#sjm fucked up with not making this a reverse harem

[batboys-cumdumpster]

Me: minding my own business, getting ready for work

Brain: Feyre x bat boys foursome

Me: sighs, not right now ffs

Brain: Rhys sitting calmly in a chair with a drink in his hand while he slowly loses his mind with lust watching Az and Cass worship Feyre

Me: .... I'm listening

[fandom-pantheon]

Oh, this will be a rant. Bear with me, or ignore me. You can either argue or agree… However, if you want to read, it will be a freaking essay. Just a warning.

1. MATES! Or better yet, the whole thing about mates being rare and the SJM being like: “You get a mate, and you get a mate, and you get aaaaaaa MATE, etc”, makes perfect sense. Like in ACOTAR you have a world divided in half. Literally half the population is separated by a freaking wall. If Feyre didn’t cross the wall, and eventually became Fae, Rhysand would never found his mate. Nor would Cassian or Lucien. Rhysand father was over 900, when he found his mother. Do you have any idea how many times he could have died??? In ToG, you don’t have winnowing, or teleportation. Traveling the world for weeks on end? Months? Years? Which human will do that? How many of them? And if Aelin and Rowan didn’t find each other, neither would Lorcan and Elide. For example. And in CC? Their powers were corrupted, and with that their senses as well. So yeah. MATES ARE RARE!!!!

2. The whole critique of HOFAS. I get it if you don’t like it. That’s perfectly fine. However, there is no reason attacking some of the well established characters like Nesta and Azriel. First thing first. Nesta, and the whole story how SJM just ruined the ending of ACOSF, cause Nesta was all healed and whatnot. Depression is a serious illness, that is far from easy to beat. And even if you “beat it”, it does not end overnight. Yes, she had an amazing story of overcoming all that was there, but still, it did not disappear. And it probably never will. There can be days, weeks and months that it can take hold of you. That is perfectly normal, and fine, and Nesta falling again, does not mean she is back there. She has her family, her friends and her mate to help pick her up, and having a bad day or two, or a week is NORMAL. Even for people who do not suffer from depression, let alone the one who does. So don’t attack with the whole “ruined the journey of Nesta”, cause it ain’t true. We do not know what is happening in Pyrithian yeat, so chill.

3. I’ll make it a new point. AZRIEL!!! My baby. If SJM stays true to her words, my little kinky baby! 😜 Why the freaking f*ck, is it weird to have Az there instead of Cass? Like yeah, Nesta and Cass are mates, but that does not mean they are joined by umbilical cord for f*ck sake! Az is a spymaster, and it makes perfect sense for him to be trailing them. Being found out however, by accident or on purpose is questionable, but it makes so much more sense for him to be there and get as much info about this new person from different world. If there was a battle, full on war, yeah, I would expect Cass, freaking GENERAL of Night Court ARMIES, there, but for this mission?? People, have you heard of common sense?? Just cause you want to see more of Cass and Nesta, does not make it a good idea for running a court as High Lord. Deal!

4. Az and Nesta friendship? Amazing. The way he calmed her down, with mentions of Cass and Nyx. Amazing! And it is established in ACOSF that there was friendship between the two, so why the fuck are ppl freaking out? Is it because of the fantasy of threesome?? Excuse you!!! Get your mind out of the fucking gutter prudes! Just because Cass was the main love interest and turned out to be her mate, does not mean she cannot enjoy her own imagination. For fuck sake, woman keeps reading smutty books, of course she has a dirty mind. And at least 1/4 of those books have 3somes in it, if not the whole reverse harem!!!! What women (in her sexual prime, like she’s 25 or something) would not enjoy 2 hunks worshipping her??? If you wouldn’t, well… keep lying to yourself. The rest of us know the truth.

5. AZ DESERVES A MATE! Now repeat after me! AZ DESERVES A MATE! No, not Elain. Gods not that bitch. And she will turn out to be a bitch I’m 99.99% sure of it. As Rhysand mentioned, even roses have thorns. And we still have to see what she has to show. I’m sure it’s foreshadowing. Nobody is that nice. Or better said, nobody is that nice for a long time. I’m not even sold on the idea of Lucien and Elain, let alone Az and her. Be it Gwyn, Eris, Helion or Mother herself, Az deserves a mate! A mate who will love him! All of him, good and bad, and icy. And no, not the one that will “melt his ice” but the one who will embrace it. Cause it won’t be Az anymore. I didn’t see Nesta taming Cassians wild side, but going along with it, enjoying it. So why would Az mate “melt his ice”??? The mate his shadows will feel comfortable with. Where he can go through his day and find shadows missing, finding them with him/her/them. Doesn’t matter. He needs his own journey, full of trials and errors, and full on f*ck ups, for his happy ending. I believe it will be Gwyn. But it can be anyone but Elain. She will never love him fully. She will always, even when she refuses Lucien, feel the mating bond, and I cannot explain how badly I don’t want that to happen to Az. Cause HE will wake up every morning thinking: “ Is this the day she leaves me for her mate?”. And seeing his brothers happiness with their mates, he will ask this. And he deserves so much better!

6. RHYSAND! Just that! FREAKING RHYSAND! Why the f*ck are ppl freaking out about his behavior in ACOSF and HOFAS??? Let’s start from the beginning. RHYSAND is a well established character. And he is the same from start to now. He is a manipulative, scheming bastard, secretly trying to do good things, by whichever means necessary! Good or bad. For f*ck sake, he was Amarathas 2nd in command and her whore for 50 years… Like, yeah, he is good, and he is a feminist, and he is all of this and that, but he is still just… him! That won’t change, and I don’t want it to change, cause I really like his character as it is. (You have every right to hate him, but not on the account of him “changing”) Him threatening Nesta when she revealed the risk of pregnancy! YES, YES, and YES! He had every right to do so, and him telling Cass to get her out of there, was more than I would have done. (And no, I am not talking about the moral dilemma of him not telling Feyre in the first place, cause that was bad, however, what would you do? We can discuss morality all day long, and everybody would take the high road until it’s time, sooooo… Don’t!) Oh, and him reprimanding Nesta in the extra in HOFAS. Again spot on. Because, if Az or Cass have done something sooooooo stupid, he would have beaten them in the training ring to the inch of their life. Mor would probably take the full burn of his power. And Amren… Well let’s not go there. Most of the ppl started talking shit about Rhys and his behavior in HOFAS, however I was pissed, and I’m still pissed at Feyre.

7. Feyre!!! Oh my Gods!!! I’m starting to hate her. I liked her so much. Strong FMC, overcoming her obstacles, trying to do good for her family and friends and mate. But HOFAS! So mad!!!!! YOU ARE A F*CKING HIGH LADY! Your damn sister just gave one of the deadliest weapons to basically complete stranger, who btw, came to your house and wrecked PRISON of all places… In Midgard Avallen island changed completely. What the f*ck happened to the prison when she took part of the star??? She f*cking freed the Asteri/Dalgan in you house, and you sister was like: “Yeah, sure, take the mask, please don’t die or fall prey to the Asteri”. And you give shit to your MATE and a f*cking HIGH LORD of the court for reprimanding you damn sister??? Like f*ck off bi*ch. I’m all for feminism and females supporting each other, but this is politics! This is a leader talking to his subject, not a f*cking family show on air. Honestly, it’s starting to look like Feyre is abusing Rhys, and using his feelings for her and their mate bond to do things the way she wants them to be done. And I hate that it looks that way.

8. This is the last one for now. Az and Rhys interaction in extra in ACOSF. AGAIN, ppl say it with me… RHYSAND IS A HIGH LORD OF THE NIGHT COURT!!! So yes, they are friends and all of that, but at the end of the day, Rhys is the leader, and he knows his shit. And he has every right to say that shit to Az. However, I do think it is misleading. We will see if I’m right, but. If Gwyn is Az mate, I believe she knows. And I believe Rhys knows as well. I really think they are friends. (Especially over the things that happened to them, and knowing who their mates are, but not telling them, since they weren’t/aren’t ready. The whole scene of Rhysand telling Nesta to be respectful to Gwyn kinda gives me that vibe). So him telling Az “he will make him regret it”, kinda comes from that. However, I get a feeling (again might be wrong, time and SJM will tell), that making Az regret his action will involve his mother. We had mentions of her, sooooo. (I have this reoccurring thought, about a random attack, that Az takes care of, on one of his spying missions, and the enemy mentions that they will take his mate or something like that. Az coming back to Velaris, and freaking out about Elain being in danger, and everybody freaking out as well. Until Rhys asks to look at what happened, and realizes that the enemy was not saying Elain, but his mate, and runs of in search of Gwyn, who’s been attacked or kidnapped… Yeah, just there sitting in my head. Does not want to leave.)

Anyway, that’s it for now. There are much more points I would like to make, but I’ll leave it for some other time.

It took way longer than anticipated to write this. And I’m sorry for any grammatical error or misspelling. English is my second language.

If you stuck till the end, thank you, and let me know what your thoughts are??? I would appreciate discussion over open war, but go ahead and do what you like….

Love,

Lady Tina

[rigelus]

TWO

MAIN SYNOPSIS: You're not sure if you want to light the fires that will see the world burn, or put out the fires, either way, you're doing both. After a secret meeting with Rigelus of the Asteri and his charming--yet deadly proposition--to join him in the Eternal city and rain down hellfire on all who have wronged you, you decide to accept what should be a suicide mission. Only it isn't, and as you walk into the Eternal City and away from the five men who love you the most in the whole world, you cannot hope to ever see them again... unless you're not as burned up as you thought you were. Unless you burn bright, as a double agent.

chapter one / two (you are here) / three / four / five / six / seven / eight / nine / ten

the light of stars is an explicit (i cannot emphasize this enough.) reverse harem (kinda) sjm crossover x reader fic. there are some inconsistencies, which i am in the process of fixing! most of this chapter is under the cut, it clocks in at about 3.5k words and I wasn't going to make everyone read that lol

You wake like a ghost in the night, haunting the halls of the camp you have called home with your fellow rebels for so long now. The abandoned mansion of a once great king—it was perfect for a rebel strong hold. It had been lost to view for centuries, and only your magic could undo the warding on the cloaking spells. For a moment, the happy memories of discovering the place and your triumph over your magic makes your frown disappear for a long moment. But none of it could last, the people would never accept a queen with five king consorts, that was practically a fucking harem. You groan to yourself and wander out to the veranda where you know he is waiting. 

Your greatest enemy. 

The decision is made, in your mind, you’re the only one you have to consult with anyway. They will wake to a bed without you, assume you didn’t sleep well and are getting breakfast. But when they realize no one has seen you for hours and and hours, they will want to tear the world apart. Went the world in two. 

But they cannot. They have enough to be getting on with, as heads of the rebellion you’ve carefully created. Against your own people. 

Rigelus’s profile cuts an impressive figure against the night. The strong back, tall stature and broad shoulders make something feminine in you soften—though you do not want it to. Rigelus and you had known each other eons and he knew each and every one of your dirty secrets. How you loved to fix broken things, and how this rebellion was just one more broken thing you had chosen over the eons to fix. 

What you couldn’t live with is seeing the magic fade. Rigelus had promised to cast out the magic from the world, to banish it like one would an unworthy solider from their little band of Lightfall Squadron soldiers. It would suffocate all you loved. 

You wanted your freedom above all. Your freedom to love who you wanted, and marriage to Rigelus was nothing more than a legal contract. Maybe he would let you keep a harem in the in the Eternal city—not that your young, wild and carefree warriors will ever want to see you again. 

It was nothing you hadn’t borne before. 

“Hello princess,” Rigelus croons, his voice hasn’t changed from all the eons you’ve known each other. Where yours is sweet and soft, his is hard and otherworldly. 

As if they’d cut you from the same cloth, but dyed his too dark. 

You scowl, “We’re not married yet, don’t call me your princess, and if I am to be your wife—I will be queen.” 

He turns slowly to look upon you, as if he has all the time in the world. He is wearing a different body than the young, athletic boy he’d been wearing to deal with Bryce and Hunt’s transgressions. No. This was as close close as he came to a true form. “Not yet, no.” Rigelus puts slim fingers into his pockets, and he looks on at you, “but we will be by the end of the night.” 

You bark out a foul laugh, a spoiled sour feeling seems to be churning in your stomach—and yet…

And yet, would it be so bad? You and Rigelus have been clowning around this godforsaken universe for a few hundred millennia. What does it matter if you marry him? He’s the only one who knows your secret—besides Eopshoros, his sister. 

And she might as well be your sister too, for how you’ve missed her. 

You had risked your immortal life, a truly immortal life, not one that would burn out in a couple thousand years for Tamlin today. For part of your heart, your hope. 

Rigelus scowls, as he notices your eyes brimming with tears at the memory. 

“Don’t think I didn’t notice your little stunt.” His gaze hardens with some unspent emotion. 

“Rigelus, did it bother you that much?” You sniff hard as you ask him an impossible question. He looks on at you for all the world like you could burn the world down and he’d see no reason for forgiveness, that the forgiveness would have been granted as soon as you lit the fire. 

He rankles his shoulders, “They are below you in every way, and so is this conversation.” 

“But Rigelus—“ 

“It is our wedding night and I will not have it ruined by candles in the wind.” 

And he snuffs out your hope just like that. 

*~*~* 

You arrive at the Eternal City and Rigelus disappears to change, likely with his man servant, Arobynn Hamel, fussing about cufflinks. 

And you’re swarmed by people, a whole team of fucking people stripping you down and plucking, pruning and waxing you. Life with the rebels was hard, you were sure this body hadn’t seen a good waxing and plucking for… at least three years, since the blockades on supplies. 

Seems the Eternal City was facing no such supply shortage. 

As a matter of fact, when you are zipped into a lovely emerald green, mermaid fit gown—as was customary for weddings in the Eternal City—you realize that perhaps it would indeed not be horrible. Perhaps you could live with your people’s antics and just try to enjoy the night. 

Rigelus is outside, smoking clove cigarettes when you meet him. It was not necessary for a bride and groom to stay separate before nuptials, in the Eternal City. Rigelus exhales smoke through his nose, looking more like a dragon than ever before. 

“How in god’s name can you stand these?” You say, coughing. Still, the sweet, spicy smoke, tickles some distant memory, of parents who had fought more than they loved you, and you know the marriage contract will come next. You wish you felt worse about it, than you do. You know you’re truly about to sell over your body in name and deed. It’s traditional in he Eternal City for husbands to own their wives’ magic. To control it. And you cannot for the life of it think of anything less appealing. You’re not even sure if Rigelus could contain your power, should you deign to sign it over: lock, stock and barrel. 

Rigelus flicks the butt, and you grimace, “Litterbug,” you whisper under your breath, he doesn’t even smell like smoke, and you wonder if this is something he does to take the edge off how much he’s missed you, and the chaotic sphere of politics he has to entertain. 

Your hair is in some elaborate updo, and the pins are truly hurting, “Rigelus?” You pause, looking at the men in suits, through the glass windows, silouetted by the night sky. “Could you fix this pin?” You gently tug on the bond between the two of you, knowing it had been there. 

Rigelus bends over double, breathless. “A little warning, before you do that, again, princess.” 

You bend down, though it’s a tough stretch in this dress, and take his face in your hands, “You knew it was there and you didn’t tell me?” 

He groans, rubbing his ribs, so the bond was tied there? The bond was literally tied at his heart bone? You grimace, gods no this wasn’t happening, you should flip him over the railing of the veranda. How ridiculous. 

You blink and you meet his gaze, piercing, filled with pained tears at your magical tug, which you’re now sure had knocked the wind from his sails, if not his lungs. “I will do anything to preserve their safety, and not throw away five years of freedom from you—but at the same time, even an hour of time…” You swallow hard, around the word, “at home has given me more energy and wisdom, freedom and restored my strength than the hundred years I spent beyond it’s borders.” You sigh, kiss his forehead, as the lovers of old did. As if to say, I understand you better than anyone else in this universe, let me, let me, let me in. 

It hurts to see him like this but you know he’ll draw it out for every minute it’s worth. And you know you’re just as vicious as he is. It’s tit for tat around here. No peace to be found under these stars. 

“One might think you remember how you used to say we’d be married, when we were small.” Rigelus bemoans. 

You stop dead in your tracks, because of course you remember. How could you not? But is he remembering or preparing to weaponize that memory? 

“Rigelus—don’t you dare.” It is both a warning and a plea for peace. 

He rolls his shoulders uncomfortably. You stand and try to put some distance between both of you. But he is kissing you. Your mouth is full of the scent of clove cigarettes, sweet and spicy and something else too. 

He’s gripping your hair to keep you from pulling away. Rigelus should get a hard slap for this. But he won’t. You lean into the kiss, and you can feel his end of the bond lighting up, a lone star in the darkness of a bond you had long let go to seed. 

He feels like the closes you will get to heaven. You kiss him for the longest time, until both your high fae vessels protest at the lack of oxygen. 

You separate from him reluctantly, and taste him on your lips. “Are we doing this? I want to get out of my gown, and these fucking pins are about to puncture my brain.” 

Rigelus is grinning at you, though, as if you’ve hung the moon in the sky. He kisses you again, and you don’t want to ever miss him, grudgingly or not, ever again. Rigelus is kissing your lips, and cupping your face. 

Someone clears their throat, it’s Arobynn Hamel, Rigelus’s man servant. “Your Grace, the minister awaits.” 

You and Rigelus take a long moment to disentangle yourselves. And in the old language of the stars he whispers, “Aven, mas doray.” 

You’re aware there’s company around, and through the huge glass doors you can see that the minister is glaring through brightly lit windows at your amorous display. You squeeze Rigelus’s hand for a long moment, while Rigelus and you walk inside.

Te ceremony is fast, so fast you barely remember it, and mostly consists of signing magical documents. When you get to the end of the pile, you notice you did not sign a prenuptial. You could take him for all he’s worth tomorrow, for fucks sake. 

Still, part of you is giddy at the idea of spending many midnights with your bright star. 

For right now, though, you must perform the duties of a wife.

[nikethestatue]

The smartest decision for SJM would be to make a trio between JurianxvassaxLucien.

One of the things that criticize Sarah the most is the lack of diversity in her stories, the criticism was so much that many of us think that Mor is only bi due to the pressure of the masses, in the same way in ACOWAR "convenientemente" fue introducido Helion (who fucks everything that moves) and Thesan the only gay HL Yes, I know that they had already been named and shown in ACOTAR, but it was only until then that we learned about their sexual/emotional preferences.🤷🏽‍♀️

So it's the smartest way to deal with that criticism by showing a beloved character like Lucien in a polyamorous relationship (plus the woman seems to be obsessed with the idea of ​​threesomes).

So my thought on this is that there is definitely a lot of reluctance from mainstream published authors to go somewhere which is 'controversial'.

Look at the backlash that JLA received over Poppy/Casteel/Kieran hookup. Of course there is a lot of 'it didn't make sense narratively!' complaints--but, apparently, it made sense to the author, and that's where she wanted to take the story, but people were very unhappy about it. What's more, there is always a loud crowd of those who come after authors and say that they didn't write something 'correctly'. As in 'that's not how this ____ group of people behaves!' You can fill in the blank with whatever group is being depicted. They don't do it like this, they don't do it like that.

Readers either have to accept that the author decided to portray a relationship or a person in a certain way, or they will choose to complain regardless. Like, SJM is not gay, she is white, she is (probably) not into BDSM, and neither does she participate in orgies or lives in a poly relationship. So, if she is going to depict anything like that, there will inevitably be a lot of backlash and lots of unhappy people. Because 'that's now how it is' in real life. Well....it's also a book about an imaginary world, and Fae. So it's not really supposed to be 'how it is'. It's the author's vision of how it is, for her characters.

Of course Lucien, precious Fox boy, somehow not getting his HEA and his promised mate bond, would cause a huge backlash (yet again). Even if it would totally make sense that he might end up in a poly relationship in the books.

There is a reason why most of the reverse harem and 'unconventional' relationships books began and are being published by self-published authors. They have more freedom and can explore things that unfortunately, established authors tend to avoid. Den of Vipers, probably one of the most well-known RH books out there, is a self-published book, and regardless of what people might think about it, no established author would dare come up with something like that.

I'll be honest, I think most authors who write 3+ way smut just want to write 3+ way smut, and not deeply explore the intricacies of polyamorous relationships in a Fae society.

[nikethestatue]

Genuine question bc I’m new-ish but has the fandom always been this bad? If things went downhill after A court of silver flames I kind of get it because between the pick me girlbosses stabby valkyries, problematic mating bonds being romanticized (what the f was acosf nessian and why is elucien still a thing??) and women changing their anatomy for their men (the handmaid’s tale but make it smutty fantasy) you’re definitely going to attract a certain.. type... of readers, but I’ve never seen this level of problematic and misogynistic so I was wondering if perhaps something happened in the past as well? Like the author being problematic or writing something problematic (I read tog years ago and I don’t remember much from it) that shaped the fandom to the mess that it is now

I wasn't here when TOG was being written/published. I think the readership was a lot smaller, but I do know there was the Chaol/Aelin/Rowan thing where everyone was up in arms over Chaol. I think there was a lot less social media as well, which, in the current environment is what is stoking the flames, I think. People are saying stupid, inflammatory things for likes and clicks.

None of it is really 'real'. I am sure there are genuine Gwynriels in this fandom who truly believe and contribute, but the rest are just there for the ride.

I think that people can read books, much darker than ACOTAR, with much darker heroes and separate reality from fantasy. At some point, I feel like it broke down for the ACOTAR fandom. Why that is, I am not sure.

I mean, I don't blame SJM. I don't want to blame writers for writing books. I don't want to only read 'appropriate' books, which have been scrubbed of any and all darkness/controversy. I just feel like adults should read adult books and expect that these books will contain adult themes. I don't know if I, as a reader, must agree with everything that a writer writes. I choose to read it, and if I am unhappy, i can always put the book away.

Honestly, nothing annoys me more than a laundry list of 'trigger warnings' in books. If you pick up a Reverse Harem or a bully book or something that's billed a 'dark romance', what the fuck do you expect? Gentle lovemaking? You think there wouldn't be swearing? Dubious consent? Some kind of emotional abuse?

With ACOSF, I think it wasn't properly marketed as an adult book. That was the problem. Like it's more of an erotic fantasy book, and it shouldn't be read by 12-14 year olds. They latched onto Gwyn, because Nesta and Cassian were 'too grown up' and that's why Nessian has been completely replaced by Gwynriel (which doesn't even exist!!!). Teens wanted to read a teen romance, which ACOSF didn't supply, so they created one of their own.