in her quest for the trove, despite grappling with mental health issues, fears, and emotional turmoil. She obtained the trove items through hard-fought battles, each one a testament to her determination.

Nesta's unique vision led her to the discovery of a fourth trove item, and her close relationship with a priestess holding a direct connection to Merrill further underscores her significance.

“There is a better world, Nesta. There is a better world out there, waiting for you to find it.”

Nesta played a crucial role in employing three trove items to save Feyre's life.

Additionally, she was physically present to welcome Bryce and is set to have a bonus chapter included in the upcoming Crescent City book.

While it's conceivable that Elain could have played a similar role, Azriel's recommendation to shield her from the trove's inherent darkness prevented her from doing so.

It's worth noting that Elain's character development has been somewhat limited. Her blunt advice to Nesta about pulling herself together seemed harsh, especially when considering Elain's own journey after emerging from the cauldron. However, such directness is not foreign to Lucien's character, as he doesn't shy away from candid conversations.

Elucien is now exponentialing lol

I'm eager to see how the Dusk Court will be incorporated into the story. My theory is that it might function as a portal to other realms, but January is just around the corner, and I'm looking forward to finding out how these two worlds will be connected.

#cc3 #pro nesta #elain archeron #pro nesta archeron #nesta archeron #nesta acosf

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nikethestatue · 2 years

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What if the Cauldron was a Male?

The theory is this (and I’ve discussed it with a mutual who isn’t on Tumblr, so I don’t think I am the only one who has this as a possibility) - what if the Cauldron was once a man?

We know that there is a Mother, and then there is the Cauldron. And, based on the tapestry/mural that Feyre saw in Tamlin’s manor, the Mother (a woman) basically ‘poured’ life out of the Cauldron. Both are always interconnected. And, as we witness, without the Cauldron, the world would end.

Frequently, when there is a mention of mate bonds, both the Mother and the Cauldron are discussed.

For example, when Rhys and Feyre discuss mate bonds, Rhys states that they could be coming from the Mother or from the ‘Cauldron’s swirling eddies’. In Azriel’s POV, we have ‘only for the Mother to witness’ and ‘what if the Cauldron was wrong?” During the birth scene, we have Nesta hearing a soft female voice (the Mother, we assume), all the while she is bargaining with the Cauldron.

We know that the Cauldron is sentient--at least to a certain degree. It ‘raged’ when Nesta stole something from it. And it ‘purred’ in Elain’s presence. It’s been said that ‘the Cauldron loves Elain’. It ‘took’ whatever Nesta gave back and it ‘responded’ to her pleas.

So, the theory is--what if at one point, the Cauldron was a male. The Mother’s male counterpart. Wherever the Mother came from, and we can assume that she is an Asteri-like figure, but benevolent, rather than malevolent, she had a male mate/husband/lover (whatever you want to call it). But, during the move to Prythian and the new world, for whatever reason, only SHE could enter. Not the male. And what if the male was made into this life/death giving object, that she brought with her? Not only is there no life in Prythian without the Cauldron (it’s life sustaining), but all life came FROM it (as in seeded). What if the Mother, unable to part with her mate, managed to either transform him into this object of immense power, which contains his essence, for we can assume that he would’ve been at least as powerful as the Mother. OR, he sacrificed himself to be with her, and willingly was re-made into the pot?

And what if the concept of matehood comes from the two of them? It mimics their love and their union. But only a few chosen ones could really experience it in all its force and glory. That’s why true mates are so rare? What if those bonds--a Feysand-level bond--come from both the Mother and the Cauldron? Whereas weaker bonds are indeed designed to create stronger species? powerful leaders? Fae with very powerful magic?

If the Cauldron was a male, it would explain ‘human’-like feelings that it gives off. What if Elain, with her beauty and kindness and general disposition, reminded the Cauldron of the Mother? Of his/its lover? The Cauldron could’ve destroyed Elain--she was the first one to be put into it. It could’ve killed her, made her into something horrific, or even punished her like it did the Queen. Instead, not only did she survive, emerged beautiful, it also GAVE her something. Nesta stole something, but the Cauldron gave Elain a gift--a gift of Sight (and probably more). What if the Cauldron have her TWO MATES as well? One--a true soul mate, in Azriel--and another, the mate of Power, with Lucien? Could she, therefore, become a High Lady? Because of whatever gifts the Cauldron bestowed upon her?

If we assume that Elain’s Power is Life, versus Nesta’s Death, it would be in line with the Cauldron’s love for her, for it is a vessel through which all life flows and began. Can someone, with the power of Life, which was granted by an object that is not just the Void, but also Life, revive a dead Court then? And is Azriel, who is associated with Death, is called Death, then not the perfect counterpart to Life? The alpha and omega, the beginning and the end? Azriel, with his strange powers, which resemble the powers of others, who come from a small island which used to be an 8th Court and who is likely that Court’s heir, paired off by Mother and the Cauldron, with a Made female, whose power is Life?

Too farfetched? Perhaps. Or not.

#acotar #acotar theory #acosf theory #ACOTAR 5 #Elriel Book #elain archeron #elain and azriel #elriel #the dusk court

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climbthemountain2020 · 3 months

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Hope of Spring - Chapter 12

Find this on Ao3!

Click here for Chapter 11!

Over the following weeks, Penny worked harder than she ever had in her entire life. The Night Court sent their inner circle members every two days, like clockwork, to help Penny train her powers. On the days that they didn’t come to help, Tamlin would help train her in both combat and in shifting, and it felt like she was finally making progress with both. Once she understood how she could manipulate their magic to work together, she could shift to just about anything as long as they were touching, and sometimes she didn’t even need that. Which was convenient, because every time Tamlin touched her it felt like she was about to burst into flames and climb him like a tree.

After their day at the pool, there had been nothing but kisses and fleeting, heated touches, much to Penny’s disappointment. Part of it was how much the training was taking out of her, and most nights she’d simply collapse after dinner and wake in the early hours of morning, finding Tamlin had brought her quietly to her own room and tucked her in.

Another part of it seemed to be his insecurity over his own past, which Penny found it easier to be respectful of. She didn’t want to push him, and she knew this was something that he would need to work through himself. She wasn’t concerned about him not wanting her; the reactions he had to their bodies touching in training told her enough about that to not be worried. But she knew that intimacy for him, for them, wouldn’t be something in passing. This would be his first encounter that meant anything since everything with Feyre, and she would let him come to her about it, no matter how long it took. She would wait, and she would do it gladly for him.

Unfortunately, this also meant her focus was all over the place. Some magic she took to better than others. Penny had found she was best at shifting, wielding fire, and protecting her mind–all of which seemed to come fairly naturally to her and with which she could hold and wield stronger power. She loved working with Lucien, and could see why he and Tamlin had been friends. His sense of humor reminded her so much of Tamlin’s in his lighter moments, and she found herself wondering often what things had been like for the two of them before everything had fallen apart. Lucien was also patient with her, but impressed with her ability to handle fire. She’d singed him a few times, but he’d simply quipped that it was nowhere near the first or last time he’d be burned by errant flames in his long life.

She was struggling a bit more with the power of Azriel and Cassian’s siphons, and still hadn’t managed to have a single accurate hit since she’d killed the naga. Cassian laughed riotously every time she missed and upturned trees or took massive chunks out of the ground, while Azriel pondered solutions and suggested they might want to move a bit further from the manor and into the woods. The best news that they’d seemed to uncover was that her ability to use the power of those who touched her didn’t seem to diminish the power of the original person at all. This felt like a victory for them in the case that they ever did need to use her powers in a war.

Today, Rhys had come to work on mind-reading rather than just keeping people out. They had been working for hours and, to Penny, it honestly felt like she’d been running a marathon. She had no idea how much energy she could expend by just simply sitting in one place before she started using her magic.

After these past few weeks, she had to admit that she genuinely liked Rhys, much to her annoyance. He was funny and kind, if you got past his assholish exterior. Honestly, she loved everyone she’d met from the Night Court so far. Even Mor, who only came for short periods of time to winnow Cassian but was always kind and talkative, was starting to feel like a friend to her. Feyre still hadn’t come to help for obvious reasons, nor had either of her sisters or Amren, but she couldn’t expect everyone to come to Spring. She was thrilled they were willing to help at all.

She was currently splayed out on the floor of the gazebo, debating just dumping her glass of water on her own face, when Rhys laughed. “That seems like maybe not the best idea. Shields up.”

She groaned her annoyance at him. “Eat shit, Rhys. I’m tired.” She tossed an arm over her eyes, but smiled nonetheless, as he sat across from her with his own water in hand.

“You’re really improving, you know. This has been a lot of fun. I don’t meet many other people with daemati powers. Other than Feyre of course, and she and I tend to get distracted.” He waggled his eyebrows at her.

“Ugh, gross.” She tossed her empty cup at him. “No sex talk in the gazebo. Or ever.” He chuckled at her, batting the flying cup out of the air.

He took a deep breath in and blew it out. “Listen, I know how much pride Tamlin has to be putting aside to allow us to be here and do this with you. It’s no secret that he and I are not on friendly terms.” Penny lifted her arm off her eyes and turned her head to look at him. “Penny, you have to know how much he must care about you.”

Penny fought the prickling behind her eyes and she tried to take a steady breath. “I love him. I haven’t told him.”

“Why not?”

“It’s only been a few months since I got here. Also, he’s still healing. He truly thinks himself a monster, Rhys. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell him. He isn’t going to believe it until he’s ready to.”

“Don’t you feel like you deserve someone who can love you the way you love them?”

“I think he does, in his way. And I think he will outwardly, in time. I’m in no hurry to rush this along. I care about him, whether it takes a week or years. He’s the only person who I have ever felt like sees me–truly sees me–and understands. He needs the space and the grace to work through all he needs to on his own, and I want to give him that. Even if all he ever wanted from me was friendship, I would find a way to be happy with that.”

“Gods above, you really do love him.” He chuckled, running a hand over his chin, but the smile didn’t reach his violet eyes. “While I’m sure you know this, Tamlin was my friend once. He has made so many mistakes, but sometimes when I see him, I can’t help but see that boy who was so lonely in the world that he put beside every bred prejudice within himself to befriend a reckless Illyrian boy. His father was furious.” He paused, his eyebrows knotting. “But Tamlin’s heart is good. He has never been shown how to love, but I know he loved Feyre as well as he could at the time. And I can tell he loves you. I think you are better equipped to handle the situation than Feyre was. Tamlin is not used to being cared for–has always been expected to protect, but has never been protected himself. I think that you have changed that for him, and I think that he is learning how to allow that care into his heart without being worried it will be taken from him. I hope you’ll believe me when I say I sincerely hope the best for you.”

Penny could feel where a tear had fallen down her cheek. The honest words were almost too much for her to bear, but she appreciated them more than she could say. “Thank you, Rhys. Truly.”

“You’re a good female, Penny. And Tamlin needs a good ass-kicking every so often.” That cavalier smirk was back on his face in an instant as she shoved him with her foot. He met her with a laugh.

“I think it’s time to shift our focus to testing your limits to wielding the powers of others, now that we know you can. It would be great to see what happens when you wield Elain’s magic. Having two Seers, especially if we can confirm you might have separate visions, would be an invaluable advantage.”

She nodded. “That makes sense to me. It would also be good to see, without interference, how long I can hold the powers. Or even if they’ll sustain over a large distance. Will Elain come here next, then, so we can try it?”

Rhys cringed a bit. “Unfortunately, due to extenuating circumstances, Elain cannot travel currently. Perhaps next week, we could take you on a brief trip to the Night Court to see her?”

“Absolutely fucking not.” The voice came from behind them. Penny could feel the desperation disguised as anger vibrating off Tamlin, who had approached the gazebo without either of them noticing, Lucien and Azriel at his sides. “There is no world in which Penny goes to the Night Court with you, Rhysand.”

Penny tried to divert the chaos before it overcame them. “Rhys, I’m sorry, but is there a reason she can’t come here? Everyone else has been traveling here, and things have been fine. We could make any sort of accommodation necessary–”

“She can’t travel because she is with child. My child.” Lucien spoke up from behind Tamlin, clearing his throat. “Her visions showed her that, should she stay safe, she must remain in the Night Court for the endurance of her pregnancy. She cannot come here.” He seemed to be rehashing a conversation he’d already had many times, and looked incredibly tired in that moment. Tamlin looked at him with an entirely different look in his eyes, his focus entirely shifted to Lucien now.

“A child? You’re…you’re going to be a father?” He asked Lucien softly, who looked to Tamlin with so much hope in his eyes it nearly broke Penny’s heart to behold it. Lucien nodded, the emotion evident. Tamlin, to everyone’s surprise, held a hand to Lucien, and when he grabbed it, pulled him in for an embrace. “Congratulations, Lucien. I can’t possibly think of anyone more deserving.”

It seemed as if the weight of the world melted off of Lucien’s shoulders as Tamlin gave him a strong pat on the back and released him. “Thank you. It was, uh, quite a shock for us.” he rubbed the back of his neck bashfully.

“Wasn’t a shock for anyone who spent any amount of time near the two of you in the last two years,” mumbled Azriel, almost under his breath, and Rhys cackled loudly. Penny rose to her feet, brushed off her hands on her pants, walked to Tamlin, and took his hands.

“I know what this feels like to you. If you don’t want me to go, I won’t. But I do think it would be advantageous to see how we might utilize Elain’s powers through me.” Tamlin nodded, closing his eyes as he pulled her to him.

“Go. You’re right. It makes sense for you to go.” She looked up to him, nodding once, and turned to Rhys.

“Next week, I will come with you.” Rhys inclined his chin towards her, then nodded towards Tamlin, a new sort of respect and understanding ringing through his expression. Then, the three of them winnowed off.

________________

Dinner was a quiet affair, but it wasn’t as tense as she worried it might be. The silence felt companionable as always, and she even offered to help Tamlin with some of his paperwork in the study. He asked her to help with his ledgers, and having worked the budgets at her former job, it wasn’t too difficult for her to get things organized. She’d settled in on the large red couch, a blanket draped over her shoulders and her feet pulled up under her as she worked on his documents.

“Do you still use the tithe?” She asked, thumbing through the accounts of the last decade. Tamlin lifted his eyes to hers.

“Not since the year after we were Under the Mountain. Things fell into such chaos, I hadn’t resurrected it. Honestly, it was the way things were done for centuries, but I can’t stand it. It leaves the worst taste in my mouth.”

“Have you considered simply not bringing it back?”

“Yes, almost constantly. There is truly no need for it. I don’t need the offerings. The farmers and shop owners pay taxes, and the coffers of Spring are still more than I could ever use. I worried for a long time before Feyre that it was causing resentment in the people here, and that year was particularly brutal.”

“Why don’t you tell the people it’s gone for good? I know that most of the rebuilding is done, but perhaps some camaraderie and building up their spirits would help the court.” He nodded, keeping eyes on her. “Perhaps we could hold a gathering, make an announcement.”

“Like a party?”

“Yeah, don’t courts have those?”

“I mean, we could. I don’t know much about planning things like that. It’s been a long, long time, and frankly Lucien did most of the event planning.”

“I do! That was my job, remember? I could plan it for you!”

“Is that…something you’d enjoy?” He put his paper down to look at her. Shivers rolled up her arms under his gaze and rested in that place around her heart reserved for him and him alone.

“Yes, especially if it’s something that might help out the court. We could make it a rebuilding celebration, then announce that the tithe is canceled when everyone is gathered here. It will be nice to see the faces of the people who live in the court we call home.” His smile nearly stopped her heart. She had to force herself to take a breath.

“Penny, you truly never cease to amaze me.” He rose from his chair behind the desk and closed the space between them, kneeling between her legs and placing his hands on her hips. She watched him with wide eyes as his thumbs drifted and drew circles over her ribs. “Your heart astounds me.” He whispered.

“It beats for you,” she responded breathily, without thinking, as he surged to close the gap between their lips.

Tamlin brought his hands to cup Penny’s face as his lips met hers, twining his hands through her hair and tipping her head to kiss her more deeply. She sighed, winding her arms around his neck as he raised himself up, leaning her back onto the couch.

The second her head hit the cushions, his mouth was on her neck, grazing gentle teeth up and down the length of her throat. She arched up into him in response, feeling every inch of his body against hers, and a low groan rumbled through his throat.

“My heart is yours.” He whispered into her ear, taking her earlobe into his mouth and running his teeth over it. She was panting, the buildup too much. She ran her hands up his arms and over his shoulders, nails ghosting along the lines of his back. She drifted her hands back down, gripping the collar of his shirt and pulling his lips back to hers, kissing him hungrily. She slid her tongue into his mouth and her fingers into his hair, and the movement undid him as he jerked forward, grinding into her.

He pulled back and she whined in protest, immediately embarrassed by her reaction. But Tamlin just smiled wickedly, reached beneath her, and in one movement tossed her over his shoulder and all but ran with her to the bedroom. Penny was flushed and laughing, running her hands up and down his back as he went.

When they reached his room, she thought he would toss her on the bed, but he laid her down gently, pressing light kisses to her face as he did. He looked at her, let his eyes drift slowly, reverently, over her face, then pulled off his shirt. She quickly grabbed the hem of her own shirt, tugging it over her head and tossing it to the floor beside the bed, unbinding her under shirt and tossing it away too, leaving her chest bared before him..

He was on her again, running hands down her sides and causing goosebumps to cover her skin in his wake. She’d never felt so alive, her skin prickling with the sensation of a thousand points of light. She let her hands drift down to his pants and began to untie the laces as he kissed her thoroughly. She’d just gotten the ties undone when he pulled back to look at her body. She felt shy suddenly beneath his eyes, but all she saw was love and adoration there, so she willed herself to relax beneath him.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, worship written all over his face, as he lowered himself down, kissing from her collarbones down her chest. She arched up, needing more contact, as he took her into his mouth, rolling his tongue around a peaked nipple. She exhaled a sigh of pleasure, leaning her head back into the bed. He continued his descent down her body, kissing each inch of her breasts, the soft curve of her stomach, her hips.

He inched his hands beneath the waistband of her pants, tugging them down gently, her undergarments with them, until it was just her bared before him. He was staring at her, hunger in his eyes, which flicked up to hers.

“Do you know how many nights I’ve dreamed about this exact situation in this bed?” The question came out rougher than she’d heard him before, his voice sending a violent strike of arousal through Penny.

“Tell me.” She whispered, all but begging him.

“Every night.” He grabbed her thighs and spread them apart, hooking each over his shoulders. She could feel his breath fan over her as her own breath caught. “I would dream about how you’d taste.” He kissed her right thigh, then her left. She was on the edge–a stiff breeze might blow her over, she was wound so tightly.

She gasped as she felt him move in to take that first taste, licking a stripe up her and groaning. A sharp retort was on her lips to ask if it was everything he’d imagined, but before she could get it out, he was on her like a man starved. Stars shattered behind Penny’s eyes as he sucked her clit into his mouth, rolling his tongue against her as she bowed off the bed, grasping the sheets violently in clenched fists.

“Don’t stop. Please. Oh God.” She breathed and begged and pleaded with him, though she didn’t think he could stop if he’d tried. His fingers gripped her so tightly she knew it would leave bruises, hoped it would. The thought of him marking her, claiming her, sent sensations roaring through her that caused any remainder of her inhibition to fall away. And as he slowly, languidly inserted a finger into her, growling at the wet heat he found there, she lost her grip on reality.

Shouting something that was half-curse and half his name, she came as he added a second finger, absolutely shattering around him and writhing beneath his tongue and hands. She was panting, a slight sheen of sweat covering her body, as he rose from between her legs, mouth glistening. Penny looked at him with heavily lidded eyes and hoped and prayed he wasn’t done with her.

She reached for him blindly, an act that was so purely instinct she couldn’t stop it, as he crashed down to her, their mouths meeting in a spark of lightning. She could taste herself on him, and she ran her hands through his hair to bring him down closer. He kicked his pants the rest of the way off and settled his hips between her legs, groaning as she grinded herself up against him. Penny paused, feeling the hardened length between his legs, and he laughed at her expression. She didn’t give it a moment of pause, wrapping a hand around the base of him as he exhaled sharply, dropping his forehead to her chest.

She ran him through her warm sex, hitching him at her entrance and kissing him again as he lifted his eyes to hers.

“Are you sure?” She asked him, tenderly, nothing but love in the question. He smiled, pressing the lightest of kisses to her swollen lips.

“I’ve never been more sure of anything.” And he pushed into her. Their moans entwined and she could feel the magic dance between them. He filled her perfectly, inch by inch, until he was entirely seated within her and they were both panting.

“Cauldron–” He hissed out, his arms shaking as he held himself above her.

“Tamlin, please.” She begged, urging him to move. He obliged. The roll of his hips was enough to leave them both gasping for air, Penny’s hands reaching to grasp his arms above her. “Fuck, you feel incredible.” She moaned, feeling in that moment more full and complete than she ever had. Their lips met, messy and unrefined, letting their instincts take over as his hips snapped into her.

Tamlin reached between them, stroking her with his thumb while she closed her eyes, surrendering entirely to this instinctive feeling of rightness in being here, being with him this way. She could feel her orgasm building again, but there was something else too. She could feel it building in her chest and her orgasm building at the base of her spine. She felt like she might explode at any moment with no tether to keep her controlled any longer. She moaned his name as she ground against him.

“Come for me, Penny. Give me one more.” He kissed her neck as she screamed, tightening around him and bowing into his chest as it barrelled through her. She reached up to tug his hair through her fingers, holding him close to her as her soul took flight. It felt like her heart sprung from her chest, held tightly by a familiar golden tether.

Tamlin let out a roar, his movements becoming frantic and uncontrolled as he emptied into her. Penny sighed in pleasure as she felt him relax into her arms, burying his face into her neck.

“I love you.” He panted, rolling slightly to the side to take his weight off of her and pulling her close to him. She turned and tucked herself into his body, running fingers over his sweat-slicked chest.

“I love you.” She whispered back, as he pulled the sheet up over them, throwing an arm over her waist as though he couldn’t stand the thought of a bit of space between them.

After, as she listened to his heartbeat calm in time with hers, she felt a love she knew was not only hers tug through her chest. She knew now what that golden ribbon that she held onto so closely when their magic intertwined was. She’d known it the moment it snapped through her like the cracking of a whip, though, she supposed, she might have known all along. Known why she was so protective over him, why she could never, would never leave him for any reason. Knew why the universe had thrown her specifically here, right to him, her mate. Knew, as his nose dragged lovingly down the column of her throat to nuzzle into her hair, that this was the only place she would ever call home–with him.

She decided she wouldn’t tell him, not yet at least. He loved her, and that’s all that mattered to her. As with everything, Penny knew it was best to let him come to this on his own. And when he did, she would be waiting for him with open arms.

#a court of thorns and roses #acotar #tamlin #tamlin x oc #elucien #tamlin oc #feysand #gwynriel #tamdemption #tamlins hea #hope of spring

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sofiasjornal · 3 months

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A Court of Mist and Fury Review

In all my excitement in finishing the book and starting the next one, I forgot about the review! Here it is!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Definitely more exciting than the first one. It took me a while to get that feeling going, of just having to read to know what was going to happen, particularly because I was so angry in the first two hundred pages, but then the book got really good! Sooo good!

First things first, Feyre and Rhysand, we stan! I like Rhysand more and more as I get into the story. In the first one, the book built that image of him being a monster and using Feyre for his own personal gain, but even at the very end, I knew there was something more to it, the way he just disappeared... And as it turns out, he is sensitive, and not afraid of his emotions. Power just radiates off of him and he's not threatened by anything. He's confident enough to give Feyre the ability to choose for herself from the very beginning and I love that. I love how they became friends first because I think Feyre really needed that while she was healing, just support, someone to have her back, who understood her.

In the beginning, Feyre really did piss me off. Sarah has an incredible mastery of describing moments when your mind just goes dark. She did it with Aelin brilliantly and again with Feyre, but Feyre had the added bonus of being in first person. So it seemed like I was the one trapped in that dark place, in constant panic, feeling less and less of myself, becoming something I was not. I just wanted to scream at Feyre to snap out of it. But that is the brilliance of Sarah's writing, you have no other choice other than to get involved. And involved I got! As Feyre got stronger, my love for her just grew and grew! She really became one hell of a character! And High Lady! Let that sync in!

Let me just say there isn't a single person in the Night Court that I don't love! I love the unity, I love the banter, and the bickering, and how they all stand up for each other. We really are miles and miles away from the spring court, couldn't be more different, couldn't be warmer. I'm very intrigued about Azriel because we still do not know that much about him and I'm dying to find out exactly what Amren really is, it won't change anything, I'll still love her no matter what, but I'm dying to know. And Cassian, he just reminds me of a very big huge teddy bear. I really think that's the best way to describe him.

Also, I'm dying to see how Nesta and Elain will play in the war that's to come. And if Elain will accept Lucien has her mate. Considering she was in love with her fiancé, I don't know.

I'm just really excited to continue with this story, there's so many variables at play, and so many things that can go wrong! Now that I'm into it, it's going to be very hard to stop!

#books #sarah j maas #bookblr #book review #a court of wings and ruin #acotar

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shipmistress9 · 1 year

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My headcanons on Elain's and Nesta's future…

Elain will become Lady of Spring.

After Tamlin deteriorates further into insanity, he and the other High Lords agree that Lucien will lead the Spring Court in his stead, as his steward. He and Elain move to the Spring Court. Their presence, their love, their acceptance, the way they can argue without fighting, the freedom Elain has and how she is able to defend herself without being a warrior… it all helps Tamlin accept. Accept his mistakes, how it was his wrong doing and not some dark plotting that took Feyre away from him.

He comes to terms with his life. He never fully recovers, leaves the official work to Lucien and Elain, but he gets better. Especially when Elucien get their first child, he becoming a beloved if eccentric uncle, and through some strange magic working, it's their child that inherits the power of the High Lord of Spring.

Neste will become High Lady of the Autumn Court.

This is a bit more complicated... You see, Azriel and Cassian have been lovers for centuries. Az's fixation on Mor was for his own sanity, to ignore that his mate was the man he loathed more than anyone else, and to prove to himself that he cared more about his friend than her tormentor. But his love for Cassian runs deep, true. A comradeship that doesn't end just because a battle is over.

This doesn't change when Nesta shows up. She might be Cassian's mate but that has no impact on the feelings Az and Cas share. And after the intense period of the mating frenzy is over, she welcomes Azriel in their bed with open… arms.

Things get more complicated, eventually, when the political ties with the Autumn Court grow stronger. When they all are forced to interact with Eris more often, and in civil ways. Azriel can't avoid Eris anymore and the lure between Eris and Nesta grows, too.

This gets really messy, complicated, lots of drama and potential before they can solve their shit. But eventually, they all move to the Autumn Court, with Nesta as the High Lady of the Autumn Court and the undisputed Queen of their polycule.

#Elucien #Nessian #Azris #acotar #sjmaas #headcanons #nesta/cassian/azriel/eris #cazriel

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acourtofthought · 6 months

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Tamlin gave Feyre an engagement ring. Something I'm guessing he never gave to anyone else.

It didn't make them endgame.

Az let Elain borrow his dagger. Something he'd never done for anyone else.

It doesn't mean they'll be endgame.

Tamlin gave Feyre jewelry which she accepted but then gave to the water-wraith.

The giving of jewelry didn't make them endgame and Feyre easily parting with it was foreshadowing.

Azriel gave Elain a necklace which she accept but then easily returned (not to be confused with Nessian considering Nesta flat out refused her gift from the get go).

Why can't that also be possible foreshadowing for the end of E/riel? At this point she's got a stronger connection to Graysen than Az considering she refused to return his ring when he demanded it back. To me that demonstrates Elain is the kind of character to hold on to something when it still has meaning to her versus Nesta who refused gifts that had too much meaning.

Tamlin had such lust for Feyre, he told her the magic of Fire Night had him searching for her.

That didn't make them endgame

Az spent a year pleasuring himself to fantasies of Elain, but only in the dead of the night when his shadows were asleep.

If Tamlin being drawn to Feyre during a ceremony which brings magic to their lands for an entire year still didn't make them endgame then why would Elain being Az's dirty little secret have more staying power?

Feyre was frustrated at being expected to wear dresses in the Spring Court.

That was foreshadowing that she wasn't meant to stay there and was only truly comfortable wearing them once she ended up in the NC.

Elain was noted by both Cassian and Nesta as looking bad in black (a Night Court color) and Elain herself refused the Illyrian leathers.

Why can't that be foreshadowing that she's meant to leave the NC just as Feyre left Spring?

Feyre once said the night Tamlin kissed her was the happiest moment of her life. She also enjoyed painting in the Spring Court at one point and felt she found a friend in Ianthe.

We all know how that turned out.

Elain seems somewhat adjusted in the NC with hobbies and "friends".

Is it not possible that just as we later discovered Spring was not where Feyre was going to thrive despite the initial evidence to the contrary, we'll find out the same for Elain but in reverse?

Tamlin only wanted to protect Feyre too, keeping her safe from harm, despite the fact that she told him she wanted to be more involved.

That didn't end up together.

Az doesn't think Elain should be exposed to the darkness of the Trove which is essentially him wanting to keep her safe despite the fact that she expressed the desire to do more.

Why would they end up together when Tamlin and Feyre didn't?

Feyre was initially very afraid of Rhys, to the point she said she'd never want to paint him. He twisted her bone, forced her to dress and dance proactively and manipulated her into a bargain.

Yet in ACOMAF she fell in love with him before hearing his reasoning for his actions in ACOTAR, later listened to his reasonings and the acceptance of the mating bond reigned supreme.

Elain already knows what happened in Hybern was a mistake and not what Lucien intended, she sees that Feyre continues inviting him around for holidays (therefore seems to grasp that no one is holding a grudge over what happened with the king) and her only real struggle in regards to romance at this point is knowing that she lost her fiance because of the mating bond and being turned. Knowing that fate thinks it knows best for her (which tbh, it kind of does 😂).

If SJM worked her magic and had us believing in Feysand, if Feyre could fall in love with Rhys without initially knowing why he scared Tamlin into sending her back to the human lands, got her drunk, forced her to dance in front of everyone, and trapped her into an agreement with him, then why is anyone acting like Elain and Lucien have bigger obstacles to overcome?

I love Feysand and I have no grudge over what happened in their past but let's be honest, what he did to Feyre was 10x worse than anything Lucien has ever done to Elain. The things Feyre had to overcome to end up with Rhys were a much bigger deal than Elain finding out she had a mating bond with Lucien, something Lucien did not do to her but was done by the Mother / Fate itself (and really, the same thing fate did to Feyre and Nesta).

Elain has her own traumas to work through and I'm not saying they're less traumatic than Feyre or Nesta's, they've been / will be equally as difficult for her to work through.

But anyone claiming there's too much water under the bridge when it comes to her and Lucien needs to go back and read how SJMs other endgame relationships started.

Lucien has been practically perfect in comparison to the way Rhys and Cassian acted with Feyre and Nesta at times.

Elain's biggest problem is not going to be forgiving Lucien but letting go of her prideful stubbornness. All she needs to do is stop being put out over the fact that maybe fate did know a bit better than her (because really, she's holding a grudge that she couldn't even get her mother's one expectation of her right by choosing Graysen) and her every single desire will come true. SJM has made it obvious that Lucien is absolutely perfect for her and they could share in a life beyond her wildest dreams.

Right now Elain is her own worst enemy and that's so very Pride and Prejudice of SJM.

#elucien #pro elucien #elain archeron #lucien vanserra #anti e/riel #pro lucien vanserra #elain x lucien #lucien and elain #elain and lucien #elucien bond #antie/riel #antielriel

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rosenecklaces · 1 year

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Elain and Azriel for the ask game

Hii bestie tsm for the ask 💓

- For elain

First impression: she was just like me fr LMAO No but in all seriousness, I don't know if sjm intended to write a typical young girl with no job that just isn't fan of doing stuff but... that's me? I have getting better tho but when I started acotar almost two years ago I don't particularly hated her because I am just as lazy and kind of "in the clouds" ( tho we don't know if she and nesta took care of the house/cleaning so there's that)

Impression now: Azriel better square the fuck up or I make her my wife. I love the gradually little glimpses of who she is that we had been given, I am delighted by her grow and who she had become since the first book to acosf. I am glad I didn't gave up to read the rest of the series because GOD I needed an unapologetically soft and kind character that isn't a pushover and actually haves narrative relevance, is surprising to find (for me) esp. in a fantasy book series

Favorite moment: All? Lol genuinely practically all she does and says I'm like "yes queen get into it". But if I have to choose 100% the killing of hybern and "don't you touch my sister", the headache powder scene and the "come find me when you wish to begin" it was hot as hell + omg "and that makes him entitled of my attention?" The way I GASPED I was clapping and screaming like crazy I swear, also when she confronted lucien and called him out for his betrayal and left him GAGGED god I was smiling like crazy

Idea for a story: I'm into creepy shit and I think seer elain have potential for some spooky and gothic kind of stuff. "mother nature" elain is also an idea I'm interested in. Would love if she haves some weird extra connection to the cauldron/the mother too

Unpopular opinion: OH fuck I have a lot of those but gonna try keep it basic= She wouldn't have kids on her own but she would adopt, I see she+ az are more of the adopting side. She's morr chubby than her sisters and her arm are way stronger that you would think (this woman is a gardener full time c'mon) and I feel, in her mind, she is way more "rude" and the only think stopping her from insulting someone in their face is her self control and education, she is big lover of nature and animals but insects is a no no for her ( especially when they eat her flowers!) She likes parties and knowing new people but her social battery can get drained easily

Favorite relationship: Tamlain :)... could you imagine LOL, obviously elriel they are my 4 lifers. I also like some morlain and vasslain and casslain on the side,nice and cute. I like the archeron sisters messiness and their moments, little but good for my heart

Favorite headcanon: she's bi but tbh half the characters i like I see them as bi sowrry. I like the dusk theory a lot and I'll forever be a believer of it. I think her seer powers are just the tip of the iceberg and she actually haves mind powers (Jean Grey type of powerful) and I think she knows of her charms/how people views her and use it as an advantage she definetely could kill a person and get away with it ( gaslight gatekeep girlboss 💅)

- Azriel

F.I : 100% tought he was gonna be the typical "mysterious bad boy that doesn't give a shit and is cold as ice" I was so ready to ignore his ass, then he started to talk and do some stuff in his first pages and I was like "hmm, maybe your just like me fr.." and OH. MY .GOD I was RIGHT

I.N: He couldn't get over his crush of allegedly 500+ years? he didn't like to lost his breath in meaningless convos? he loves knifes and daggers and doesn't like to be touched by sweaty people? he hides his emotions because God forbid people realize you can FEEL? he's honest but also polite? his touch starved? like-, the online fandom tricked me... he isn't some sexy mysterious god he's just me but more baddass and a hot emo 🤷🏽‍♀️. He's everything to me now, he's like a brother to me he's my lost twin he's an emotional represed emo too weak for a woman's touch and I love him so much if sjm ruins him if someone speak ill of him if anything (more) bad happens to him I'm going to kill everyone in this room and then myself — I'm very normal about him yes.

F.M: as with elain love them all. In my top there's his moments with the archeron sisters, defending feyre and understanding nesta, the seeing and befriending elain slowly. The "im getting her back" whole scene, fucking hell that was awesome. carrying elain while injured and gotta ad the putting the necklace in elain, man's hands where SHAKING love that for him. Bonus the "I don't know what your talking about" to rhys when he knew damn well he catched him in the act, "what if the cauldron was wrong"+ knowing he would win in the BR, Slayyyyyyyyyyyy king

IFAS: hmm, gonna go with him finding his his step bros and killing them for what they did 🤷🏽‍♀️ give me vengeful azriel the bastards deserves it. As with elain, him as a high lord of dusk could be so nice. I also wish SJM didn't had ruined his+ rhys and cass relationship with the illyrians, she did awful making him hate his own people it could had been interesting exploring his illyrian blood more

Unpopular opinion: OH BOYYY AHAH. I don't believe he's a crazy sex casanova that had lovers left and right 24/7, just don't see him this much sex drived as cass/rhys, I do think he has various lovers but the number is exaggerated/no one really knows if those where different people or a same group he trust on. I REFUSE, you heard me, REFUSE to believe he has decades pining for Mor, that was 100% exaggerated and the way he felt for elain so naturally and kinda quick makes me think he has not being that crushing in mor for a good while (he also knew she likes women there's no way the spymaster couldn't know, of course he wouldn't tell anyone something so private of mor). He's older than cass and a little bit older than rhysand/same age (he gives me oldest daughter syndrome is all). For me shadowsinger is some kind of person that can literally heard and feel stuff others can't, I do think he can heard messages from the wind/any elements with vibration (like a BAT :) ) of course the shadows are a plus to detect stuff and protection but shadowsinger seems like a more highly sensorial power of a fae. He's an introvert and hate loudlyness ( sensible to big noises) except if is a family gathering

FAV.R: ELAINNN, elriel 4lifers friendship and romance and sluttyness in one package mwahh Delicious. I also like his dinamic with Cass and Rhys (AS BROTHERS AND BESTIES don't get it twisted), I kind of have a crackship of him and Varian yah, he seems like his type for some reason. I also think azriel could had a crush on Helion (well who wouldn't is the real question) and yeah bi azriel all the way idc

FAV.H: His shadows being from Hel and maybe he's connected to it so that's why they came to him ( maybe koschei knows and sees him as worth having by his side?). I like to think he is indeed into poetry, his mom likes it a lot and he picked it up from her, which gets me in the next point that is about him being a fae nerd lol, I feel he would had read a lot about bodies functions and anatomy for his torturer job, a lot about the other courts and stations, temperatures all that stuff, survival stuff for rough missions, how to cook without much resources, rosehall must be a place with a big garden so I love thinking he even gave elain advice when they talked about her plans, overall this guy reads a lot and loves to do so but mostly about practical stuff/poems and philosophy ( he's a workaholic but that's canon I think). I see him as more slim in body than cassian and rhys, kind of a little waist & big shoulders like rhysand but his arm and legs are more thick (since training) also larger, he's taller than Cass. I'm an azriel with big nose and curly emo haircut truther all the way. He doesn't know how to sing and haves a BIG sweet tooth

#ask tag #damn this was larger than i tought lol #elain archeron #azriel shadowsinger

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adelindschade · 2 years

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I’m at work so I’ll try to speedily sum up an idea I had way back that I only got into writing a little bit ago (still in draft form). Pardon any typos as I’m on the phone and technically not supposed to on the clock lol

Nesta dies. Sort of. She falls down the stairs, bumps her head, bleeds from said wound, and her powers geared up as a last resort healing process - all but cremating her in a slightly alternate version of winnowing - and having a phoenix moment, plus amnesia that manifests in a weird dream sequence she plays off as a repetitive nightmare. Falling down the stairs in a loop and waking up before the pain strikes - those kind of dreams.

She is taken in by Eris after being dumped in the No Fae human lands, alerted by his sentries, and being the chaotic grey persona he is, he neglects to tell her about the gaps in her memory. She knows nothing but the fact she has powers than apparently came from the cauldron (what’s that?) and her name is Nesta (who told him that? But okay…) and that she has no family to reconnect with (technically true since she chose banishment but that choice was overrode, surprise surprise! Not that she remembers anything prior to the accident to know that)

She’s his head council and trained weapon. They plot and scheme to slowly rid themselves of Beron and do so under the radar. His death appears natural but of course they have critics who suspect the transition from father to son was awfully convenient. Nonetheless, a peaceful transition is desired, and a hasty coronation is held to assure a smooth transfer of power and establish Eris’ reign as the new High Lord of Autumn.

Nesta is hooded and told to demonstrate her powers (as an intimidation tool) onto dissenters (imprisoned officials who plotted against Eris, prior supporters of his late father) in front of an audience composed of native and outside court nobles - including the Night Court. A public execution to show the lengths the new court will go to protect their new hold over their realm.

Elain is alone and Lucien has yet to be acknowledge as her mate, standing on his side of the court next to Eris. Her identity is unknown except for a few who suspect her power is too closely resembling Nesta - but Nesta is dead, isn’t she? Cassian doesn’t think so - delirious and clinging to hope that no body means no proof she’s actually departed of this world.

Only they get more than they expected when the hooded advisor then REVIVES the skeletalized dissenters (basically mindless animated corpses) and Eris informs in so few words to his court and all of the realm how his army is stronger than ever, versatile in every aspect, and unconditionally loyal to him. (Rather, Nesta, but indirectly to Autumn) and how such force than extend to rivals as well. Fear is the goal - and it is accomplished in spade.

Another shocked: he asked the night court to provide two priestesses in exchange for a book to aid Feyre, but the surviving priestess of the twins is nowhere to be seen - and neither the shadow singer. Rhys is embarrassed and struggles to provide an excuse for their absence. Elain is humiliated as her betrothal to Azriel was abruptly cut short - unbeknownst to them (Autumn) he discovered Gwyn was his mate and ran off before Rhys could force him to hand her off.

There was a lapse in language as it was presumed Gwyn would be providing an heir (via betrothal) and not that was going to be acknowledged as an heir, with Eris eager to announce and legitimatize her to further strengthen his claim.

Azriel ran with Gwyn before she could be subject to what he deemed to be cruelty and Rhys is without a book, embarrassed in front of the other lords, and suspecting Nesta behind the hood (or worse - another Fae capable of great destruction that needed to be neutralized)

Cassian and Feyre are clinging to hope Nesta is revived and plead to know of whom Eris holds close - what their identity is - but Eris is quick and determined to keep her face unknown and away from prying peers who might mean harm or conspire against him.

Nesta questions the tug she feels and then suspects Rhys attempting to get her head, as Eris warned her about, and shows off her fire to dissuade Rhys from pushing it - alarming him as he realizes she knows what he is capable of - and raises red flags.

He makes it clear: that person (still not sure who he’s targeting) either needs to be eliminated or coerced into changing courts, as an army of the dead is far more dangerous than any the Night Court could conjure on a whim (especially with the lower Illyrian lords rebelling). He tasks Cassian as a step in for Azriel while he sends Mor to seek out his wayward spy.

There’s a snag. Eris is livid his plan to initiate a solid blood related heir has been foiled by the night court. He demands that she be presented by the next moon cycle or else the Night Court shall prepare for grace ramifications. With war looming, the Inner Circle is scrambling for reproach to save their court and their reputation.

Another snag: Eris looks to Nesta and tells her to go forth. Do what she will to make sure Gwyneth Berdara is within his court by the next moon cycle. If the Night Court fails to produce her before Nesta (purposely unnamed by Eris) they best prepare their defenses. (A promise of vengeance or just to make them sweat?) May whoever intervenes to stand in his way be given the penalty of absolution (as demonstrated in Autumn fashion) - decreed by the High Lord himself.

Cassian and Rhys now have to fear for Azriel’s safety. Nesta, with no recollection of whom Azriel is besides the meddlesome and cruel shadowsinger, has her own vision that Gwyn is in grave peril in his custody and vows to bring her to safety in Autumn where she is given far better standing and accommodations than what the Night Court provides. She nods in silent affirmations. Azriel has no idea what storm is awaiting them.

The Night Court is pulled at the limbs to save their brother, a pregnant Feyre, discover the identity of their nose foe, and the livelihood of their court. Eris is desperate to validate his court, reinstate his line of legitimacy, and keep Nesta in his allegiance.

Mor and Elain both propose they can salvage ties by presenting marriage. Mor to Eris to produce an heir (unlikely due to her condition but a temporary time bidder) + Elain to Lucien to assuage tensions (a token piece). It’s rejected by Eris who sees through their ruse. He wants no part of that and Lucien can accept whom he chooses.

PART TWO HAS YET TO BE PLOTTED because I have no idea how to dramatically reveal Nesta but ideas are welcomed as I already invested too much to not to try to write it out. I just like a good spicy plot with plenty of tension and conflict (ensues in evil laughter)

#on phone so I can’t add the read more cut off option #just musing possible fics #nessian #no romantic neris but definitely grey neris as he has his cons #we gotta keep true to character #nesta archeron #anti Ic

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