flameandshadows

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Just got back from a long road trip around Oregon. It was so beautiful, and I miss it already. These are just some of the most beautiful places I saw.

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I love the theory that Helion might be Eris’s father because they both have amber eyes, but I can’t help but think about how much more devastating it is if he isn't.

On the day of his birth, Eris's amber eyes shine up at the Lady of Autumn—such a familiar shade that her heart wonders.

But no. They're not the same gold. They don't hold the same warmth. Fire is no match for the sun.

Sometimes she pretends, though. She tells herself that his eyes are gold because his father's eyes are gold. It is easier to love him this way.

As he grows, traces of Beron etch themselves into his face. His jaw is sharp, his nose narrow. Cruelty drips like poison from his tongue. She holds room for him in her heart, but he will never be the son she would have chosen.

Centuries later, Lucien has come and gone. Sunrise, sunset. But Eris remains.

And when his amber eyes turn on her with anger, or hate, or—worst of all—the cold detachment she taught him, her pain is twofold. They're not the same gold, but they're close enough to rouse sleeping memories. Close enough to haunt her like a ghost.

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Eris holding baby Lucien 🥹!! I wanna thank @xo.hikka extremely much for working with me again,and I can't express my emotions while watching this amazing artwork 🥺🥺💖 I'll always commission for Vanserra family moments since we haven't seen anything in the books 🥲

🚫 NO REPOSTS 🚫

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a lil cazriel for pride 👀

okay I may have gone overboard with this one but I just have such a soft spot for cazriel I love them so much 😭 they love each other so much it kills me

just don't look too close at the hands or tattoos lmao

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Day 5 @azrisweek Favorite Trope/AU

One of my favorites is them being each other’s sun and moon. A little Dark fantasy AU of them being just that and together they form an eclipse

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Hello day 4 of @azrisweek Read between the lines

Getting all up on your space just cuz they wanna be up close and breath into each other’s face ☺️

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@azrisweek Day 3 : contact

Faithful shadows and hounds. Their most reliable messengers.

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Literally the most beautiful picture of them I have EVER seen. I want to cry they are so soft and beautiful and they get to age and live and LOVE together.

Day 2 of @azrisweek Slice of life

Centuries of excitements. Time to take it easy. Slow days. Just two faes growing old and grey together.

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A little slice of life for @azrisweek. They're so sleepy.

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Day 2 Slice of Life

Eris and his needy pets

@azrisweek 🌹

Taglist started! Lmk if you want on or off babes 💋

@chunkypossum @jules-writes-stories @mistandmemories @g00seg1rl @irithiadourden @the-darkestminds @thesourcabbage @aleksandra25cracow

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I got one of those “Blind Date with a Book” things at my local bookstore. TELL ME WHY this book ends up being a straight smut story with a gargoyle sugar daddy dom. That is NOT what the little description said. Now I know why the clerk said “OH” when it scanned. I’m never doing that again.

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Day 1 : Creature feature

“My love…You have returned to me.”

Demon Azriel awaits Phoenix Eris’s rebirth.

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Woke up from my hibernation for @azrisweek 2025

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Raging flames kissed by shadows

A huge thank you to the wonderful @lucychanart I wanted Azriel to be portrayed as that big, powerful creature, Eris' attack dog, but the High Lord of Autumn doesn't really need a leash. It's a game between the two of them, a indulgence, but their relationship is much more than that.

Can you see all the details? I'm in love. Thank you so much again.

This piece accompanies a one-shot I wrote with that scene in mind, which you can read here.

Happy @azrisweek ❤️

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Finally settled on a version of Eris I liked. He's bloodied because he just ended 1,000+ years of tyranny in Autumn and he can't quite believe it yet

Thank you to everyone who voted on my Eris hair poll! Individual portraits under the cut

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"Easy," Lucien said. Cassian snarled. "Easy," Lucien repeated, and flame sizzled in his russet eye. The flame, the surprising dominance within it, hit Cassian like a stone to the head, knocking him from his need to kill and kill and kill whatever might threaten-

Lucien Van fucking Serra showing the markers of a Highlord in the making!

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Azriel's Skills as a Spy

I constantly see commentary about Azriel's skills as a spy. Specifically, that he is not a very good one.

However, it only seems to be a problem in Autumn, and only with Eris.

Could Azriel be a good spy, but a bad one around Eris, because it makes him happy?

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Azriel: *sneaking around Forest House Corridors and spots Eris as he turns a corner. Shadows hide him from view.*

Eris: *Walking without a clue*

Azriel: (to shadows): He can't see me... can you wiggle a little to catch his attention?

Eris: *Stops. Smirks. Stalks toward the corner of shadows* "Hello, Shadowsinger. Back for more?"

Azriel: *Admires the smirk of his boo, wide with delight, and his heart tugs happily, glad he's made his bae's day* "Oh no! Foiled again..."

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I think one of the most interesting and overlooked moments between Lucien and Feyre is when they are escaping to Night through Autumn and they have this exchange:

"They didn't like you?" His jaw tightened. "As the youngest of seven sons, I wasn't particularly needed or wanted. Perhaps it was a good thing. I was able to study for longer than my father allowed my brothers before shoving them out the door to rule over some territory within our lands, and I could train for as long as I liked, since no one believed I'd be dumb enough to kill my way up the long list of heirs. And when I grew bored with studying and fighting.....I learned what I could of the land from its people. Learned about the people, too." He eased to his feet with a groan, his unbound hair glimmering as the midday sun overhead set the blood and wine hues aglow. "I'd say that sounds more High Lord-like than the life of an idle, unwanted son" A long, steely look "Did you think it was mere hatred that prompted my brothers to do their best to break and kill me?" Despite myself, a shudder rippled down my spine. I finished off the apple and uncoiled to my feet, plucking another off a low-hanging branch. "Would you want it-your father's crown?" "No one's ever asked me that," Lucien mused as we moved on, dodging fallen, rotting apples. The air was sticky sweet. "The blood-shed that would be required to wear that crown wouldn't be worth it. Neither would its festering court. I'd gain a crown-only to rule over a crafty, two faced people." "Lord of Foxes" I said, snorting as I remembered that mask he'd once worn. -ACOWAR (page 106)

I feel like this exchange is telling us a lot about who Lucien is. Honestly I think people should pay a lot more attention to the entire escape from Spring chapters than they do, because I think Lucien is being his most honest and open and vulnerable with Feyre than he ever is in ACOTAR and the rest of the series.

But this exchange is particularly interesting.

Lucien was allowed to learn sword fighting for as long as he liked. Feyre mentions that Lucien prefers to use his words over his swords, but this shows that Lucien has studied swordplay extensively and that he only stopped because he grew bored with it (along with studying). We know Lucien is alot more handy with a sword then he often lets on-Feyre also notes she's seen him training with Tamlin in Spring before, with the insinuation that she found him to be able to hold his own with a High Lord that was raised in the war camps. This also is led credence by the fact that Lucien was able to behead Hyburn's niece who was over a thousand years old and had fought in the original war, cutting through her neck in a single strike. He was also able to dodge Hybrun's nephew. And in the infamous frozen lake scene, Lucien is noted to be fighting two brothers at once, and has somehow wrested a sword. Just because Lucien is uninterest in fighting in another war, and just because he seems keen always to avoid using violence to solve problems, that doesn't mean he's not dangerous when he chooses to be.

Lucien's brothers saw him as a threat despite him also saying "no one thought I would be stupid enough to try and kill my way up the long list of heirs". Lucien had won the love of the people, and that scared his brothers enough that they wanted him not just dead but ruined.

Lastly Lucien's retort to Feyre's question about his father's crown has always kind of piqued my interest. He seems almost surprised "No one's ever asked me that" and then he doesn't immediately disavow ruling. He ponders her question, and then replies that no, Autumn court has no appeal to him. But his reply, alongside with the fact that he never refutes her statement that he acted like a High Lord in his youth could have some interesting implications about his own ambitions.

I do think it's obvious Lucien plays down alot of what he is. He doesn't even use magic all that much, outside of healing and winnowing, and as mentioned above he only uses violence as a last resort and even then he may downplay how skilled he is.

SJM has been showing us in little glimpses that there is waaaay more to Lucien, and has also been showing us that everyone keeps overlooking him when they shouldn't. Feyre thinks Cassian could knock Lucien on his ass, and yet we see she was wrong about Cassian when Lucien high lord commands and dominates him as easily as breathing. They send Lucien off on a suicide mission in lands deemed too dangerous for even the strongest High Lord in Prythian history and never stop to truly think about the fact that Lucien made it through those lands and completed his mission. Lucien slips out to the library shortly after arriving in Night Court and later we find out he's pulled one over Rhys and Feyre without them even considering being suspicious of him or his motives.

There is so much to his seemingly "side character" and I can't wait to hear more about the Lord of Foxes.