#also my first time posting anything for acotar

[throneofsapphics]

could you do one with feysand x reader and reader’s like very feisty in public and she’s ruthless in the nightcourt but when they’re alone she’s like so submissive to them and it sometimes surprises them.😋

and i wanted to say that you literally are one of the few blogs i genuinely love, i have ur notifications on and literally click so fast whenever you post. You’re so talanted, literally love u❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

just for them 

poly!Feysand x f!Reader

Summary: Feyre and Rhys loved seeing you like this. All sweet and pliant, just for them. Completely opposite to you in the Court of Nightmares 

Warnings: smut, d/s dynamics, light bondage, non-sexual submission (sort of), minors dni please!

A/N: ahh thank you so much, i cry when people say nice things to me, i love you! I’ve never written them before so I’m not sure if I got the vibe right but I tried I promise

You rolled your eyes when a male laid a hand on your shoulder. Rhys, noticed immediately, of course. “I can handle this,” you said, through that channel he always keeps open. Amusement fluttered through, but his bored expression didn’t change. 

You clasped your opposite hand over his wrist, and twisted enough till you heard a few bones crack. 

His mouth opened, likely to spit out some vile curse, but you spoke first. “I’d keep those words to yourself, if you’d like to keep your tongue.” Your voice was sweet, but a wicked smile crossed your face as you dropped his arm. 

“You can’t -” He started to speak, but found himself dragged - not by any person, likely by Feyre’s powers, up in front of their thrones. 

“I said I could handle it.” You hissed into her mind. 

“Not to me.” 

“Care to finish that sentence?” She purred, as the entire room froze. Maybe this was their way of staking a claim on you. Again. Sometimes those people seemed to forget. The male did end up walking away, with a wrist that looked worse than how you left it, but his tongue still intact. Feyre surely could sense your annoyance, but she seemed very pleased with herself. 

-

“Look how good you are for us,” Feyre’s hand stroked your head, circling around where you knelt, palms flat on your thighs, eyes downcast. Her hand gently fisted the back of your hair, tilting your head up to meet her eyes. Rhys sat on the edge of the bed, forearms pressed against his thighs, head propped on interlocked fingers. 

“Would you rather me be bad?” 

“No.” Rhys answered quickly and firmly, his voice darkening slightly. Feyre tilted her head so you’d look right at him. “We like you just as you are,” he purred, “trust me, you won’t like the punishment if you act out.”

You remember vividly the one time you had that sort of punishment, and were not keen on reliving the experience. Rhys, who usually liked to make you finish over and over again, edged you for an entire week, not even Feyre gave you mercy. Besides, you liked submitting to them. There was a freedom in it. Something you couldn’t quite explain. And they enjoyed it too, a big bonus. Well, you wondered if it would have worked otherwise, if you’d been too different .. you felt a gentle tap at your mental barriers, recognizing it as Rhys’s. 

Normally you wouldn’t put them up, not around them. 

His two fingers curled, gesturing for you to come closer, you pictured them curled inside you, your body writhing as he - you blocked the image out and ignored the smirk on the male’s face. 

You pressed up on your knees, starting to rise to your feet, but a gentle hand pushed you back down. Feyre crouched behind you, her hands running feather light strokes down your arms. “Crawl to him.” She whispered, giving your shoulders a gentle push, and you did. You kept your eyes trained on him the entire time, watching them flicker with approval and arousal. 

The soft carpet brushed under your hands and knees, although he was only a few paces away, time seemed to slow as you made your way over. Crawl to him. Those words lit something inside you. 

His legs parted, making room for you to settle between, one hand guided your head to rest against his knee, and you happily did, letting your cheek press into the warmth of his body, through his trousers. A snap of his fingers and your clothes disappeared. You jumped as a cool breeze fluttered across your body, pebbling your nipples and putting you on edge. Rhys’s hand kept your cheek pressed firmly against him. “Don’t put those walls up,” he murmured, “I want to hear every little thought in that pretty mind of yours. Relax.” 

You did, letting your thoughts drift past, keeping a vague awareness of the sensations around you, and knew he and Feyre were talking court business. As much as you occasionally enjoyed the court of nightmares - when they let you accompany them, the politics behind it - that you despised. Your body tensed slightly, thinking of that male’s hand against your shoulder … "relax", his smooth voice flowed through your mind and you refocused your efforts, letting yourself melt into your surroundings. His fingers combed through your hair, gently loosening the slight tangles as he went. The gesture was absent-minded, natural, and you found yourself leaning into it, matching your breathing as the world slipped away. 

A thumb pressed under your chin, drawing your attention back up, your head angled slightly to the side. Feyre had a smile on her face, “how do you feel, love?” 

“Good.” You murmured, eyes a bit glazed over. 

-

Feyre and Rhys loved seeing you like this. All sweet and pliant, just for them. Completely opposite to you in the Court of Nightmares. Of course, it surprised them at first, but they quickly found themselves loving each version. 

Feyre’s hand slid back, gripping the soft skin of the back of your neck lightly. That small change was just enough that she scented your arousal rising, watching your breaths quicken. Those pretty eyes started to glaze over with lust. 

With one thought, Feyre’s clothes disappeared and Rhys chuckled as she dragged you between her legs instead. 

-

You knew exactly what she wanted, and eagerly leaned in, kissing the soft skin of her inner thighs, testing Feyre’s patience enough until she groaned, pushing your head in further. Perfectly for you to give small, gentle licks up her folds. The taste of her was addicting, and you let out a small moan. You knew exactly what she liked, but before you could bring your hands up, threads of magic bound them behind your back. You fought back a whine, focusing your attention on Feyre’s clit instead as she rained praises down on you. Her fingers gripped your hair as her thighs began to clench around your head. 

Through your eyelashes, you watched her throw her head back, bracing one hand on the bed behind her as the other held your head firmly in place. 

“Gods, y/n,” you could barely hear her, “such a good girl, putting that pretty little mouth to use.” 

Your arousal grew and grew, enough you could be leaving an embarrassing wet spot on the carpet. 

Her breathing steadied out, but you had no time to recover as strong arms threw you on the bed, the binds on your hands disappearing, only to reappear, binding your wrists above your lead. 

Long fingers wrapped around your neck, squeezing lightly. Not hard enough to cut off any airflow, but just enough for you to feel the pressure. 

“I’ve been thinking about this all day,” Rhys breathed, lips grazing your ear as his hand trailed down your body. “You. in our bed. All ready and perfect for us to use. That’s what you want, isn’t it darling?” 

[pellucid-constellations]

Only in Dreams

Pairing: Azriel x Reader

Summary: In his dreams, Azriel recounts how he got to his mate.

Word count: 2k

Warnings: Some angst, mentions of injuries

a/n: Hi this is my first acotar fic idk what I'm doing. I've been reading them for years so here's a little one for fun <3 I know it's different from my usual but inspiration is a finicky creature :) Also, italics denote flashbacks.

~~

There was very little Azriel wouldn’t do for his mate. 

He had learned that early on. 

In those early days, when the bond had made itself known to only him, there was so much confusion and strife within the shadowsinger. He had known you for decades, admired you from afar, and befriended you under self-made pretenses. You were a light, a healer, too good and sweet to be anything to him other than a friend, a coworker. 

But you were also his mate. 

The air had been knocked from his lungs at the realization. 

“Is everything okay?” you had asked, sweet confusion bunching at your brows. 

And Azriel couldn’t answer, not for several long beats. 

“Az, what’s wrong? You look like Cassian after he took that weird herb Majda wanted me to test.”

Another bout of silence, this time accompanied by soft, warm hands along his cheeks. You leaned in, the sweet scent knocking him out of his stupor. As he jerked back, you only followed, blinking in surprise. 

“Azriel—” 

“I apologize,” he finally—weakly—stammered out. “I was talking with Rhys.” 

“You were talking with Rhys?” 

It hadn’t sounded much like a question, but Azriel nodded anyways, enraptured by you and your closeness. He needed to get away, to leave. You were too close. He was too weak. 

But then you giggled, and the sound was so melodic and saccharine that he found himself breathless again. He could get lost in that sound. If he was being honest with himself, he had gotten lost in that sound plenty of times before. But now… now. Gods, now you were his mate. 

As you laughed some more, teasing retorts echoing in the air, Azriel knew you had no idea. 

And, as Azriel had learned, that was fine. You didn’t need to know. Because he knew, and that was enough. 

Enough for the overwhelming devotion he felt for you to finally have substance. To finally be validated. 

You were his—everything sweet and good was his to protect. And, gods, did he want to protect you. 

You made that very difficult in the weeks after the bond had snapped for him. His instincts were in overdrive, taking note of your every move and praying to the cauldron that you were careful when he was sent on missions and you stayed back in Velaris. He had nothing to worry about when that was the case. The inner circle loved you almost as much as he did. 

But then Rhys decided you were needed. 

With an unreciprocated mating bond and a mate that cared so little for her own self-preservation, that had been Azriel’s worst nightmare. 

“Reconsider.” 

“There is nothing to reconsider, Azriel. We need a healer in Windhaven to show them that the clipping won’t be seen to fruition. And y/n just so happens to be our court healer,” Rhys carefully explained for the third time. 

“Send Majda.” 

Rhys held the bridge of his nose. “There is a reason y/n took over her post. Madja is far too old to be making those kinds of trips.” 

“Send anyone else,” Azriel rasped, a tightness to his words. 

“No. She is the best. It will only be for a few weeks and Cassian—” 

“Rhysand.” 

Rhys paused at the desperation laced within his brother’s tone. He removed the fingers attempting to abate the ache along his temple and observed Azriel’s clenched fists and restless shadows. Rhys’s lips parted in shock, his eyes blinking in quick succession. Something clicked within his gaze.

“Is she…” 

The muscle in Azriel’s jaw quivered. “Just don’t send her there. Please.” 

Rhys raised a hand to run down his jaw. “My gods, Azriel. This is…this is—does she know?” 

“No,” he replied, quick and low. 

“I understand what you’re feeling, but I can’t stop her. You know that, brother.” 

And, unfortunately, Azriel knew that. 

When you set your mind to something—when you knew you were going to help people—that was it. There would be nothing keeping you from helping those in need. Especially the Illyrian women. Azriel was pretty sure you kept a dartboard somewhere in the house with Lord Devlon’s face on it. 

He loved that about you, truly he did. But it also made you reckless.

There were plenty of instances where you burned yourself out from healing. You would come home swaying on your feet or be so depleted you couldn’t even winnow correctly. He could count on two hands the amount of times you passed out at the dinner table after work. When he thought about you doing that in Windhaven… Azriel couldn’t even stomach the thought. 

“Then order her,” Azriel gritted out. He could hear you coming. You and Cassian, bags packed, chatting down the hall about something insignificant. 

Why couldn’t he come, again? 

Right, because he would “stir up the camp” or whatever obtuse reason Rhys had given him. 

“You know that won’t go over well,” Rhys countered. 

“Neither will the entirety of Windhaven if she gets hurt.” 

Azriel’s threat fell on deaf ears as you came bounding into the room, bright and determined and smiling at him as if you weren’t leaving. 

“Here to see us off, Az?” 

That trip to Windhaven had been awful—for Azriel and for you. Rhys’s “ordering” hadn’t been effective, and neither had Cassian’s ability to pick up on context clues. As you stood, baffled at Rhys’s sudden change in plans, Cassian didn’t so much as look at Azriel’s subtle vies for assistance. Because Cassian had been just as baffled as you were. 

So, you went to Windhaven. 

And then you came home hurt. 

Not terribly, just a few cuts and a black eye that rivaled his own from the last time he trained with the Valkyries. 

Cassian explained that there had been a fight unrelated to you, but you had gotten caught up in it. He suspected it was a ploy to get hands on you, but Azriel had stopped listening to him the second you landed on the balcony with stitches on your forehead. The moment he saw your hands bandaged and your eye purple and blue. 

You had laughed about your inability to fight, knocking an injured hand into Cassian’s side as he jested that it was time for you to get into the training ring with him. Later, Azriel would agree with that sentiment. In that moment, however, unparalleled fear had coursed through his veins. Rhys was the only one ready for it. 

Cassian’s back slammed into the far wall of the house, wings splaying out against stone. Azriel’s shadows were gone as he held his brother against the wall, abandoning him in favor of wrapping around your wounds. 

Azriel thought he heard you scream. 

“You said you would protect her!” he seethed, pushing his forearm against Cassian’s throat, blue siphon blazing atop his hand.

“Azriel, stop!” Your call went unheard. Rhys stood ground in front of you, arm jutting out when you tried to get around him. 

Cassian pushed back against him, face twisted in confusion. “I did. I pulled her from that fight as soon as I could, Az. You think—” his words cut off with another shove from his brother “—you think I would have let anything happen to her on purpose?” 

Azriel growled, low and dangerous. “All I think is that my mate came back looking like that when you swore to take care of her. You swore.” 

The room went silent, stagnant. Even the shadows halted their appraisal of you as you held onto Rhys’s arm. Cassian stopped fighting. Somewhere down the hall, the rushed footsteps of some other member of the family abruptly stopped. 

“She’s your mate?” 

“Azriel—” Your whisper was lost in the lingering chaos of the room. 

The time after was a blur for Azriel. He knew he left the balcony, retreating to his room hastily after sending you a longing, apologetic glance. He knew you called after him, that you were breathless and shaking and Rhys kept holding you back… telling you to give him some time to cool off. 

He didn’t need time. He needed you, and Azriel had been positive that would never happen now. 

Half of his shadows joined him in his room, engulfing him as he sat on his bed with his head in his hands. The other half stayed with you, still worried about the pain that you had endured. It was a miracle you hadn’t sent them away. They would have listened to you if you had. They would always listen to you. 

When the door creaked, his shadows covered him even more, encasing his fear and worry and embarrassment into a shell that kept him safe. 

He was a fool. 

“Azriel?” 

He had to be imagining the sweet trill of your voice. There was no way you had come for him, not after all of that. But soon, your shoes slinked into the mess of shadows between his legs, and a bandaged hand gently guided his chin up. 

When he met your eyes, his shadows circled faster. His wings fell lower and lower against the bed, giving himself up to your gaze. 

“Azriel,” you repeated, music within the swish of dark air. “Care to explain, shadowsinger?”

The bruises on your face made his stomach turn. He went to look away, to escape this physical and mental turmoil, but you only locked your wrists and kept him there. 

It took him a moment, but he finally relented. 

“You are my mate,” he spoke, gravely and unsure—even though that was the one thing Azriel was sure of above all else. “You are my mate and you are hurt. I am sorry for my actions… if I scared you or—” 

“I wasn’t asking about the display of male violence on the balcony.” Your teasing smile made some of his shadows rest.

It also made hope swell within the deepest parts of Azriel’s wearied chest. 

You didn’t look forlorn at his offhanded declaration, nor did you look repulsed. You just looked like… you. You looked at him as you always had, and maybe that meant something. 

Maybe that was something for Azriel to hold onto. 

“How long have you known?” you asked, when he spent a moment too long admiring the upturn of your mouth. 

Azriel blinked, moving his eyes back to your own. “A while.” 

“And you weren’t going to tell me?” You didn’t sound accusatory, or even angry as he was sure Feyre had all those years ago. You only sounded sad. That made it worse. 

“I wanted to tell you,” Azriel stressed, leaning forward on the bed to capture your legs between his. “I wanted to, I just—y/n, I just…” 

There was no solid explanation. You didn’t rush him as he stumbled over his words—you were patient, as you always were. You were patient and Azriel was a coward.

Determination set a line in his brow. 

“I was a coward,” he affirmed. “I didn’t want to push you away… to make you feel unsure or pressured. You are… you are everything. You have been everything to me for many years now. If I had ruined that—if I had pushed something upon you that you did not want—” 

“Has it occurred to you, Azriel, that I would very much like to be your mate?” 

Azriel paused his spiel, licking his drying lips as he searched your eyes for the lie. 

“Only when I dream.” 

You had kissed him after that, all bruised and scratched and broken, and Azriel found himself dreaming.

As he stared at you across the sitting room, surrounded by your raucous, disruptive family, Azriel dreamed again. The glow of the fire lit up the side of your face as you laughed, sending warmth up the long-accepted mating bond, and he dreamed of you in every iteration of his life. 

And he would do anything to keep that dream alive.

[feyrescourt]

This is a long and rambly discussion post for elriel nation btw so strap in

I want to preface this by kindly asking the elriel hive to not use any tags of #those ships if reblogged. I want to keep this in the elriel echo chamber. Please and thank u!

A huge part of fandom culture is to ship canonically compliant characters and crack ships. Everyone’s got them, and it’s totally normal, and it’s usually fun to engage with.

The majority of the time I have no issue with this (I am a wolfstar shipper and even though there is canonical evidence of them in the original HP books, they’re widely accepted online and balked at IRL usually due to homophobia and #that nasty, nasty woman’s bigotry), but over the last few years a certain group of crack shippers have taken it upon themselves to fly a little too close to the sun, and want to make it our (elriels) problem. I am talking about the Glees.

It’s late and this just popped into my head so I want to rant about it.

My friend who got me into ACOTAR gave me a breakdown of the ships (bc I read ToG first and went in blind. I became a doraelin shipper very early on and remained one halfway through QoS, it was a whole thing when I realized they were not end game lol), bc I asked her to after my ToG experience. She told me all the characters names and then told me about feysand and nessian endgames but didn’t mention az or elain’s situation. I asked her about it and she told me that she didn’t want to mention much about Az because “by the end of the series azriel has two options for how his story could go, elain or another way”. She shared some anti elain sentiment with me because she’s “boring and doesn’t do anything”. That went in one ear and out the other with me tbh.

When I started acowar, and feyre returned to the night court, I saw how elain and azriel were interacting and I concluded that mor was the second LI of az bc of acomaf. I was not apart of the fandom online at this point, so I was genuinely in the dark about everything around these two. I was just reading and talking to my friend about what I read. I also want to add that I still liked L*cien at this point in the series (it changed in acofas, I became apathetic towards him rather quickly when I finished reading that whiny ass convo with feyre…..I don’t play when it comes to her) but wasn’t sold on eluce because they had like one interaction and it wasn’t a great intro to a ship.

However this first meeting in acomaf….. :)

‘Can you truly fly?’ He set down his fork, blinking. I might have even called him self-conscious. He said, ‘Yes. Cassian and I hail from a race of faeries called Illyrians. We’re born hearing the song of the wind.’ ‘That’s very beautiful,’

“Rhys chuckled, Cassian’s wrath slipping enough that he grinned, and Elain, noticing Azriel’s ease as proof that things weren’t indeed about to go badly, offered one of her own as well.”

Well imagine my surprise when I finished acowar and it turns out mor (the person az has crushed on for 500 years) comes out to feyre before the book ends and she explains that she can never love az the way he loves her. After three books, and everything that happens in acowar it was clear to me that elain and azriel were being set up as each others love interests, despite the mating bond with l*cien.

After Acofas I was officially on the elriel train. I mean…

“Azriel strode to the lone window at the end of the room and peered into the garden below.”

“Azriel emerged from the sitting room, a glass of wine in hand and wings tucked back to reveal his fine, yet simple black jacket and pants. I felt, more than saw, my sister go still as he approached. Her throat bobbed.”

“But Azriel only took Elain’s heavy dish of potatoes from her hands, his voice soft as night as he said, ‘Sit. I’ll take care of it.’ Elain’s hands remained in midair, as if the ghost of the dish remained between them. With a blink, she lowered them, and noticed her apron. ‘I—I’ll be right back,’ she murmured, and hurried down the hall before I could explain that no one cared if she showed up to dinner covered in flour and that she should just sit.”

“Elain swept in, apron gone and hair rebraided. ‘Please don’t wait on my account,’ she said, taking the seat at the head of the table.”

“He [Azriel] was the portrait of relaxed, an arm braced against the carved mantel, his wings tucked in loosely, a faint grin on his face and a glass of wine in his hand. He slid his hazel eyes toward my sister without him moving an inch.”

“Azriel and Elain remained in the sitting room, my sister showing him the plans she’d sketched to expand the garden in the back of the town house, using the seeds and tools my family had given her tonight. Whether he cared about such things, I had no idea.”

(Damn the more I read elriel’s acofas moments the more I can’t help but conclude that they just hate/don’t understand introverts 😭)

Before I started SF, I decided to look at the online fandom and bitch……my jaw hit the floor with all the elain/elriel hate I saw on TT. And everyone was talking about a newer character in SF, and I was seeing the glee fan art and was like oh shit ok maybe elriel isn’t endgame.

Fast forward to SF……

‘What happened to Elain?’

“Nesta saw the blow land, like a physical impact, in Elain’s face, her posture. No one spoke, though shadows gathered in the corners of the room, like snakes preparing to strike. Elain’s eyes brightened with pain.”

……and I’m thinking ok, az obviously likes her. Then comes az’s BC. When I finished the elriel portion of the BC I was actually crying bc I was like oh fuck I really love these two….I knew it was over for me, and I was freaked out bc I thought I was going to get got with this “new ship” involving az. Plus I was thinking about elain being left alone in the dark without any explanation and feeling like an idiot for finally showing her true feelings towards him😭. It was like 3AM when I read it so I was hyper emotional lol. But then I read the rest of the BC and was still confused because I didn’t see any romantic subtext with g/wyn. I read it and saw a hurt male who couldn’t stand what he had done to elain the night before, was pissed at his brother for stopping it and making him feel bad when he was finally willing to voice what he’s been feeling for the past year or so and hating that he was shut down because we know he never voices his emotions, and couldn’t bear keeping a gift he picked out specifically for her. A necklace…..for solstice……Then I finished SF as a whole, and still, was confused as to why glee is a ship. Nearly all of their conversations were centered around training, and Sarah didn’t use any descriptors in their encounters that elude to any romance or mutual interest. (Btw I have a whole take on rhys’ part in that BC and I think a lot of ppl are dense and don’t understand what he was going through in that book but I can save that for another time)

Cassian and Feyre have more chemistry than those too lol.

I then talked to my friend about the these ships (elriel, eluce, and glee) ((i didn’t talk about eluce much in this post but that’s a lifeless ship too. I mean…..she can’t stand that red head anyway soooo)), and I said “I’m an elriel through and through. Idc that eluce are claimed to be mates you can tell she does not like him. also glee makes no sense to me.” Not verbatim but you get the point. My friend is very sensible so by the end of our convo, she told me that she’ll accept whatever way Sarah goes and that she’ll give elain a chance when her book comes out.

But isn’t that what all of this shit is about in the end: unjustified dislike/distain/hate for elain? That’s certainly how is appears to me. You cannot look me in the eyes and tell me that you love elain if you ship her with a male whom she has expressed, on multiple occasions, zero interest in AND becomes a shell of herself when he’s around because she just doesn’t want to interact with him. (I want to reiterate that I don’t hate L, I don’t think he’s awful or anything. elain just doesn’t want to know him. And that’s her right.) The glees don’t like her bc she doesn’t fit their stereotype for what they want in an FMC and therefore, for azriel. Which is why they have been chirping that the next book will be azriel’s. Not elain’s….WHAT??? You sound fucking crazy. The eluces (even though they claim they like her) dislike her so much that they go on and on about how she needs to grovel and apologize to the male they like because HE deserves to be happy……the same male who she associates with one of the most traumatic days of her life. Who also has not apologized to her for the part he played in that day, but I digress.

I say all that to point out that Glee specifically is in the crack ship category. No canonical evidence in the text can be used to claim they are ‘mates’ or endgame or anything more than acquaintances. And that’s fine, but don’t act as though they’re to be taken seriously as a canon ship when there’s no evidence to support it. Don’t boldly claim that azriel “has two love interests” when he literally doesn’t. He can’t sleep because of elain. He can’t stop thinking about her. He’s short with his family and others around him the days and weeks following solstice. His shadows threaten to strike nesta when she hurts elain and causes her pain. He doesn’t assign his spies to watch L*cien in acofas because he doesn’t want to know if he’s trying to court elain. He goes full lethal when he hears she may have been hurt. He follows the sound of her laugh to see what caused it. He goes on a suicide mission to save her. They communicate through looks alone when their family is around. Have you read an SJM book before? This is how she sets up her relationships. Like, holy fuck.

You cannot claim elriel is a crack ship because they have had background build up that both FMCs in their respective books have noticed and commented on. Cassian has noticed it too DESPITE not being hyper aware of what’s going on with az in SF. (referencing the scene in SF where elain tells everyone at family dinner about nesta’s love for dancing and the ball story from when they were human).

This ship war shit is fucking crazy because really this should only be between elriel nation and the eluces. Anyway, I’m over dealing with the fever dream brigade and their hallucinations. They’re going to come crashing down like Icarus when the elriel bible release day arrives and all our suffering will finally come to an end.

Then after that I’ll need to defeat the tamlin redemption arch threats, bc that is not a claim, that’s a fuckin threat and I won’t stand for it. But let’s tackle one problem at a time.

Pink: side notes/thoughts that give more context to my points

Blue italics: convos I’ve had being referenced

Purple: elriel moments <3

[mirandasidefics]

But Home is Nowhere

Pairing(s): Lucien X Plus Size Reader, Azriel X Plus Size Reader

Part 1 Summary: Reader is pulled into Prythian by an unknown force and comes face to face with members of the Night Court. However, the welcome is less than warm.

Word Count: 3.9K

Warning(s): Minor violence, minor self-harm, mentions of body issues/past self-harm.

A/N: This is my first ACOTAR fic and first story I've even considered posting since 2013, so please be gentle. The story is fully outlined, but due to the fact that I work full time and really weird hours updates will be once a month. Use of cisfemale descriptors used. Key: (Y/N )-Your Name, (e/c)-eye color, (h/c)-hair color.

You gathered your belongings as you did everyday before heading into work. ‘Phone, wallet, keys, charger, make-up…’ the list in your head prattled on as you secured each item in the black backpack. Once satisfied that you had everything you needed you swung the leaden object over your left shoulder. Pausing before the near full-length mirror at your door you tucked a strand of (h/c) hair behind you ear. Your (e/c) orbs roamed over for anything that could be out of place. It took a considerable amount of effort not to let your gaze pause on the parts of yourself that you hated. You pulled the dark red sweater down, covering your large and sagging lower belly and too wide hips. You debated on going back to put shapewear on so your muffin top didn’t hang over your dark black skinny jeans too much, but you were already running late. You quickly slipped your dress flats on to your feet as you whispered a small affirmation to yourself. ‘Everything happens for a reason.’

You were not looking forward to today. The laundry list of to-do tasks was miles long. Hours of work meetings, followed by even more hours of research and writing for your thesis. You were always writing. You paused again to double check that you had the required USB drive that held your many months’ worth of research. A quick glance reassured it was safely tucked away on the hook in your pack, and you stiffly grasped the handle of the front door. No sooner than pulling the door open, your feet tripped over the lip of the frame, and you plummeted down through the threshold.

Bracing for a faceplant against concrete, you were surprised to find soft grass under your fingertips. The grass was a deep rich shade of green and still held the wetness of early morning-dew. Slowly lifting your head, you glanced around the spot where you fell. You immediately noticed that you were no longer at the threshold of your duplex if the wide expanse of grass was to be trusted. Slower still, you raised yourself up on your knees. The sky you looked at was now clear of the pale grey clouds you spied out of your bedroom window only minutes before. The bright yellow-white sun was high enough above to indicate that it was midday. A chilled and briny breeze floated across your shoulders and caused strands of your hair to blow away from your face. You pushed your glasses a little further up the bridge of your nose as you took in the distant buildings to your left. Not a single one of the simple brick and mortar buildings appeared to be more than 3 to 4 floors in height. Further down you could make out some shops and an open square. It reminded you more of a smaller European town than of a bustling city suburb. Yet the buzz in the air told you that there was much more than what met your eyes. You could only make out a few figures as they darted through a bustling crowd. Despite the feeling that there were a large number of inhabitants in the city beyond, there wasn’t a single sound of a motorized vehicle. Your head tilted up to examine the vast blueness above you, looking for any sign of the planes that constantly passed over your home, but the sky was also empty. You held your breath, willing for the sound of a jet engine to be heard in the distance. All was silent, except for the brush of the wind and bubbling of water. You turned toward your right an observed a large house that sat just along the river’s edge. Your eyes followed the winding path of the turquoise water as it stretched into a decent sized bay, complete with docks and what appeared to be old wooden sailing ships. You felt like you had stepped back in time.

Panic began to seep into your bones. You could clearly tell that you were no longer in your own city, but where you were…that was wholly unknown to you. Was this even real? Maybe you hit your head when you tripped and this is all just some dream. Yeah, that had to be it. You reached for the backpack that had landed at your side when a shadow flew over you. A heavy thud was heard to your right and your head whipped up to look at the dark silhouette that now towered over head. You initially thought there had been the shape of wings along the figure’s outline, but after blinking away the shards of sunlight that your hand didn’t block, you determined that it must have been your imagination.

“Well hello there,” a velvety smooth tenor reached your ears, “You’re not an associate of Ms. Quinlan’s, are you?”

                “W-What?” Your voice trembled, a strong metallic scent radiated from the man as he knelt down. Your breath caught in your throat. He was absolutely stunning. You mentally slapped yourself after feeling your jaw literally drop. You could have sworn his eyes held flecks of starlight in them. However, his humorless chuckle sent a shiver down your spine.

                “Do you know Bryce?” He surveyed you this time.

                “I don’t…I don’t know any Bryce,” You couldn’t help the rise of your flight response start to kick in, “Where am I?” A part of you didn’t dare look away, but you had to gage your possible exits out of the periphery of your vision.  The man continued to stare and evaluate you. You swallowed thickly in an attempt to clear the non-existent obstruction that was your unease and opened your mouth to ask another question. Before you could speak the man cut you off, placing his hands in his pockets.

                “If you’re not here for or because of Bryce,” Something about his darkened expression filled your bones with fear, “then, unfortunately, I’m not in a position to readily trust you. I must protect my people. I hope you understand that my actions are nothing personal.” Confusion laced your features at his words and you clutched your bag tightly against your chest.

Without warning your entire body froze as what felt like ice cold claws scratched against the surface of your skull. Fear gripped you tightly, the need to run or fight back utterly demolished as you locked eyes with the man. He truly didn’t appear to be bothered in the slightest over how terrified you were.

‘Mother above…he’s going to kill me.’ Your mind reeled and you were certain that you would have emptied your bladder had you not done so before exiting your home. You couldn’t get your voice to cooperate, to beg for mercy as the claws gripped your skull harder. You couldn’t even scream as you felt the flesh tear near your right temple. Your heart beat erratically, hoping it would give out before you could feel any of the pain that was sure to accompany your death. It took all of your mental strength to dampen the fear down and whisper the prayer you incorporated into your own practice so long ago.

“Mother hold me, let me pass through the gates into that immortal land of milk and honey. Let me fear no evil, feel no pain, and let me enter eternity.” Eyes still locked with the man you saw a glimmer of…you honestly had no clue what emotion it was that passed over his expression. But as soon as it passed the feeling of the claws were gone and air rushed back into your lungs. The man stood to his full height and continue to stare at your gasping form. A rush of nausea swept over you and you heaved. The stomach acid burned your throat more than normal after not eating anything for well over 24 hours.

You spit the remaining mucus onto the grass and you were suddenly hauled up to your feet. His grip on your forearm was so tight you could already feel the bruises forming. While the man’s features appeared calm and unbothered, his eyes simmered with caution. However, he remained silent as darkness converged on you both. Your stomach rolled and plummeted with the sensation of your body in free fall, but the man’s grip never lessened. Suddenly your feet impacted against solid stone. Your vision blurred and your other arm reached out towards anything to purchase itself to keep you up right. Your throat burned again but the stomach acid never reached your mouth. Your outstretched hand finally found a wall and you clung onto it for dear life.

The surface was cool and rough to the touch. You chanced a glance around and found yourself in a small dimly lit room. The walls and floor appeared to have been carved directly out of the stone. The dampness to the air clued you in that you were not inside a building, but some structure more akin to a cave. The room held no furniture, unless you counted the metal sconce that held the only source of light. You did a double take as the light itself was strange, appearing to be condensed to the size of a lightbulb, but it was quickly obvious that there was no material encasing its source. Was there even a- your thoughts were interrupted by the screeching of metal hinges as a single wooden door swung open.

A second man appeared in the entry way and ducked down to avoid hitting his head on the top of the frame. Once he was fully inside the room you couldn’t believe your eyes. You blinked several times yet the insanely large bat like wings never disappeared. You attempted to take in his dark appearance, but shadows seemed to swirl around him. He wore a scaly leather outfit that appeared to be some type of armor. You couldn’t tell if it was multiple pieces or a single body suit in the dim silver light, but that didn’t matter as soon as you saw the first of the seven blue stones intermingled into his outfit. Your eyes widened. The first man handed the newcomer your bag, allowing you to get a good look at his winged back. You immediately noticed there were no straps that held the wings in place. Nor were they attached to the clothing he wore, but rather connected to and protruding from the skin underneath. With this realization the room spun as their soft voices drifted over towards you, but you couldn’t make out what was said as your knees gave out and everything went dark.

When you finally awoke the room was cold, dark, and damp; which sadly reminded you that recent events weren’t just a dream. You found that you were now alone, but weren’t sure if that was a good sign. There was no telling if either of the men-no males- would come back. A part of you hoped that someone would at least give you answers, even if just to tell you that you would rot away in this cell. If that was the case, why didn’t the first male just follow through with killing you? What caused him to stop and bring you to this place you now found yourself? Unsure of what to expect you backed yourself up into a corner on the opposite side from the door. A dim light filtered through the wood panels and space between the door and ground. You could hardly call what you sat upon a floor given all the dirt and rocks. Unfortunately, it did little to comfort you while the room was largely in shadow. Despite your best efforts and desire to make yourself as small as possible, your round and plump frame wouldn’t allow you to curl your knees towards your chest. So, you opted instead to sit with your legs stretched out in front of you, ankles crossed. A false picture of being unperturbed with your current circumstances. The longer you sat there in the silence, the more your anxiety seeped into your muscles. You shook your foot trying to expel the nervous energy. Your ears strained for any semblance for sounds of life beyond the door. Surely there had to be other prisoners or guards. Unless you really were just left for dead. You fought back the tears that welled up in your eyes.

                “This is fucked,” You mumbled, “I’m fucked. What the hell is happening?” You could feel the panic rise up your throat. Your heartbeat increased and your breath became shallow. You ran your fingers through your hair, pulling at the roots. Tiny pin pricks of pain blossomed as the blonde strands became taut. You felt pain, or rather discomfort. You’ve felt that in your extremely vivid dreams before, but it gave you an idea. Moving on to your hands and knees you began to feel around for any rocks or other items you could use. If you could find something and make it sharp enough, maybe you could wake yourself. The door looked the same, but maybe it was different. Maybe you were in a different REM cycle, meaning a different dream that just piggy backed off the first. After all, there was no way to determine if the male that took you was going to come back. ‘This has to be a nightmare.’

“Please, please let there be something,” You crawled through the darkness, eyes straining to make out any shapes. Your hands finally found a smooth stone about the size of your palm. In the darkness you couldn’t tell if it was granite or something else, so you went ahead and bashed the side against the stone of your cell wall. The side of the object splintered off as if the stone was made of glass.

“Obsidian…” You smiled to yourself. The obsidian shard would be sharp enough to draw blood wherever you managed to drag it along your skin.

“Where to cut, where to cut…” You felt along your body, the scars on your covered legs sang with expectation. Were you willing to risk taking off your pants in this place though? Were you willing to take off any of your clothing? Finally deciding against the removal of your clothes you crawled over to the door and lowered your hands to the soft light that filtered through. Pressing the shard against the palm of your left hand you hoped that there would be no feeling as you dragged it against the skin. Oh, how wrong you were.

“Fuck!” A searing pain erupted over your hand as the makeshift blade tore at the skin. You sucked in a breath through your teeth as blood pooled at the seams of the cut. The obsidian hit the ground.

“Why did you do that?” A deep tenor filled the space near the back of your cell and you screamed. The sconce on the wall lit up. Your head whipped around to the opposite corner from where you had been sitting. Your eyes took in the retreating shadows as they revealed the male that you really didn’t want to see. The cobalt stones again caught your eye as your gazed wondered over his form. The wings were still there. You cradled your bleeding hand and you backed away from the known male that stared you down. You figured that you were about to pass out again as the shadows behind him seemed to writhe and undulate around his frame.

“Don’t come any closer,” You tried to keep your voice steady, but you wanted to kick yourself for how pathetic you sounded. The male rolled his eyes and walked towards you before crouching down. His wings stretched out and angled themselves so as to not drag along the stone beneath. The sight of their movement took your breath away. They were real. All of this was real. He grabbed your hand and began to exam it. Your attempts to pull it back failed as his grip was tight. Clicking his tongue against his teeth he locked eyes with you, hazel orbs boring into your own. Despite yourself you noted just how attractive he was as he continued to scrutinize you. He continued to look at you expectantly and you realized that he must have asked you a second question. He sighed and gave you back your hand.

“I’ll be right back,” He stood and left. As soon as the door shut you scrambled to your feet and retreated back to your corner. Had he been in the room with you the entire time? If so, why was the light off? And…you felt pain in your hand. You glanced down at the jagged cut, the blood had yet to start to congeal and clot, but it was superficial at best. Honestly nothing to worry about. You’ve done worse to yourself before. But…you felt pain. Real pain, not just a semblance of a memory of pain as you’ve dreamt of before. This was no dream. Everything pointed to this being a very real place. And you were in very real trouble. Especially if you ended up in-

A soft knock on the door brought you out of your thoughts. Whomever was there didn’t wait for you to respond as they entered. A man-no again male- with long red hair and almost equally red-brown eyes walked into the room. He wore a simple off-white billowy linen shirt that appeared as if it was from the Renaissance or possibly the Victorian era. Honestly, you were really sure. The history of the fashion industry wasn’t your area of expertise.  He also wore a simple pair of dark brown pants. He was definitely different compared to your captor and the winged male. He appeared…warmer. Maybe it was the soft smile that graced his lips. However, his eyes-which you now saw that the left had a long scar that ran down towards his jaw- held a certain sense of sadness to them. Pity.

“Hello,” He held out his hand towards you as he cautiously approached, “Can I take a look at your hand?” He seemed friendly enough, but you still pulled your hand closer toward your chest. You shook your head and backed away, not trusting your voice. The red head looked back at the door, where you saw the winged male patiently waiting.

“She does understand our language correct?” He turned back towards you after receiving an affirming nod from his companion. He took a tentative step closer. You felt like you were being treated like a wild animal.

“Stop!” You hissed, “I’m perfectly fine. You can leave.” The male just stood, his gaze trailing to the blood that dripped down your forearm.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” He stated, “I need to heal your hand. Will you let me do that?” You paused.

“What do you care if it heals?” You squeezed your hand into a protective fist causing blood to gush out faster, “Isn’t it easier to just let me be?”

“Honestly I don’t care,” His demeanor changed like the flick of a switch, “If you don’t want help then that is your choice. My question then is why cut yourself in the first place?” You held his stare. You didn’t want to answer, knowing that it wouldn’t make any sense to the stranger.

“This is going no where Lucien,” the winged male finally re-entered the room, “Just heal her hand so I can begin my questioning.” Lucien scoffed, but did as requested. Grabbing your wrist, he tugged you away from the corner you backed yourself into. You held your breath as he pried your fingers open so he could get a look at the cut. You honestly tried to pull your hand free, but he was clearly much stronger than you. Almost unnaturally so. You were left with nothing to do but to watch. You heard a faint whirring sound, before he hovered his free hand over the injury. A warmth enveloped your open palm and was accompanied by a slight metallic scent to the air. Within seconds your skin had stitched itself back together. All that remained was the trail of drying blood. You stared at the healed skin, mind racing with jumbled thoughts. It didn’t make sense. Nothing in the world could do that. It was like…magic. Your breath caught in your throat. Just where the hell were you. You flicked your gaze back to Lucien standing before you, only this time you noted the golden mechanical eye and the arch of his ears. The pointed arch of his ears. The jumbled thoughts became cloudy and you felt darkness start to descend.

“There,” Lucien let go of her hand, which was something that he would immediately regret. It took less than 30 seconds for her wide (e/c) eyes to flutter shut. He watched as her knees gave out as she crashed towards the ground. His reflexes were fast enough to allow him to catch her before her head hit the hard stone. Azriel was immediately crouching next to him.

“That’s the second time she’s fainted,” He whispered, cursing under his breath. He removed her outer sweater and placed it under her head before standing up to speak to the male beside him. 

“How long has she been down here?” Lucien questioned also rising to his feet. This didn’t sit well with him. The woman was clearly frightened, and there was no absolutely no trace of any lingering magic emanating from her. So why was she being kept beneath the throne room in the Hewn City?

“A few hours,” Azriel explained, “Rhys found her this morning. According to him, she literally just appeared. Much in the same way Bryce did. Fell flat on her face outside their home on the Sidra’s edge.” Her face was pale, honestly, too pale for Lucien’s liking. He knelt down beside her, straightening out her legs so they weren’t tucked under at an odd angle.

“Does Feyre know?” The Shadowsinger remained quiet. Lucien looked up at the male. Azriel couldn’t meet his eyes. That wasn’t a good sign. There was no way that Feyre would be comfortable with having a defenseless and harmless human female locked away. It was unusual for Rhysand to keep things from his mate, not without there being a definitive threat.

“This human has no magic. Absolutely none. She’s completely powerless,” He spat out, “There are no traces of any spells surrounding her either. Whatever brought her here, she had no control over. Its likely she had no knowledge of what was happening either.”

“That’s what I need to find out,” Azriel stated simply. If he was irritated with Lucien’s outburst he didn’t let on. “So now that she’s healed and you’ve completed your assessment, you can leave.” This really didn’t sit well with him. Bryce had been brought right into their family home when she arrived. So, what was it about this human that set the High Lord on such edge that she’d been banished from what would probably be the safest place for a human in Prythian? Lucien really didn’t like what was happening, but knew better than to argue with the Spymaster. If anyone did get answers out of the woman it was going to be him. However, he wouldn’t let this injustice go to the way side. So, without so much as a word to the Shadowsinger, Lucien left the cell. He was determined to have a very stern word with the High Lord.

Part 2

[mcuamerica]

The Shadowsinger: Sixteen

Warnings: 18+. Minors DNI. SMUT (oral m! and f! rec, size kink it's the wingspan, slight praise kink), ACOTAR series spoilers. If I forgot anything, please let me know!

Pairing: Azriel x Fem!Reader

Summary: Azriel visits you in Windhaven.

Disclaimer: I do not own SJM’s characters or plot lines, only the ones I create for the purpose of this story. This is a work of fiction. I do not give permission to repost my work on any other platform or medium. Please be respectful.

My graphics are my own. If you wish to use them, please give credit!

Series Masterlist

Eleven - Twelve - Thirteen - Fourteen - Fifteen

Turns out using a Siphon was harder than it looked. But it was too dangerous to use your power without one. So, you stood in a training ring for the next week with Cassian or one of the Illyrian commanders, trying to conjure a sword. The closest you got was a wooden staff. Most of the time you just got small sticks in your hand that somewhat resembled stakes. 

You could put up a shield if you focused enough. But that was the best you were doing. It drained most of your power. Once the week was up, you were almost willing to quit when you finally made a dagger appear in your hand. And then a shield. And then a sword. 

You hadn’t seen much of Azriel. But he was there when you came back to Windhaven and watched you train for the rest of the day before he left. Rhys needed him out to question the Attor, after he tried to take Feyre in the mortal lands. You gave Rhys a long lecture about putting his mate in danger like that. But from what he told you, she also was pissed at him for it. 

Feyre was starting to do good in Velaris, you learned. She asked Cassian if he could train her. You were tempted to abandon your post at Windhaven and go train with her. You wanted to be around her. Needed to know that she was okay, she was doing well. And maybe you could even push her in the right direction for Rhys. But you couldn’t leave Windhaven. Not when you were just a couple more levels away from being able to try the Blood Rite qualifying course. 

Az told you he hated the idea of you going to the Blood Rite. He said that he knew you could do it, especially with how much you were excelling. But he also said that it was brutal. And you could very well die. 

But you had to prove to the Illyrians that you could do it. A female of this day and age could complete the Blood Rite. Maybe even as a Carynthian. But you know that the males who have that title have it because they were together, they were allies. Even if you qualified for the Rite, you didn’t have any friends that would be with you. It would be only you. And maybe a few males would pity you and not kill you, but you knew that’s the closest to allyship you were going to get. So you promised Az that if you did make it to the Blood Rite, your first priority was to stay alive. To survive. And then maybe if you could get to the mountain, you could be classed as Oristian. And from there, well it would only be your will that would make you climb the mountain. But maybe you would try. If you even qualified. 

Another week passed and you were getting used to using your Siphon. Since the training Siphon didn’t break, you learned Rhys was having an official one fashioned for you. Your power wasn’t as strong as you would have hoped, but you still felt an accomplishment knowing that you got a Siphon. No female you knew ever received one. This only proved that females were capable of killing power, and somehow it was suppressed enough to not manifest. 

It was the last night of the week, and you decided to spend it curled up near the fire, reading all night until you fell asleep. That was until you saw Azriel standing in the kitchen, chopping some sort of vegetables. “Az!” You said happily, dropping your jacket to the side. 

He turned around slowly, a smile on his face. “Hello, sweetheart.” He said. You bounded over to him, wrapping your arms around his neck. 

“You and Cass have been ignoring me.” You whispered, sinking into him as his arms wrapped around your lower back, careful to avoid your wings. It felt so right to be with him. In his arms. And his scent was intoxicating. This was how it was supposed to be. 

“Not ignoring, sweetheart, we’ve just been busy. And Cassian needs to train Feyre.” He said, pulling back slowly. 

Azriel raised his hand to push back a strand of hair that fell from your braid, smiling as he looked at you. “You are beautiful.” He whispered. 

Your core heated as you stared into his eyes. The flecks of green standing out against the fire. “I’ve missed you.” You whispered, your hands trailing up to tangle in his hair. “I think I still owe you from the other night.” You murmured as you leaned up, kissing him deeply. You tugged on his hair, slowly backing him up against the kitchen counter. 

He melted into the kiss, opening his mouth as you trailed your tongue on his bottom lip. You couldn’t get enough of him. What you would give to taste him right now! You groaned and removed your hands from his hair, moving them to his pants as you unbuckled the belt he had on. You silently asked your shadows to keep his hands from stopping you. 

You kissed him once more before pulling away, looking into his eyes. “Is this okay?” You asked. 

He smirked, gripping your waist and squeezing. “It’s more than okay.” He whispered. You groaned and leaned up, kissing him again as you shoved his pants off. You pulled away, slowly kneeling before him. You palmed him through his underwear, your mouth watering at how hard he grew. The length and girth you could feel beneath you had you pulling down the fabric. 

You didn’t hide your surprise as his length sprung free. Gods… could you ever take all of him in your mouth? Certainly not. But you would do your best to please him. Another challenge you were willing to take on. Literally. 

“Like what you see, sweetheart?” He asked, his hands tangling in your hair, causing more strands to fall free from your braids. 

“You’re huge, Az.” You whispered, slowly lifting your hand to squeeze his shaft. Your fingers weren’t even touching. You felt your core heat at the thought of him inside of you, clenching around nothing. 

“Fuck, (Y/N),” he growled, tugging at your hair when you slowly wrapped your mouth around his tip, easing your way down. You kept your hand on his base, squeezing and twisting slightly to compensate for what you couldn’t fit in his mouth. Your other hand reached and rubbed on his balls, slightly gagging when he bucked his hips. “That’s it, sweetheart. Gods you look so good right now.” He said, gently guiding your head further into his cock. 

You whimpered at the praise, the vibration sending his cock further down your throat as he bucked again. You hummed again, slightly grazing your teeth against him as you squeezed harder. You could tell that he liked it by the way he twitched in your mouth, his hands gripping your hair. 

Just a few more pumps and he was spilling into your mouth. You slowly pulled away, swallowing everything he gave you. You stood up, your legs a little weak from the thought of him. You watched as he caught his breath, and then pulled you close to him before his mouth was on yours. 

It didn’t take long for him to turn you around, hoisting you up on the counter. He returned the favor, bringing you to your climax twice with nothing but his tongue and fingers. 

If this was to be your life, you would gladly live it out with him. Here, in Windhaven. Or in the House. Or in the middle of the Illyrian mountains if that’s what he wanted.

You had a long way to go on your own healing, but being with him… this is how you wanted to spend your life. It still just felt so right. Like the Mother wanted it to be this way.

Azriel cleaned both of you up, steadying you as he set you down on the floor. You leaned up, placing a sweet kiss on his lips. “Will you stay tonight?” You asked, suddenly worried that he only came for some sort of release. While it was flattering, you didn’t want him to just leave. You wanted to spend the whole night talking with him, in his arms by the fire. You felt so safe and protected with him, even if you knew you were capable of protecting yourself. There was something about him that made you okay with him defending you if he had to. And you knew, deep down, if you needed to protect him, you would stop at nothing for it. 

“Before you came in, I was cooking dinner.” He said and kissed your temple before turning around. “If you want to wash up, you can. I started a bath. Hopefully it’s still warm.” He said, a side smile coming to his lips as you pressed a kiss to his cheek. 

“I’ll be down soon.” You said, taking a sip from your water canteen before you bounded up the stairs. You didn’t particularly want to wash his scent from you, but you had been sweating all day. And even more from your escapade a few minutes ago. So, you dipped in the bath, washing yourself with the lilac scented bar on the shelf. 

When you finished, you slipped on a pair of loose fitting pants and a large sweater from one of the drawers. From the faint scent of it, you figured it was one of the boys. Maybe Cassian, if you detected it correctly. 

You made your way down the stairs, smiling as the dining table was set and the meal finished. “Did you learn to cook from Nuala and Cerridwen?” You asked, sitting down across from him. As much as you wanted to sit on his lap, you had to have some semblance of control. 

“Hmm.. I did used to live on my own, you know. One learns how to make food to survive.” He joked. 

You laughed quietly, grabbing a fork to dig into the food. It smelled delicious and you were starving. Not to mention the food at the Windhaven mess hall never really satiated any need other than basic hunger. Lots of protein and carbs before and after a long day of training. Maybe you’d have to join the Inner Circle’s family dinner at the end of the week next week just to get tasteful food again. 

“Don’t you normally have dinner with Rhys and them tonight?” You asked. 

“Yes, but I figured you could use some company. Especially since Cassian hasn’t been here to train you.” He said, resisting the urge to reach across the table and take your hand in his. While you both clearly liked each other, he didn’t want to overstep a boundary. He wasn’t sure what you two would be classified as right now. But he knew that if he saw you with another male… you were wearing Cassian’s sweater. His hand clenched to a fist.

“Az?” You asked after swallowing another bite of the roast. You noticed his change in demeanor. He went from light and happy to almost angry. “Is everything okay?” You asked, tilting your head as your shadows whispered in your ear, “He’s upset.” You almost rolled your eyes. You could see that. You waved them away, looking at his fist clenched on the table. You reached over, setting your hand on top of his. “Azriel…”

He looked down to your hands, slowly relaxing. His fist unclenched, and interlocked his fingers with yours. This is how it should be. You with him… and him with you. It felt so right.

A/N: Her and Az are getting closer!

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[violetasteracademic]

So, considering the fact that your theories and your thoughts always make me want to jump up and down like a kid,I wanted to know your thoughts on this. I don't know if you've seen that pic in sjm's Pinterest board of a woman with a rose tatto which I believe was saved as "Elain". And we know that both Feysand and Nessian had their own bargain which makes me believe elriel will have one too,most accurately a rose tatto on both of them. And I wanted to ask you what do you think Elain and Az's bargain will be about?

First and foremost, thank you for making me *blush*

And now, ooooOOOoooh the bargain! I have thoughts!! And they are whimsical and magical and very inspired by SJM's confirmed fairy-tale retellings.

If you are not caught up on my line of thinking and predictions for the next ACOTAR book, I *think* my most comprehensive post on that can be found here. I'm very lasered in on the possible alliance between Vallahan and the High Priestesses, the Snow Queen, and reverse sleeping beauty (or Glass Coffin, the original German fairy tale sleeping beauty is based off of which is what SJM has used in the books. More on that here.)

Now, while Elain and Azriel's bargain could literally be anything, I'm less focused on what specifically it is and more on what it will do for their story and plot.

Feysand has obviously had two major bargains, and they drove the plot forward in different ways. Bargain one: a commitment for Feyre and Rhys to spend time together. This obviously dramatically moved the plot forward in ACOMAF and magically connected Rhys and Feyre, thus giving them the opportunity to get to know each other and give Feyre time away from Tamlin and out of her situation.

Bargain two, to die together. This clearly creates a tremendous amount of plot, action, and conflict for ACOSF.

Nesta and Cassian's bargain is way more simple on the surface. Training in exchange for a favor. In this case, it isn't the bargain itself that drives the plot and creates conflict, but the favor. Cassian is put in a situation where he is bound by magic and forced away from Nesta, leaving her and her friends in a little cluster to be easily kidnapped for the Blood Rite. Whereas Feysand's bargain created danger due to their unwillingness to be apart after the pain of watching each other die, Nessian's bargain created danger by pressing a thumb on the deepest wound of Nesta's struggles with pushing Cassian away.

Whatever Elain and Azriel's bargain is, I sense it will thematically play on their experiences and relationship just as Nessian and Feysand's did, but it also needs to drive the plot forward.

Because I am a big believer in the reverse Sleeping Beauty/Glass Coffin wherein Azriel is the one kidnapped or put to sleep and Elain will be the one to save him, I would love to see their bargain allow them to supersede the magic that has been keeping them apart and be the thread that allows Elain to find Azriel no matter what.

My dear friend @elainemg97 is the one who opened my eyes to the Snow Queen fairytale (click the first theory link I shared here to see why that is relevant! It is a confirmed retelling SJM has been planning since signing on the spinoffs.) It's actually so wild how relevant this is to the possibility of a reverse Sleeping Beauty.

The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson is a story about a boy and a girl named Kai and Gerda. They love each other deeply, are childhood best friends and grew up together playing in their families gardens and rose boxes. Then one day Kai is taken by the Snow Queen:

The Snow Queen, for whatever reason, luring Kai to her, beckoning him through snow frosted windows and snowflakes:

Kai becomes lost to splinters of a troll mirror, which turns him cruel and evil. His kind spirit is replaced someone hateful, and he hurts Gerda deeply by insulting her and treating her poorly. The Snow Queen succeeds in securing him, and the village presumes him dead. Gerda does not believe he is dead and in setting out to beg the river for him back, she becomes unmoored and drifts into unfamiliar waters and lands.

The Snow Queen kisses Kai, and Kai forgets bout Gerda.

The sorceress wipes Gerda's memory of Kai, and she causes the rose gardens to disappear, because the sorceress knows that if Gerda sees the roses, she will remember him.

Gerda remembers Kai regardless, despite the magic keeping them apart, and her tears cause the roses to bloom once again. Gerda knows that Kai is alive and she must find him.

The story of Gerda and Kai is one of hope, resilience, and roses. Gerda does not forget the boy she was spelled to forget, and she does not believe his cruelty was his true heart. The roses help her remember, they give her hope, and she sets off on a journey to save Kai from the Snow Queen. And then there is this:

Kai is saved by power of Gerda's love when she kisses him.

I feel like the imagery of roses and blades have been so pointedly woven through Azriel and Elain's story, as well as magic keeping them apart. This is major crack theory, but I think we might discover the Snow Queen in Vallahan is a bit of a Maeve like villain. Vallahan is described as ancient and being both on Prythian's side and against Prythian's side throughout history. This gives me the sense that Vallahan has one goal: to retain power. They ally themselves wherever that best suits them, and keep their motives shrouded in mystery.

I think ACOSF revealed that Koschei wants Azriel. Whether the Snow Queen of Vallahan is working with or against Koschei, she will want him too. Perhaps it is because of his blade. Perhaps his heritage. But it is most likely that Azriel will be captured. It's possible he will be presumed dead, or behave out of character.

Elain will believe in him. She will the remember the roses, his goodness, the time they spent together in the garden just as Kai and Gerda. And despite all the magical forces keeping them apart, trying to make them to forget each other, Elain will not forget him, and she will find and free him.

I think it would be really interesting and beautiful to see Elain and Azriel's bargain be something seemingly small and unimportant, like promising to think of each other when they see a garden or a rose. Or a bargain to find each other when they are lost, no matter what. I love the idea of their bargain being the thread that leads them to each other. That helps Elain find him, instead of being the thing that puts them in danger.

Thematically, magic and bonds have been the thing keeping Azriel and Elain apart in a way that wasn't true for Feysand and Nesssian. I would love to see their bargain, their choice, be the bond that leads them to each other even when all hope seems lost.

[acourtofthought]

Chaol and Nehemia offering Aelin their weapons is one of the most heartwarming moments of the first book.

Azriel offering Elain his knife (which he has offered no one else in half a millennia, and which also became the cover photo of ACOWAR alongside an image of roses…) is similarly heartwarming.

So what exactly is the point of your post?

I also find it hilarious that you included a screenshot of this quote - the moment between Chaol and Aelin;

“Far inside of her, she found a golden chain that bound them together.”

That sounds like mate language, no? Similar to the “thread” between Elain and Lucien?

And yet Chaol and Aelin weren’t endgame. 🤷‍♀️

You forgot the part where Az only offered Elain TT because the female he canonically loved begged him with tears in her eyes to sit out of battle. You and I both know had he not agreed to doing what Mor asked he would have never given Elain TT.

I don't remember Chaol being in love with any other female during the scene where he offered his sword, do you? Or Chaol in the very next book going on to look at someone other than Celaena with heat and yearning? No, Chaol was loyal to her before they were together and during the time they were together.

You also forgot the part where Az never offered to give Elain any help though she was concerned about not knowing how to use TT versus Chaol who helped train Celaena. Chaol who laid on the ground next to Celaena during her Duel.

The scene with Celaena and Chaol was heartwarming, much more so than the scene with Elain and Az because of everything mentioned above. Chaol and Celaena were by far the superior ship to E/riel. In literally every way.

But you're right. Chaol and Aelin weren't endgame because she had a mate who was always going to be her destiny. My point was that Sarah has two series featuring two similar scenes where a possible male love interest offers a weapon to a female but that doesn't actually mean anything in terms of endgame. Sarah J Maas is a millionaire because of the Fated Mates stories she writes. It just doesn't hit quite as hard to become a rejected mates author so people claiming the TT scene means Az is Elain's forever? I'm going with no.

Despite Aelin initially wanting Dorian in book 1, despite her later calling Chaol her home and him thinking how 4 years (and not just one taste and that would be it like Az wanted with Elain) might not be enough, these men were not her endgame.

Again, my point is that it doesn't matter how special you think the moments for your ship are, mates are always going to fulfill something for these females that no other male love interest can.

The ACOTAR book had a wolf on the cover but it didn't hint at endgame for Feyre, what's your point?

And no, "chain" is not like mate language considering each Archeron's CONFIRMED bond is described as a thread and we know the golden chain connecting Celaena to Chaol was not a mating bond. You're doing my work for me.

Golden chain is pretty romantic though, maybe a nod to how they might have been right for one another in a different life where there was no such things as fae mating bonds. Much more romantic than "he hadn't gotten that far with his planning, certainly not beyond the fantasies he pleasured himself to".

You all get so fixated on your multiple books of buildup while forgetting that Sarah J Maas will take many beautiful moments between two characters and throw them out the window in favor of who she wants to be endgame.

Dorian and Chaol had way more moments with Celaena than Az has had with Elain but in the end, they didn't matter.

Like SJM said, it's not about "want" but is about who the FMC needs to be with in order to have the most growth.

"There is a darkness to the Dread Trove that Elain should not be exposed to".

[fangirlforlife97]

ACOTAR's Rant That's Been Long Overdue!!!! BEWARE AND MY BAD, ITS A LONG ONE.

I won't lie it's been a long while since I've read the books and I still haven't read ACOSF yet (or if I even will?!) But over the years I've changed my opinion on alot of things concerning the books and fan pairings, etc. And lately I've had the urge to re look over ACOTAR content on tumblr and I finally decided to make this post. One I've been meaning to for awhile!

I want to start out by saying that I absolutely loved "A Court of Thorns and Roses" and Feylin, I finished that book in one night. I couldn't wait to read more of their story and learn more of this world SJM had created. Went into the series before it exploded on Tik - Tok or wherever so I went in without spoilers. Like I said I was looking forward to reading more but I also simultaneously had a sneaking suspicion that SJM was gonna try to give Feyre a new love interest and it did not sit well with me at all!! I kept saying or thinking things like "she better not give Feyre a new love interest" "she better not mess up Feylin", and that's exactly what she did!!

She "villainzed" or tried to anyways, Tamlin. I'm not gonna lie I got really irritated, and even though it wasn't Tam's fault how things played out I was kind of upset with him. I never hated him though and even though I hated the idea of a new love interest - with time I grew to greatly enjoy them. I read all of the books and considered them to be some of my favorite books, I even shipped Elriel hardcore while also shipping Elucien and also lowkey Nessian (before ACOSF). With time I fell into the delusion of Elriel, Nessian, Feysand and The Inner Circle, of the series in general. By the end of ACOWAR though even though I liked Feysand - I was getting kind of tired of reading about them and was looking forward to and wanting a different pairing to take center stage.

Subconsciously at times I think I did realize how toxic and awful Feysand and parts of the Inner Circle was etc, but it didn't register til later on. It's like I glossed over it cause I was sooo "entralled" with the series and character's. I was delulu about alot of things, about my liking for Feysand, my hardcore fangirling over Elriel, etc.

I was the biggest shipper of Elriel, I wanted them together so bad and the idea of them not getting together - I thought it would depress me out. Insane ik. Like before I became a hardcore Elriel shipper I shipped Elucien and was liking and hoping for their endgame until we started getting more Elriel content. Then my love for Elriel overshadowed that of Elucien. I was obsessing about anything relating to Elriel and couldn't wait for any possible clues or interactions in ACOSF pertaining to an Elriel endgame. There was even gonna be a pov from Azriel (he was my favorite batboy) and I was really excited. Then ACOSF came out and so did the spoilers. I hadn't gotten my hands on a book yet but the curiosity was too strong, so I went on tumblr to see what had been posted, etc.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To say I was shocked was an understatement. It was the fastest death of a love pertaining to a fan pairing and character. I'm a fangirl, fangirling is what I do. I get overenthusiastic about tv shows and movies and bonds between characters. I was so disgusted by Azriel's pov, it was very unexpected. Like yes I imagine there would be some lustful thoughts or whatever but this is the first time we are getting his pov and you give us that! I had a certain idea of how I thought of Elain and Azriel and I loved it and the symbolism etc but what I read or found out totally ruined the idea I had of them. How I thought of them. Even the idea of liking them. Now I sincerely hope they don't end up together and she hopefully gets with Lucien and gets out of the Night court and away from the Inner Circle and Feysand. I've grown to ship and love Elucien the way I did Elriel before Az's pov.

I even really like and love the idea of Tamlin and Elain or Elain x Lucien x Elain. I feel like even though ACOTAR was supposedly a Beauty and The Beast retelling, Elain seems more like Belle to me, in look wise and gentleness anyways. And she would be so good with Tamlin and his healing even though I'm also a hardcore Elucien girly. I'd be so happy with either Elucien, Tamlain or Elucien x Tamlain x Tamlucien (whatever their ship name is!?)

In terms of Nessian. I always liked Nessian, I wasn't super hardcore about them like I was Elriel, Elucien, Feylin but I still really liked them or saw their potential too. But then I started hearing about things pertaining to Nessian and Nesta's character in ACOSF and I even heard things such as them ruining Nesta's character and bowing to Rhys, etc. Like maybe they ruined her character for the sake of Feysand or something?! And even though I already dislike what I'm hearing about Nessian, I still plan to read ACOSF even though it's gonna be a struggle re reading the series with how much I've grown to dislike Feysand, Rhysand, The Inner Circle, Elriel, etc. I almost don't want to re read the series with how annoyed I've grown about them, may take me some time but I will at some point in time. I'm in no rush though but I would be looking forward to re read ACOTAR.

Cassian is a shitty mate from what I've been hearing and that makes me start to dislike him too. Even though I have yet to completely make up my mind about Nessian til after I read ACOSF, Cassian is on thin ice. Not gonna lie though I kind of wish and hope Nessian aren't endgame because of what I've heard, even though I have yet to read ACOSF. I feel like Nesta deserves better and it might be an unpopular opinion but I think Nesta and Tamlin would be an absolutely freaking perfect endgame or pairing!!!!!!!??

Nesta and Tamlin both were given the same completely unfair, ridiculous, disgusting hate or treatment by the author and fandom. They both need healing, and could be the people who heal each other?! Even though Elain gives Belle vibes from her looks and gentleness, she doesn't have the most important Belle factor that Nesta does. NESTA LOVES BOOKS!! Could Nesta be the actual Belle to Tamlin's or ACOTAR Beauty and the Beast Retelling??!!!! Idk but I think Nesta and Tam would be way better than Cassian and Nesta.

I feel like the author has made her batboys too hornified and has sexualized her romantic pairings to the point she's ruining them!! Smut is fine in a book but when it's overdone and it's all a relationship is, it's not a pairing worth rooting for and it's kind of disgusting. I'd rather have a slow burn, cliche, romantic couple or pairing with few smutty scenes than a pairing that's too over sexualized and has multiple, constant, sex scenes. Other possible unpopular opinions:

- Tamlin is 100% more likable and better than Rhysand. Tamlin isn't without his flaws but the double standardization between Tamlin and Rhysand is incredibly unfair and unwarranted. Tamlin gets way too much hate for a character in a series filled with many other/worse flawed characters.

- Tamlin doesn't need a redemption arc, he needs a healing arc. He deserves a happy ending and love too!! I hope his court is replenished and flourishes.

- SJM character assassinated Feyre and others for the sake of Feysand, Rhysand and The Inner Circle.

- The ACOTAR series is filled with inconsistencies, double standards, etc.

- ACOTAR was the best book!!

- The Inner Circle, Batboys, Rhysand, and Feysand is highly overrated.

- Feyre deserves better.

- SJM should backpeddle on the smut and focus on building up of relationships and focusing on the romance. Stop using smut as an excuse for plot!

- Elain, Lucien, and Nesta need to get out of the Night Court and away from the Inner Circle and Feysand. (Feyre should too but that definitely won't happen!) They need their own story plots with story progression that doesn't involve the Night Court, Feysand, and The Inner Circle.

- Nesta and Tamlin should be endgame or an option at the very least. THE POTENTIAL!!!!! 😭❤️✊

- Rhysand is the villain of the series. It would be the greatest twist but also wouldn't be a twist because there's heavy evidence of him being a villian and manipulating those around him.

- Theory that Rhysand has been mind controlling Feyre the whole time!!

- There should be more focus on the other lands and courts.

- An Elucien novel should have nothing to do with the Night Court or Inner Circle or Feysand. I'm so tried of other ships and character's revolving heavily around Feysand, the Inner Circle, and the Night Court. Not everything is about them!!

[thefaithfulnightwriter]

Dracontine - Chapter Zero

[^ the gif above i found on Pinterest so rights go to rightful owner ^]

❝ She is very rare. She is what you call a Dracontine. Meaning she belongs to a dragon. But in her case, she does not belong to one but three. ❞

Summary - In which a young female hides who she truly is from everyone and stays to herself. Keeping to her chores as a servant. Staying hidden was her main task while taking care of her three dragon eggs that were bound to her. But many things change when she has to stay Under the Mountain with many others. What she didn't expect was that she would meet her mate. Who happened to be the powerful High Lord of Night Court. Then soon later on she would find she has another powerful mate. The Spymaster of Night Court who was a Shadowsinger. She soon finds herself having to break out of her shell with the help of her mates and their family. Along with finding out how to navigate two bonds with two powerful mates. Also, while taking the title as Dracontine. Being she is the one who belongs to not one but three dragons. All while trying to survive a war.

Pairing - Rhysand x Female!Oc/Mc/Reader x Azriel

Universe - pre acotar - acowar [it may go into an au after acowar not sure yet though]

Series Warnings - DRAGONS (yes that is a warning lol), Gore, Death, Characters may be a bit OOC, Mature Themes, Semi Smut, Violence, Language, Mention of Past Abuse, War, Things Will Be Changed, Fluff, Angst, Some Sensitive Subjects, Mating Bonds, Poly. Relationship MxFxM (Side Note - Rhysand & Azriel are in a relationship or are mates to my Mc they will not be together), More Will Be Added If Needed. (Please do not read if these are triggers)

Disclaimer - I do not own the series ACOTAR - ACOWAR. I do own certain characters, and I own my mc. I do own somethings that are made up. And i own my writing and whatnot you get where im going and what i am saying lol.

Authors Note - hi hi! you guys this is my first time posting a acotar fic on tumblr. ekkk so nervous but excited to be here lol. but yeah i just wanted to warn that it will be a moment until the mc and rhysand meet then azriel. i gots ta world build lol. so yeah just give it a moment and it will happen lol. but yeah please let me know your thoughts i'd love to hear them.

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Long ago there was a time where large beasts flew above in the sky. Flying high making vast shadows on the ground below them when the sun arises. But were hidden in the dark night sky the only warning giving them away was the mighty roaring that escaped their throats. Roaring loudly showing no fear. A roar that warned others of their presences. With their immense bodies that grew to be the size of large buildings. Large claws that they used to swoop down and grab their prey. Their skin covered with scales rough to the touch. While having snake-like eyes that could hold so many emotions. While being able to breath out fire that could melt anything.

These beasts were called dragons.

These creatures made many fear them. Causing many to stay away from such terrifying creatures. But there were ones who were filled with fascination, wonder, and awe as they watched these beasts fly above. These fae who were fascinated with the beasts were little.

But the ones filled with amazement stayed banned together. They would watch the creatures from a distance. Taking notes sharing their knowledge with one another. Going on many quests to see such creatures. But these few fae would also protect these beasts from others. From fae who wanted them dead. Because as time went on the creatures were dwindling in numbers.

They were being killed. By the ones who feared them. But also by ones who wanted them for a trophy and for power. Being that dragons held a tremendous amount of magic and power dead or alive. This caused fae to want such power and magic. They became filled with greed in their want. And in time the creatures were soon going extinct. Causing many dragons to flee and stay hidden.

The ones who were amazed by the creatures seemed to dwindle as time went on. But there were still few. Still few who were filled with fascination and awe. Still few who told stories and passed down their knowledge on to their young.

One family in particular was enthusiastic and took pride in their knowledge. They were proud to be part of the ones who kept the dragons safe. Standing by the marvelous beasts side. They lived all over in all courts not knowing one place as home. They were seen as an eccentric family. But they did not care.

Dragons were a part of them.

They knew that their lineage would be important. Because the Mother had sent a vision to a descendant of their family. Showing a vision of their bloodline being tied to such powerful creatures. They would be called a Dracontine. Dracontine having the meaning of belonging to a dragon.

Which led the family to have hope and keep passing their knowledge down the line to their children and so on. Telling them of the name Dracontine and letting them know of the vision that was given to them by the Mother. Letting them know any one of them could be tied to such marvelous creature. Along with telling them of the power that would be bestowed upon them.

It was true because one day a descendant of said family became tied to that of a dragon by the Mother. Turning him into something powerful, a Dracontine.

His name... was Cade. He was a kind and caring male. Helping anyone he could and taking care of his family. But Cade had a fascination with Dragons just as his family did. He would listen to the old stories his family would tell him, read the old journals his family passed down, and he would constantly dream of dragons.

In time Cade felt like there was something within him that was waiting to burst into flames. It was very intense what he was feeling and was experiencing. He always wondered why he had these feelings and more. It would never leave him. It would lead him to become frustrated and become filled with sadness. Because there was a feeling of longing. But he had no clue what he was longing for.

That is until one day he was answered. One day while traveling Cade found himself having a normal day. Until he was engulfed by darkness while on his walk. He then found himself waking up in a cave. Soon after wondering where he was. Cade soon felt something within him guiding him somewhere in the cave. Walking in the dark cave with nothing but the flame of a touch lighting his way. He followed the tug within him and he was led to something in the vast dark cave. He was led to an egg. Not just any egg... but a dragon egg.

Cade was overjoyed.

But when he touched the egg for the first time something happened to him. His pointed ears grew longer, he grew small fangs, he gained a burn mark of a dragon on the back of his shoulder, and he felt more powerful than ever. He knew then and there what had happened to him. He was turned into a Dracontine. Knowing from the stories he heard from his family. Soon after he made his discovery he was off and telling his family.

His family was ecstatic and felt proud of him. Cade felt honored that the Mother chose him to be the first Dracontine.

After though Cade took the deep red egg everywhere with him. Never letting it out of his sight. Keeping it warm with his new found abilities and keeping it close. When the day came for the egg to hatch which was years later Cade was beyond happy.

He had tears of joy fall down his cheeks. Seeing such a small precious beautiful red dragon coming to life. He soon named her Crimson. And from that day the flame within Cade burst to life. Then a bond between the two solidified. Then and forward the bond that Cade and Crimson had grew and grew. Just as Crimson did. Growing into a fierce, lethal, and gorgeous crimson red dragon.

Cade and Crimson were inseparable. It seemed they would fly all the time. Day and night. Through all the seasons. As Crimson flew Cade would sit upon her back. Both content and at peace together. Cade's family would visit as did others. But as the word got around that there was a dragon and Cade was bound to it. Things seemed to take a turn for the worse.

Especially once their High Lord found out of their existence. The High Lord of Autumn Court. The Court where the family had settled at the time. When the High Lord found out there began to be attacks executed on taking Cade's and Crimson's life. The attacks were beginning to become brutal. Which led Cade to come up with a plan with his family.

Cade soon knew what he had to do. He had to flee to another Court. He was going to fly Crimson all the way across Pyrthian to the Illyrian Mountains. Then he would come back for his mate, unborn child, and family. All wanting to migrate to Night Court. To get away from Autumn Court.

It was on the night that Cade was saying farewell to his family for the time being. When it happened. When there was another attack on his and Crimson's life. They were unsuccessful in taking down Crimson. The dragon breathed streams of blazing red fire on their attackers. But while Crimson's back was turned they were successful in killing Cade.

Who was trying to protect his family. There were too many and he lost his life by an arrow piercing his heart. With his demise came Crimson's as well not long after. The dragon falling to the ground with a loud echoing thump motionless when Cade took his last breath. Not long after Crimson lifted her head one last time releasing a roaring cry and soon her head fell to the ground and she took her last breath. That day they found that if you take the life of the fae bonded to the dragon both will fall. Because of their bond together. Their lives were tethered together.

That day the family mourned for both their lost family members. Mourned for both Cade and Crimson. But they all were soon taken and turned into slaves and servants for the High Lord of Autumn Court. They were taken away while kicking and screaming. All not wanting to be taken without a fight. They tried their hardest but it was no use.

It was many years later when Cade's child had a vision. A vision that the Mother gave her that her grandchild would become a Dracontine. That her grandchild would be the one to free her family to give them hope. To give many hope. Which led her to cry and smile. She would keep the vision close to the family only telling only a few.

The ones who knew would keep the secret safe would keep her safe. Keep the child safe. Because she would be the chosen one of not one but three dragons. She would bring back hope to so many people and would save many. Because dark times were coming to Pyrthian. Not many knew but said family. They just had to be patient and wait. Wait for the new Dracontine to be born into their family. Wait for the birth of another Dracontine.

───── Dracontine tag-list ─────

blackgirlmagicforever

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[acourtofclutter]

Nightlight (Part 1 of 4)

"All the sleepless nights... keeping on the night light." - Laufey.

Pairing: Rhysand / Night Court Emissary! Reader

Format(s) and Word Count: Headcanons and Drabbles (though it reads like a one-shot due to the drabbles length), 998 words.

Summary: You managed to stop Rhysand from going to Amarantha’s party by himself, having threatened to tell the rest of the Inner Circle if he didn’t at least take you, his emissary. But you hadn’t predicted the spells that Amarantha had up her sleeve, especially not the one that’d turn you into an old and forgotten lesser fae.

Tags: Hurt / Little To No Comfort, Brief Depictions of Violence and Torment, Set During Under The Mountain

Notes: My first ACOTAR post (not including the memes, though they may cheer you up if you need a laugh)!

Update: The second part can be read here, thank you for your support!

Rhysand was careful not to tell any of the Inner Circle about Amarantha’s party invitation, not even his brothers, but you noticed how he slowly became distant. He assigned everyone various tasks that he said were important, but they had been time-consuming and were also restricted to Velaris’ walls, not even Hewn’s.

Your tasks consisted of drafting negotiations, and gathering information from multiple libraries, but the Mother had been on your side then, because you managed to complete your tasks a day before Rhysand had planned to leave, his shoulders tense and his knuckles pale before you saw a glimpse of bloodlust in his eyes.

“...Rhys, what’s going on? Is everything okay?” He did not respond, and had turned his back on you before you spoke again. “Are you going somewhere? I don’t remember you telling me about any upcoming meetings with any of the High Lord-” He turned around at those words and reached into your head, your mental shields being torn apart when he tried to override your mind – but Amren had taught you how to protect yourself well, if not for a few moments against your High Lord. “You’re not supposed to be here,” He whispered harshly, gritting his teeth. “No one’s meant to be here, you should be doing those tasks I assigned-” “I’m your emissary, I’ve been doing similar tasks for centuries!” You closed your eyes and swore as you felt him, felt his claws tear down your last line of defence. Your heart was racing while you tried to think of something, anything, to make him loosen his grasp, at least for a moment. You’d never had to fight him like this, it usually involved future plans with the Illyrian camps or Keir, but nothing like this. “I don’t know what you plan on doing,” You fought to breathe, your eyes meeting his pained ones. “But I swear on the Mother, if you don’t at least take me with you-” You took another deep breath before you grabbed the front of his black tunic and pulled him closer. “-I will scream until you break my shield completely or until someone, most likely Azriel, will hear me.” A moment passed, then two, before his claws drew back.  “...Don’t make me regret this," were the last words he said before he gripped your wrist and winnowed you to Hewn City, where the Court of Nightmares waited for him to lead the way to Amarantha’s party.

Rhysand used his magic to make your hair and clothes match his attire before the entire court strode past Amarantha’s stone doors and into her chamber. His warriors were allowed to do as they pleased, but you didn’t leave his side when he stared at Amarantha with his eyes unblinking.

When Amarantha had made glasses of wine appear in everyone’s hands, you could not shake the feeling that something was wrong, especially when she revelled in the sight of the High Lords raising their wine glass and placing it to their lips. Rhysand had taken a full sip of his before you grabbed his arm.

“Stop drinking it,” You turned to Rhysand and smiled, speaking through your teeth as your grip tightened, but he was lost in his head and couldn’t see or hear you. “The wine, I think there’s something in the-” You felt the magic leave the room before you saw it, saw how the other High Lords seemed to look dull and tired while Amarantha became more lively. Rhysand’s eyes finally met yours, his eyes wide and caught off-guard when he realised what was happening before he entered your mind for a single second. “I’m sorry,” he said in your mind, then you felt it – felt your mind being overridden by his, all thoughts and memories of Velaris, of the Inner Circle, misting away until all that was left was nothing more than Rhysand, Hewn City, and the Court of Nightmares.  You could see that he was using the remains of his magic to cast a shield and send a message out to someone, but you weren’t sure who, not when half of the Court of Nightmares collapsed a moment later. Then you felt Amarantha’s eyes on you, her eyes narrowing when she looked at how you held onto Rhysand’s arm and how he had barely touched his glass of wine. She smiled, and you found yourself standing before her in the blink of an eye, your heart pounding in your ears when she raised her hand. “I’ve been meaning to try this spell out on someone – you’ll do perfectly.” One moment you were standing, the next you were convulsing on the floor, screaming from heartrending pain as your body started to shrink, your bones and organs compressing and curling inwards. Your wings were next, and you were certain you were crying out for Rhysand, for people you couldn’t name when they cracked and bent into new shapes. Your tears dripped onto the marble floor until the spell stopped, the transformation complete. You couldn’t move, but you could hear someone walk towards you and pick you up like you weighed no more than a feather, as your body laid on a soft piece of leather. When you had the strength to raise your head, your eyes managed to find Rhysand’s, who looked completely shattered. Why did he look so far away? “You look much better,” You heard a voice from above you, and you raised your head further to see Amarantha smiling down at you, her teeth resembling headstones made out of pearls.  “Why, I can’t remember the last time I’ve ever seen faeries like this, they’ve been wiped off the lands for centuries now.” You looked at your bare exposed body and turned around to look at your wings, now thin and delicate like tulle. You then looked down at where you laid, slowly realising that you were in the palms of Amarantha's hands. And when you cried, you could only hear the sound of a miniature bell leave your mouth as you clawed at your throat. “Yes, you look much better as a pixie.”

[thelov3lybookworm]

Request! A Eris x Archeron!yn fic. Imagine a prythian where the high lords are not good and friendly with each other and are now planning a war over one another to take down the court next to them and rule over. Now after a LOT of convincing Autum Court and Night court are forced in a alliance between each other because of yn. Now imagine if one of them sabotages the alliance! What will happen? Who will yn choose? Will she be able to choose between her sisters and mate?

(I don't know if you write for Eris or not. If you don't and you want to write this, you change it to yn being Eris's little sister and being Azriel's mate. Or if you don't want to write this at all that's totally fine too!)

Bloodshed.

Eris week day 2, High Lord

Eris x Archeron!reader

Summary: The world is in chaos, and its not the best time to find the other half of your soul when the people you live with would trade anything to kill your mate.

But that's exactly what has happened with Y/n, and she has no idea how to save him. But maybe she could negotiate?

•○●⛦●○•

A/n: hey anon! I love the idea, Eris is one of my most loved acotar males. Soo sorry for the delay in posting this! I didn't have time to write it, and when I did, @erisweek2023 was close, so I thought why not post it then. So, here it is. I hope you like it.

First time participating in a character week, soo excited! 😆

Also make sure to check out other Eris week creations too!❣️

•○🌑○•

Today they would be meeting up with the new High Lord of the Autumn Court. An important court related meeting, as Y/n's brother in law claimed. It wouldn't have been held if not for the new High Lord's ascension to Autumn's throne.

They said it was so that they could try and be allies, but Y/n was no kid. They just wanted to meet with him so that they could find any weaknesses to exploit and get Autumn under their domain.

Since the moment the war against Hybern had ended, the High Lords had been at each others throats. A smile on the face that equalled to a sneer in the privacy of their courts.

And Y/n was sick of their games.

The inner circle was kind enough to everyone in Night Court, but the rulers had slowly and steadily become more and more power hungry, turning on people who they would have once considered friends.

Eris had once been an ally, but he was only a friend for the reason that he fed the inner circle information regarding Beron and his schemes, so he could get some help getting rid of his father in return. It had barely been a week since he became High Lord, and the night court had already started scheming to get Eris off the throne.

She knew that Night Court wasn't the only one who was planning that.

And she hated them for it.

It wasn't that she was interested whether Eris ruled Autumn Court or not, she just wanted him to... not be sad for once.

She had only had a handful of conversations with him, but she knew that he wasn't the evil person he pretended to be. She could see it in his eyes, the bruised and sad look that he always had in those beautiful amber orbs. She didn't know how no one else noticed it.

But she did. She somehow had this irrational urge to soothe him. Soothe all of his worries and comfort him, let him tell her of all that he went through. She wanted to see the man beneath the cold mask of the Autumn Court heir, now High Lord.

It was stupid, she knew, especially because the people who she lived with would probably lock her away if she so much as showed interest in him. But she couldn't help it. It was like her instincts were screaming at her to go–

A knock on her bedroom doors drew her from her thoughts. She flinched from the sudden loud noise before going to open the door. It was her younger sister.

Feyre looked at her, surveying her from head to toe before nodding. "He's here. Come." Y/n followed her towards a meeting room in Moonstone Palace. "I still don't understand why you want to be present in the meeting. It's just going to be fake smiles and Eris's disgusting personality. It's a pain in the ass, if you ask me. He's a pain in the ass. The faster he gets removed from the throne and hopefully dies, the better."

Y/n said nothing.

Y/n and Elain were twins, but Elain was soft, kind and caring, while Y/n was anything but. That didn't deter everyone from assuming she was the same as Elain. That she was naive and wouldn't understand their despicable schemes.

As they entered the meeting room where Eris and most of the inner circle were in, Y/n's heart fluttered.

But then her eyes met with his, and her heart stopped as something started to glow inside of her. He stared back at her, his lips parting.

It was like her soul was freed from a cage as she felt all the love and happiness and confusion in the world surrounding her heart. She smiled slightly, looking at the dazed look on his face.

"Well well, look who's here. I don't know why she wanted to be here, but you can't help when someone doesn't want to understand and is childish–" Rhys said, straightening from the table and sliding his hands into his pockets.

"Y/n. How are you doing?" Eris asked, glaring at Rhys.

"I'm fine. How about yourself?" Her shoulders curved inwards as her brother in law's power whipped around the room.

"I'm good. Thank you for asking."

"Is that all you wanted to ask? If so, you can leave now."

Y/n swallowed. She didn't know why Rhysand had started acting like that around her, but it scared her. He had been like an older brother to her, just like Cassian and Azriel. But one day it was like she woke up in a new world, and she did not recognise anyone. "I– I would–"

"Come Y/n." Eris pulled out the chair next to him, motioning for her to sit in it. She smiled gratefully as she settled down, while Rhysand fumed.

"What were we talking about again before we were interrupted?" Azriel questioned.

"Yes, we were trying to negotiate an alliance." Eris said calmly. But amusement shone on everyones faces as Mor and Feyre snorted. Y/n looked around confused. What was happening?

"There is going to be no negotiation on any alliance. You were very useful in eliminating your father, Eris, but looks like we have no use of you now."

Y/n stiffened, realising that this was no normal meeting. This was an ambush. "Hey, hey. Let's not get hostile." She began when she spied the Illyrians reaching for their weapons. "Why can we not become allies? It would be better–"

"Shut up." Rhysand snapped, stunning Y/n for a moment. And in that moment, a ring of raging fire surrounded Rhysand. He paled as the fire continued spreading around the room, now making a cage like structure around all the members of the inner circle.

"Do not talk to her like that. Ever again." Deadly intention dripped from every word out of Eris's mouth as he stood. She stood along with him, panic clawing up her throat. "You'll be ash before you have time to apologise."

Rhysand snarled, just before a bubble of water surrounded him. Y/n looked around, realising Feyre was the one responsible for the water bubble.

Y/n tugged on Eris's sleeve, and he slowly turned his head to look at her. She shook her head at him, her eyes pleading. He stared at her for a moment before the fire vanished.

As soon as it did, the three illyrians advanced on them. Y/n threw herself in front of Eris, clutching his hands behind her back so he wouldn't do anything reckless again. Which was stupid, as he didn't need his hands to burn the place down.

"Get away from him Y/n." Rhysand said in a deadly voice, continuing to come towards them as Cassian and Azriel pulled out their swords and daggers.

She shook her head, glancing at Feyre helplessy. "Do something!"

"Why would I? Stop acting like that Y/n, he's not a nice person. He deserves to die."

Y/n looked around, hoping someone would help her. "Feyre, I have a question for you. When you first met Rhysand, was he a nice person?"

Feyre's brows furrowed, but she answered, speaking slowly and gently as if speaking to a small child. "No, he was not a nice person. But he's my mate, and when I got to know him more, I realised he was a nice person. But Y/n, is it necessary to ask these stupid questions at this moment?"

"Yes." She turned back to Rhysand. "Please, negotiate an alliance. He's my mate."

Everything was dead silent for a minute, and everyone stared at her. Eris had managed to free his hands from her clutches, and she felt his hands wrapping around her, tugging her back.

"You shouldn't have done that." He whispered in her ear frantically. And when she thought about it, she realised how stupid it was. These people were not ones she had once known. These were bloodthirsty and greedy, and they wouldn't care for their enemy's mate, even though the mate was their family. They could also use her to force Eris to do something. Maybe even leave the throne and go into hiding.

"What did you say?" Rhysand asked, his voice low.

"Please Rhys, you know what it feels like to have a mate. Please don't do this." She glanced at the other Illyrians, who had stopped just behind Rhys.

"You are going to go with him?"

"Yes. I–I want to."

"The bond is clouding your judgement."

"No it is not, I swear."

Rhys glanced at Feyre, conversing mind to mind before sighing. "You'll regret this Y/n, and when you realise it, you'll come back crying to us. Guess we won't have any fun today then."

"Really?"

"Hmm. Well, get back to the table. We'll have to negotiate a stupid alliance then."

•○🌑○•

That had been months ago, and now Autumn Court was safe. At least for the time being.

She continued staring out the window, drinking her monthly contraceptive tea. She and Eris had accepted the bond within one month of the alliance being made, and for the next month, it had been as if they had been wiped of the face of Prythian.

She blushed, thinking of that month. It wasn't as if it didn't still feel like they were in a mating frenzy though. No, Eris would grab her whenever he got one moment of peace. But back then? He had her for himself, uninterrupted most of the time. Any work he had, he would do when she rested. Writing letters to reading reports, keeping tabs on the training of soldiers to the current favourite food of his people, that male did everything, all the while making sure to give her time as well.

And if there was only one thing she knew, it was that she didnt regret her decision. She never would.

She sighed, moving to take a sip from her tea when two strong arms wrapped around her torso. Without a moments hesitation and without realising what she was doing, she relaxed back into the body of her mate.

Her amazing, perfect mate.

As soon as she relaxed, she felt warmth rushing through the bond, a tint of glee and surprise mixed with the love.

"Good morning love." Eris whispered–his voice raspy and clouded with sleep– againt her hair before burying his head in the crook of her neck. She tilted her head back and to the side to give him more space.

"Good morning handsome."

She felt him smile against her, nipping at her. He lifted his head a little so his cheek rested against her.

"What are you drinking?"

"My monthly contraceptive tea."

"That's great."

"I feel like there's more you want to say." She muttered, caressing his arm. She turned to him and he rested his forehead against her.

"Is the tea hot?"

Her brows furrowed. "No, not really. It was brought in quite some time ago. Why?"

"Then finish it up quickly darling."

"Why?" She smirked. She knew why, she just wanted to hear him say it.

"You know why."

"Do I though?" She sipped from the almost finished cup teasingly.

"Hmm. Guess I'll just show you why then."

His eyes twinkled, and she couldn't hold back anymore. So she gulped down the tea in one go before pouncing on him.

•○🌑○•

She stared at herself in the mirror, running her fingers over her deep red gown's neckline.

She and her mate, the High Lord and Lady of Autumn Court, had been invited to the Night Court. They hadn't been provided with a specific reason why the celebration was being held, they just were invited.

Whatever the reason, there was a pit of dread forming in her stomach.

The door creaked open to her chambers and her mate poked his head in. When she turned to look at him, she found his mouth slightly parted, as if he was about to say something.

But then he stepped in, closing the door behind him. He whistled lowly as he walked towards her. "Give me a twirl pretty girl."

She smiled and did exactly that. He whistled flirtatiously, eyeing her body before meeting her eyes. "Would you look at that. Perfect. Absolutely gorgeous."

She blushed like a schoolgirl at the praises spewed from her mate and husband's mouth. It didn't last long as she remembered why she had dressed up in the first place. She turned back to the mirror, a frown on her face.

Eris, of course, noticed it. Moving to stand behind her and meeting her eyes in the mirror, he hugged her from the back. "What happened darling? Is something the matter?"

She shook her head. "I'm just a little..."

"Nervous?"

"You could say that."

"We can stay here if you want. I will write to them–"

"No." She cut him off. "This would affect the alliance, especially since Rhysand and Feyre would be looking for any opportunity to launch a war."

"Then we can go to war, my heart. Your comfort comes before all else."

She smiled and turned to him. "I'm glad for that, my love. However, it is necessary that I prioritise the future of Autumn Court. What kind of High Lady would I be if I didn't care for my subjects' wellbeing?"

He smiled and kissed her cheeks. "My darling High Lady. So, are you ready?"

"Not really, but let's get this done with."

He extended his arm to her. As soon as she took it, they began to walk out the door.

But something caught her attention when she spied the guards who would accompany them today. They weren't Eris's personal guards, the ones he trusted. Y/n tugged on her mates sleeves, making him stop.

"Yes?"

She tilted her head towards the guards. "They are new. They are not your guards."

Eris nodded. "Apparently, my brothers seem to think that these guards are better suited to safeguarding us. They are old and trained, seasoned from centuries of working for my father."

As he said those words, Y/n had the feeling that he was also questioning the reason these males were coming with them.

He still didn't trust his brothers, and, despite his advisors telling him to get rid of them, he didn't. He wouldn't, not unless they gave him a reason to.

The pit of dread in her deepened.

She didn't have a good feeling about this.

•○🌑○•

Y/n smiled politely as she talked to her sister. Nesta. Feyre was sitting on her throne.

Her heart was hammering in her ear, and she had become more and more panicked than when she started the evening. The weird feeling that something really bad was about to happen lurked about her being, and she wondered where her mate was.

She tried to look around, her breathing becoming shorter when she didnt find him anywhere in the crowded hall.

Where the hell is he?

"Are you okay?" Nesta gave her an assessing look, her eyes all seeing.

Y/n nodded. "It's just, I've never been away from Eris for long periods of time since before we were mated. Especially in crowded areas. And you know how I hate crowds. And I have also been feeling nauseated since the evening. I'm sure it's nothing..."

She realised she was rambling and Nesta probably wasn't interested in Y/n's wellbeing. So she shut herself up and again looked around, tugging on the bond.

In an instant, Eris's arm was around her waist and he smiled down at her.

"My heart?"

Relief spread through her as she buried her face in the crook of his neck. "Eris."

"Are you alright?"

She shook her head against him. "Too crowded. Too many people. And you weren't near..." She mumbled.

"Oh my darling, I am so sorry I left you alone. But I am here now. You want to go somewhere less crowded?"

She hummed against his warm skin, already calming.

"Come." He said, pulling away from her and turning to the doors. That was when Y/n noticed Rhysand and Cassian standing next to Nesta, eyeing the couple. She swallowed when Rhysand met her eyes before looking away from her in disgust.

It was obvious he would be disgusted, after all she had chosen the enemy over her own family.

She bowed her head, her insecurities rising again after months, and followed Eris to a secluded alcove nearby.

She kept her head lowered, wondering if her family hated her, but then she felt Eris's hand on her chin, and all her worries started ebbing away.

"Hey." He whispered softly, giving her a small smile. "Are you alright?"

"I... don't know."

"It's okay. Talk to me."

"I–I don't know why but... I'm feeling... weird? Like, since the moment we left for here, I've had this feeling that something is about to go wrong and–" her chest heaved and she pressed herself against him, needing his warmth to keep her in the present.

"Hey, hey, nothing is going to go wrong. Don't worry my heart, everything will be fine."

He kissed her head, smoothing his hand down her hair as he murmured sweet nothings onto the top of her head.

A few moments later, she finally calmed. But the dread was still there, like an unwanted guest who refused to leave.

Y/n looked up at her mate, her beautiful, amazing mate. He smiled down at her.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better. But still Eris, what if something happens?"

He shook his head. "If something happens, I'll be there to handle it."

She sighed. "I know I sound stupid and stubborn–"

"No you don't. It's just your instincts, and there is nothing wrong with feeling that way. We'll be more careful of what is going on around us, and nothing will happen. I promise."

She smiled at him. This was why she loved him.

Before she had left with him, her family always found ways to make her doubt herself. If she suggested an idea, they would look down on it, saying she should stay quiet when she knew nothing about the matter. She had become extremely insecure about herself since then, and tried to stay quiet all the time.

Eris made her realise her worth and brought her back from the dark pit she had descended into.

"I love you." She whispered.

"I love you more, my heart."

As soon as they left the alcove, the were faced with the whole of inner circle staring them down, as if they had been waiting to pounce on her and her mate. Even Feyre and Mor were there.

Her grip tightened on Eris's hand, and he squeezed back.

"Feyre." She smiled tentatively, wondering if it was the right thing to do.

"Y/n." Feyre nodded stiffly. "Would you like to come with us? We wanted to talk to you, catch up on the events of the past months. See how things were going in the Autumn Court. Just us ladies." Y/n glanced at Eris. He eyed the females, namely Feyre, Nesta and Mor. "Don't worry about him. He'll be occupied with the males. Right Eris?"

She didn't want to go. The only place she wanted to go to was back home. "Um I..."

Everyone's eyes seemed to narrow on her mate, who said nothing.

"Is something the matter?"

She shook her head. "I just don't feel well. I... guess I'll come with you."

The females of the inner circle led her away, out the court room, up a staircase.

By the time they reached the landing of the fourth floor, Y/n's chest was heaving. "Where are we going?"

The three ladies looked at each other before Nesta sighed. "Look, we wanted to talk to you away from him. There isn't a particular place we had in mind."

Immediately, Y/n's blood chilled. She looked around. "What are you trying to say? What did you want to talk about?"

"Y/n... look, the bond seems to be clouding your judgement. He is not the male you think he is. He is manipulating–" Feyre started.

Y/n heaved a sigh. "He. Is. Not. Neither is the bond clouding my judgement."

"You wouldn't realise even if he was manipulating you. So, please let me in your mind. If the bond isn't clouding your mind and he isnt manipulating you, then we will satisfied."

" I married him of my own free will. How many times do I have to say that to get you to fucking understand?"

Silence descended. Unfortunately, it was only for a moment. "Did you– did you just curse?"

Y/n laughed, tired of their presumptions about her. "Why is that so shocking? Hmm? Is it because Elain never curses?" Mor opened her mouth, but Y/n didn't give anyone a chance to speak. "You don't even know what kind of a person I am. You just assumed that because I am Elain's twin, I'll have a similar personality as hers. You never bothered to ask me about my thoughts, always thinking that I was some naive little girl who knew nothing of what she was talking about."

"I– we never–"

"Yeah Feyre, you never."

Before she, or anyone, for that matter, could say or do anything, a scream sounded from below, followed by more.

Y/n turned to look down the stairs through the small opening over the railing. Her sisters and Mor did the same.

There was nothing noticeable accept the red glow on the walls on the bottom most floor.

Her heart picked up again, sweat coating her hands.

The screams got louder, and the glow became more evident as the moments passed.

When she felt a tug on the bond and a pulse of panic from Eris's side, it clicked.

Fire.

This place was on fire.

Shit.

The sound of clanking armor and the soldiers scrambling up the staircase made the the four females draw back from the railings edge. The soldiers made a ring formation around the three females of the inner circle, a few soldiers advancing on Y/n.

She looked at them confused.

It was Nesta who screeched when a soldier raised his sword. "What the hell do you think you are doing! She is our sister, stop advancing on her!"

"Ordered by the High Lord. Catch the enemy. The traitor and his wife."

"She is not the enemy! She is my sister!" Nesta cried out, trying to push her way through the protective circle while Y/n tried to find a way out. She was now pressed against the wall opposite the railing, and she ran her hands against the wall for something to protect herself with.

"That was why she was so nervous. And why she didnt want to come with us. She wanted to get away before the fire started." Feyre's eyes were wide and she pointed an accusing finger in Y/n's direction.

"Why– how can you even think that?! Eris would never do such a thing! I would never–"

"No one is ever going to trust you! Especially when you are a ruler of autumn Court. You married a manipulator, a monster. What are the odds that you haven't become the same in his company?"

"Feyre! Watch your tongue!" Nesta yelled, her eyes pleading. She turned to Y/n. "Tell her it's not true. Tell her you weren't the one who orchestrated this. Tell her!"

As soon as Y/n opened her mouth, her hand closed around something. A rod?

She didn't care, as long as she could use it to defend herself.

She pulled it in front of her, holding it like a sword. And then, just the way Eris had taught her, she leapt forwards, the black iron rod clutched tight in her hands.

The guards were not expecting it, and so the first one was disarmed quickly. She dropped her weapon in favour of picking the sword of the disarmed soldier, who then pulled out another sword hanging down his back and began charging at her.

She tried to hold him off while Nesta did her best to try and stop the males from cornering her.

But it wasn't enough. And there was only one way to stop them.

And she did what was needed.

She didn't care for her life as much as she did for Eris and the pain that he wpuld go through if he lost her. That, and the Autumn Court.

She raised the sword, and in one long, clean strike, severed the head of the closest guard. It stopped others from advancing, at least for a moment.

Y/n tugged on the bond once, but his side seemed to be closed off.

"The High Lord said she didn’t know how to fight." One of the guards said.

"She didn't. Unless, her bastard of a husband taught her." Mor stared at her in disdain.

"What are you waiting for?! Get her!" Feyre ordered, and at once the guards moved.

And so began the killing spree.

•○🌑○•

Eris's pov.

He cut through the men trying to ambush him as he tried to get to his mate. They had taken her somewhere away from him, the reason being unknown but he had an inkling.

So they could convince her to abandon him.

He had been panicked when he realised what was going on. The fire had been started by the men he had brought with him because of his brothers.

Those bastards. He was going to rip them apart when he found them. But that would happen if he was able to escape this hell hole. And for that, he needed to find his wife.

He had known that maybe her sisters were trying to persuade her into leaving him, and selfishly he had wished that she wouldn't leave him. But when the fire started, he realised that she probably would think that he was the one who orchestrated it.

So he had closed off the bond, giving her free will to leave him if she wanted without knowing what he felt. Because, knowing his wife, if she knew he was sad, she'd go to extreme lengths to make him happy. And that would mean staying with him even if she didn't want to.

And he knew he didn't deserve her anyway. She was too good for a bastard like him. It was only a matter of when, not if, she left him.

Just as he reached the staircase, his body locked up.

There she was, running down the stairs, holding her tattered gown in one hand and a bloody sword in another.

He didn't blink, couldn't, as he watched her cut down the men standing in her way.

He watched, fascinated, as she looked up from the male she was currently decapitating.

Her features relaxed, and she hurried down towards him.

The wall he had put up on his side of the bond wasn't strong enough to hold off the flood of relief from her side.

He almost went to his knees before his wife, his goddess. One he had done nothing to be blessed with.

When she was within arms length, she let go of her gown and threw herself at him. He stumbled back, but didn't let go of her.

"Oh mother! Are you okay?!" She questioned, pulling back and running her hands over his shoulder and torso, looking for injuries, all while he stood there staring at her like an idiot.

When he didn't reply, she looked up and snapped her fingers in his face.

That finally got him moving. "I'm fine. But I feel like I should be the one asking that. You look like you've just walked through a blood pond."

At that, she laughed. "We should leave before someone catches us. Come." She began tugging her away, but he held his ground.

"You– you still want to come with me?"

Her brows furrowed. "What do you mean? Why would I not want that?"

Eris didn't know how to respond. Thankfully, she knew him too well by now and knew what he was thinking.

She stepped closer, bringing a hand up to his jaw, searching his eyes. "Eris," she began softly. "I. Love. You. And I want to be with you. I'll never leave you, even if you beg me to. I'll forever haunt you."

He huffed out a laugh and she smiled.

"They were trying to persuade you to leave me, weren't they?"

Y/n nodded. "They can try."

"I could've been the one to start the fire." He pointed out, and the selfish part of him screamed in outrage.

"We're pretty sure it was him." Rhys spoke from behind Eris. He glanced back stiffly, finding the whole inner circle present.

But Y/n ignored him.

She only spoke to Eris.

"And? Your point being? I don't care if you were the one who started the fire. All I care for is you. Us. I wish you could get that through your thick skull."

She murmured before rising up on her toes and capturing his lips.

When she pulled away, Feyre spoke up. "Y/n, because you are family, we'll give you one chance. Come back to us, and you'll be safe. Go with him, and we'll destroy you along with Autumn Court."

"That's all you do, isn't it Feyre? Destroy courts for petty reasons. First Spring, and now Autumn. Do you ever stop?"

"Watch your tongue Y/n." Rhys snarled.

But it was all a ruse on Y/n's part, because suddenly, the wards were broken, and Eris felt his mate's hand in his, tugging urgently.

So he did as she wanted him to. Winnowed her away.

•○🌑○•

As soon as they appeared in a forest near Autumn Court's border, Y/n turned away and heaved the contents of her stomach on the grass. Eris held back her hair and rubbed her back before she collapsed on the grass.

After a few moments of silence, she started laughing. Eris looked at her incredulously, but her laughter was contagious, and so he followed her, lying next to her on the grass and laughing.

"Aren't you a clever little fox. That was amazing." He muttered when their laughter had fied down. He brushed his fingers against hers, feeling a smile lifting the corners of his lips.

"The bloodshed?"

"The breaking of wards. The bloodshed too."

She hummed happily. After a pause, she turned to Eris.

"I know it wasn't you Eris."

He didn't have to agrre to that, so he didn't. "There will be a war." He mumbled.

She nodded. "I know."

"You should have stayed back. With them."

"I would never do that."

"You could die here–"

"And I could also die there. At least if I die here, I'd have died for something good. And I dont care if I die."

His throat clogged. He just whispered one word.

"Why?"

She smiled, resting her head on his chest.

"Because I love you, you dumbass. We'll get through this together."

He nodded, even though she could not see.

"Together."

•○🌑○•

General taglist: @eos-princess @bubybubsters @nightless

[praetorqueenreyna]

I love reading about u talk about acotar, really intrigues me enough to consider reading the books, I'm also very interested in any and all fandom gossip, so please please please tell me what is the current situation? What is elaingate in reference to? 👀👀👀

WELL FIRSTABLE if you read the books, stop after the first one 😂 and THANK YOU FOR ASKING I will relay the tale of some of the most low-stakes fandom drama to ever exist that I accidentally started WHOOPSIE

On July 24, 2024, the blog for Elain Archeron Week posted the rules for the event. There were 4 rules, one of which was that they wouldn't allow ships with "known abusers" and listed Tamlin and Beron as examples (I assume you know who Tamlin is lmao, Beron is a kind of generic Mean Dad character). ACOTAR fandom is known for being puritanical and religiously devoted to canon, but this is a new development. Event week mods have ignored/not reblogged content they don't like that was submitted for their week, but this is the first one I've seen that outright BANNED anything.

There was already a little kickback that mostly has to do with the two competing ships for Elain, elriel and elucien. They both think the other is the DEVIL even though both ships are equally boring. Apparently, the Elain Week is run by elriels, and eluciens were already huffy about the wording of an ask wondering if elucien would be allowed in the event. This part of the story is boring and doesn't have anything to do with me, the star of the show, so I will move on.

Anyway! A few fandom friends sent me links and screenshots of all of this because it's objectively funny. I made a post talking about how funny it was, which brought attention to it on this side of the fandom. My mutuals (the most hilarious people on the planet) asked what was going on, and immediately joined in on the fun. Memes were created at an astronomical rate. Art, fic, and poems for every possible ship of those three characters were made. Amazingly enough, Tamlin/Beron has had a huge surge of content, as the two men named and specifically banned from the week. I started tagging the posts #elaingate, and apparently it caught on enough that the tag now has over 100 posts in it.

To clarify!! The issue has never been about the ships themselves. There are VERY few Tamlin/Elain shippers on tumblr, which I know because I have run multiple demographic surveys and crunched the numbers. And absolutely NOBODY was making Beron/Elain. You have to understand how bland this fandom is. They consider one of the most degenerate, disgusting ships to be the main male character and....his wife's sister. And it certainly isn't isolated to elain/elriel stans, they were just the unlucky bastards to finally verbalize these insidious issues with fandom, especially ACOTAR fandom. Mostly just that the fandom is EXTREMELY conservative, and also that people that like the Popular Thing always have to make themselves out to be the ultimate victims. It's also in poor taste for running an event week. Yes, event weeks are run by fans in their free time, but the idea is to inspire EVERYBODY to create for the thing that you're a fan of. If you're so precious that simple seeing a ship you don't like sends you to the fainting couch, an event week is probably not the thing for you.

I wrote a whole essay on modern ACOTAR fandom here then deleted it bc YOU DID NOT ASK. But anyway THAT IS ELAINGATE we are all being very silly.

[infiniteetcetera]

Potentially controversial statement here but I swear this is not an attack just a genuine question: why do people assume Lucien will genuinely want/be heartbroken by Elain???

A point I see so often attacking Elain/defending Elucien is that Lucien has “been through too much to be heartbroken again” and “deserves happiness” and “SJM loves his character and wouldn’t just take his mate away” but like…why do we equate mates with happiness and Lucien with liking Elain at all??

Obviously, Lucien is far more willing to try out the bond than Elain is. We know he’s attracted to her physically (but let’s be fr she’s obviously attracted to him too, our fox boy is hot) but beyond that there’s like…nothing to it?? They don’t talk, he doesn’t know her particularly well, the time they spend together is awkward, and Elains initial impression on a lot of people is being simple/boring (I am NOT saying Elain actually is these things, just that’s the vibe she gives off to people as other characters have noted).

I think Lucien is definitely curious about Elain, he grew up believing a mating bond was this big powerful perfect thing and thought he lost his mate ages ago. Elain doesn’t make sense as a mate to him, which seems to make him all the more curious about her. I think there’s also a lot of guilt tied up between them too, we know Lucien feels bad about what he did to Feyre and how he was involved with what happened to the sisters. We also know Lucien is a well bred polite courtier of a man. All these things together make it seem perfectly reasonable why Lucien still tries to speak to Elain, buy her gifts, acts how one would expect a male to act with his mate, is put off by her cold shoulder, etc but I genuinely don’t believe he has real feelings for her beyond the bond (yetttt) because…literally how could he???

Again this really isn’t me hating on Elain, she’s lovely but a pretty private/complex character as well and Lucien doesn’t know her. I’ve seen so many posts lately about how “Lucien would be so crushed to know what happened on Solstice” or “Elain has to grovel for liking Azriel because it’s wrong” or even just the insinuation (which silly goofy characters like Rhys make themselves) that Lucien is ready to blood duel and start throwing hands for Elain and again I just REALLY DONT SEE IT. I think he’s curious about the bond and willing to see the whole mess through but Lucien really has no reason to want Elain any more than she wants him. I know apparently the bonds “effect the males more” or whatever but if Cassian’s ridiculous “I’ll let Rhys threaten my mate any day” self has taught us anything it’s that it’s reallyyyyyy not that simple.

I don’t know I just feel like there’s this weird babying of Lucien’s character I’ve seen a lot in the fandom recently that completely misunderstands him. Like our boy was spitting 10/10 rizz in the first book and gets called hot by 90% of the characters, he is not some underdog here. Elain is not above him and he really doesn’t need her. The love triangle is really more a fandom thing than some actual competition between the characters. Even if Azriel wasn’t involved Elain would still act the same way toward Lucien and I honestly think if he really wanted her/ if they had a connection prior to being told they are mates he’d be handling the situation differently. For now, I think people are assuming he’s a lot more invested than he actually is.

Obviously this is a romance series and there will be drama involving the Elain/Lucien/Azriel love triangle in the next book because that’s been what’s laid out, but if Elain just turned around and said “sorry respectfully I want someone else let’s break this bond” I really don’t think Lucien would be “heartbroken” or “crushed” over it. Again, there’s this whole weird “mating bonds drive males crazy” thing up in the air but I’ve failed to see any real examples in the ACOTAR universe that show me these bonds are a good thing so I’ll believe it when I see it🤧

IDK, overall I know this series is about the sisters but I love Lucien’s character so much and really want to see more of him (and believe there’s a lot to unravel there) and people threatening to not read the rest of the series if next book is Elriel because “Lucien’s been through enough” just seems silly to me because I think his happy ending has nothing to do with Elain. It might involve Elain, yes, but Lucien also has a father, a mother, and a brother out there who are all decent people that would love him which he hasn’t gotten to explore yet. I’m also convinced this man could pull any male or female in Prythian if he wanted so I don’t think just because she’s framed as his big love interest now Elain is his only option.

I know a lot of people feel strongly about their side of the love triangle but I just really want to see all these characters happy and think a lot of people are overthinking it😭 I think SJM has equal probability of making Elucien a great 10/10 ship and ruining their potential and making them Nessian 2.0 so I’m much more concerned with these characters being written well and getting a real happy ending than who that ending is with. I also think ACOTAR has been very limited in scope thus far and Lucien is one of the few characters with the possibly to break out of that mold and get us out of the night court for a bit (yes this is me once again asking for a Lucien TOD book😔✨) . He could still 100% wind up with Elain, but I really just don’t imagine the love triangle/build up to that being as dramatic as people think. Lucien and Az are both decent respectful males and as long as neither oversteps I really just see it coming down to what Elain wants and whatever her choice is I think both characters will respect it and be able to move on perfectly fine.

[separatist-apologist]

At this point I just like your posts with just skimming through it because I know your big, mature brain won't let me down with your opinions

And I need people know sjm is NOT a good writer lol. Just because she's famous doesn't mean she's the best one out there. Acotar is a missed opportunity at best. And most people who are hard-core fan of these book thinks these books are perfect and not because sjm keep retconing and changing and forgetting her own goddamn plot so they take everything for what it is. I've seen people criticised Mor and Feyre for leaving some dreamers at CoN and they don't care about them. No babes sjm just forgot about it all fkn together!!!

Okay I have thoughts about this. I'm once again slapping it under a cut just because its long. These are just my thoughts, feel free to disagree

There is nothing wrong, just to be clear, with SJM being a person's favorite writer. I think she is an entertaining writer and I think begrudgingly everyone in this fandom needs to admit that. I think she creates very interesting characters and places that people want to know more about and her writing is very accessible which feels like a burn but I swear isn't.

I don't think she's a bad writer, personally, but I do think she's just not interested in her own details or worlds the way her fans are, and I think this is true across every book series she's written. I think her problem is she writes the way I do- she knows how her stories end, she has a few key scenes in mind, and she figures the rest out as she goes.

This felt pretty evident in TOG, too- you could watch in real-time as her plots changed and she undid things it felt like she'd been building toward. ACOTAR isn't any better in that regard because I GENUINELY do not think she knew what she was doing plotwise when she started the series and it came to her as she went which is why the whole Amarantha things feels so ?????????

Even in TOG, SJM is not interested in the political maneuverings of her characters, the governing process, her political landscape or ANY of the things that a lot of people get frustrated by, to circle to your CoN plot. I think she relies very heavily on "x says they care and I'm telling you they're a good person, so the assumption is they're also a good ruler and we don't need to explore that any further". SJM drops these little pieces of lore like about Mor's cousins or the women of Illyria or whatever and then doesn't do anything with it or even recognize, in my opinion, the conclusions her readers are drawing.

And I think its because to her, she's told you what you need to know. Rhys is a GOOD ruler because the people of Velaris love him AND because she tells us so. Tamlin is a bad ruler because he exacts taxes on his decimated population AND she tells us so. And when people examine those statements, it starts to crumble, in my opinion, which is why I think people get defensive. They don't CARE about the political workings of this world, they just want to read about hot people doing hot people shenanigans.

I do think that going to a SJM book for thoughtful worldbuilding and an interesting magic/political system is a mistake. Having read every series she's ever written, I do not think this is her strong suit and I'm tired of being told I only think so because of internalized misogyny. I think SJM is a good character writer- her characters are compelling, and even anti's typically have a favorite character they wish had been better fleshed out or had been done more with or would be better explored in future books.

This is all over the place- I'm just writing my thoughts as they come to me. Ultimately, I think SJM's books typically don't stand up to heavy scrutiny and that depending on what you're looking for in a book, you're going to come away with different levels of enjoyment. For me, I hadn't read anything fiction in like, six years because I'd been knee deep in academia and it was the first thing I read just for fun and it WAS fun. It IS fun, even now. It's a brain off read. For better or worse, ACOTAR isn't complicated or hard to understand- SJM tells her readers what to think AND feel all the time, so you don't really need to think about any of it.

But when you read other fantasy in her genre, it becomes clear that like...oh. This is just mediocre. In some places it feels like a poor retelling of other stories (TOG has HEAVY LOTR moments, for example) and thoughtless culture stealing that feels offensive in places (CC feels especially bad in this regard given how she's stitched together like, 3-5 different cultures without a good understanding of any of them).

I'm not saying anti's shouldn't still discuss their issues with it. But I will say that if you're looking for a well fleshed out world and a political system that is interesting to read and characters who are consistent and don't bow to the whims of the author and plot, you're probably going to have a hard time with ALL of SJM.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I remember you mentioning A court of Thorns and roses in your posts once when talking about malleus character archetype. Have you read acotar series? If so I really want to know what you think about it. Your post is how I found out this series. It's pretty meh 😕 to me but I would really like to read your thoughts on it 😊. Also are non twst related ask allowed? If not I'm truly sorry😥. You can just ignore this ask

Oh god 😅 That was such a long time ago that I can’t even locate the original post where I made that comment…

To summarize what I said then, I had expressed that the way Malleus is presented to us reminds me of the bad boy supernatural love interests in romantasy novels.I believe the online book community colloquially refers to these characters as “Shadow Daddies” and I find that hilarious. To clarify, I do NOT mean to say that Malleus is Yuu’s “canon” love interest or anything like that. When I say that Malleus is “like” a Shadow Daddy, it’s just in the tropes they share. (For example, being overpowered, brooding, and misunderstood as a “bad guy” when, in actuality, he has a heart of gold and is just lonely.)

… I’ve actually seen multiple posts comparing Malleus and Rhysand, if you can believe that 💀

The rest of my response isn’t really TWST related, so I’ll put it under the cut for ya ^^ I tried to keep my thoughts concise and free of spoilers.

But to your question! Yes, I actually have read the first three books of ACOTAR but not the novella (A Court of Frost and Starlight) or the sequel, A Court of Silver Flames. I got into the series because it was highly recommended within its genre, but I came out of it really disappointed. I continued reading hoping that it would get better, but it really did not.

Maas has this really melodramatic and yet simultaneously juvenile way of writing dialogue that does not mesh well with what I’m looking for in a romantasy read. She’ll have characters give exposition or speeches that go on for like 10 pages straight and also have supposedly wise ancient fae cracking potty jokes like a middle schooler trying to impress their friends. It makes the books a lot longer than they have to be. In actuality, the plot involves a lot of running around and having all the right questions answered by conveniently placed chess pieces. I also did not enjoy the vague world building (like several side characters are never given proper names and instead are always referred to by title) and the near-constant mention of mating bonds. What I did like was how Maas wrote action scenes and descriptions (even if they often veer into purple prose). She also comes up with some unique concepts—but the execution of those concepts isn’t great, so the ideas are left sort of shallow and floating there waiting to be fully realized.

Romantasy and fairy tale retellings are some of my favorite things to read, so I was sad that I didn’t think that highly of this beloved series. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book I’ve been able to seriously get immersed in 😔 ACOTAR’s explosive popularity has led to many other authors trying to replicate Maas’s success, which has flooded the market with horni fae books and even similar titles (“A [noun] of [nouns] and [nouns]”). (And as someone who does NOT find Malleus attractive at all, you can imagine I’m not thrilled.) I have really mixed feelings about that… While of course I don’t mind if people enjoy ACOTAR or ACOTAR-adjacent books, I dislike that it makes up the bulk of what is marketed to me. It makes it a lot harder to find something that’s more suited to my tastes.

If anyone seeing this post is interested in trying out ACOTAR, I caution you that it is a “new adult” book, meaning it is intended for older teens (I would recommend 18+, honestly). There is a lot of violence and… explicit intimate scenes… in the series.

[violetasteracademic]

So, while I am a passionate Elriel and my experience is only further cemented with each new detail on every re-read, I have still stated since day one that I still love Lucien and Gwyn! My first ever Tumblr post was a dissertation on Lucien for goodness sake!

And this is where I struggle. I don't personally lurk in anti posts, but they make their way to my eyeballs anyways. And my problem is that myself, and many Elriel's I know, still love all the characters and honor and fully believe they will have their own stories, potentially their own POVs in future books or at the very least play a large role in ACOTAR or the multiverse.

But the a/ti Elriel's, from what I've seen, are almost ALWAYS a/ti Elain. I won't bother going over the comments I get on tiktok from E/ucien shippers that claim they like Elain. They erase her. They misunderstand her. They minimize her. They sideline her. They invent villain storylines. And still ship her with their favorite male character? Just because they want *him* to have his mate. And Azriel is apparently bio hazard waste in all areas of life EXCEPT if he decides to go after Gwyn. Whereas I like Azriel as he is, and I like who he currently wants to be with.

The author, I am certain, also likes these characters. She wrote them. It's difficult to believe her intention was for the fans to turn on Azriel just because a reveal many of us saw coming (that he is down bad for Elain) happened.

I don't have to erase Gwyn from the narrative, or distort her interactions with Azriel, minimize Gwyn's importance, create a shitty personality for her or invent a new storyline to make Elriel make sense.

I don't have to erase Lucien from the narrative, distort his interactions with Elain, call him toxic, minimize his importance, or invent a new storyline for Elriel to make sense.

I personally can't wait to see what Lucien and Gwyn are going to bring to the story. But by and large, I mostly see Gwyn as being a sidekick to Azriel and Nesta instead of the lead of her own story or Elain as a sidekick to the Band of Exiles instead of the lead of her own story for G/ynriel and E/ucien theories to come together. Beyond that, I'd love to look into their stories more, but I'm tired of assaulting my eyeballs with all the toxic sludge about pelvises and pure hatred from Elain festering in those spaces.

So I'll say it again and I'll say it a million times, just because Azriel and Elain want each other and not Lucien and Gwyn does NOT mean I think Lucien and Gwyn are trash. I just want the characters who want each other to be together. If it were written differently, I would feel differently. And if antis would at least address that Azriel and Elain WANT each other instead of trying to explain away their behavior and invent false intentions and narratives, I'd have a lot more fun reading and exploring their theories.

I'm an Elain girl first and foremost. And I want her to have what she wants. As of right now, today, waking up in Prythian, that is Azriel. That is the only thing on page. Anything else is speculation or theorizing. Azriel and Elain wanting each other is not a theory. It's real. Erasing it is not only bizarre, but makes any statement coming after it really not credible.

I ship a ton of non canon couples in other fandoms. Many of them never came to pass. It's just for fun. But because the hatred for Elain is so visceral, and the desire to erase her character from existence is so real, these ships are not fun. And I genuinely wish they were.

The awful bullying and atrocious behavior and weird hatred for the books and characters in this fandom gets me down some days. Sorry for the wallowing. Love you all 😘