#Nesta and Az: both feeling shitty that can't help a people

[acourtofthought]

I'm so confused😭 idk if I should agree with them that Gwyn and Lucien deserve better or if they mean Elain and Az deserve each other in the most twisted and sickest way bc they treated Gwyn and Lucien wrong so they should be together bc they've been shitty to them? LOL what is happening?😭

this reminded me of that anon who said Azriel didn't care if Gwyn was about to get r*ped again... the only explanation for this is they want e/riel be this truly evil couple and that just doesn't work like- HELP

Based on this logic Rhysand deserved better since Feyre did not want him and instead preferred Tamlin. Cassian deserved better since Nesta preferred other males to him. Elain deserved better because Az was still in love with Mor while she sat next to him in the room at Solstice. Az deserved better because while he offered her TT and helped get her back from Hyberns camp, Elain was still mourning Graysen after that.

But apparently to them "deserving better" only applies to any characters who stand in the way of E/riel from being endgame.

Also, Lucien is in control of what he is willing to put up with so someone claiming "he deserves better" is completely ignoring that he has the choice to walk away. No one is forcing him to give Elain time or to bring her gifts. He wants to do those things because he still holds out hope. The AUTHOR wants him to still hold out hope for Elain and we all know what happens for mated males in this series who suffer through an Archeron sister not wanting them.

And while his suffering is painful to read about, it's only half the picture.

Elain "deserved better" than to be kidnapped, thrown into a Cauldron against her will and changed into an entirely new species. Elain deserved better than to have her fiance reject her for those things and that in the minutes after becoming a new species it came along with a mating bond that immediately snapped for both she and Lucien before either was ready. Elain deserved better than to be kidnapped a second time, later having to stab a man and look upon her fathers murdered body.

Saying Lucien "deserves better" is not taking into consideration that he's only half of this whole and in order for two people to find their way to one another, they need to first heal from their own pasts. It's completely ignoring that Elain deserves to heal from her traumas before worrying about what "Lucien deserves".

I love Lucien but what he "deserves" is to have a mate who has had time to adjust to her new world and to process what she's feeling before having to focus on her bond with him, so she can come to him in the right frame of mind to be more of the love interest he deserves.

It sucks that in her processing of this new world she's flirting with Az but that's her right. It's normal to not jump into anything too serious after extreme trauma and her engagement and she has made no promises to Lucien. At this moment these two characters desires don't align but that doesn't mean his desires are more valid than hers. It also doesn't mean her desires can't change in the next book so he is what she wants.

HEA mating bonds are not just handed to these characters. In an SJM book, if there's not a bit of a suffering, it's not happening.

As far as Gwyn, "deserve" shouldn't even come into play because she and Az haven't moved forward in any sort of relationship. There's hints that's where they'll end up but right now what does deserve have to do with anything when they're in early stages? We don't even know whether she has feelings beyond curiosity and flirtation at this point and no clue whether either is aware of a possible bond. The only thing she deserves is for Az to work through his shit before moving forward with her and that's something that can easily happen in his book.

Two people end up together when the time is right and just because that time doesn't happen exactly when someone says it should doesn't mean someone deserves better. It's actually the opposite in a romance book. When one character is willing to wait out another while they deal with their demons, that's why they're deserving of the ultimate HEA in the end, their suffering is what makes them worthy.

I'd say neither Elain or Az are "deserving" of a HEA together since neither has truly suffered for the other. He was still half in love with Mor while lusting over Elain and she was still dealing with the loss of Graysen and her humanity while "flirting" with Az. Sure Az is struggling with not getting a bond but that has nothing to do with not getting to be with Elain the person. He spent centuries wanting a bond with Mor then a year questioning why he wasn't mated to Elain. But it's the bond he wants, not her and he's only confused why two brothers got two sisters and he wasn't automatically given the third (again, nothing to do with her as an individual). If in this persons estimation Elain and Az are the ones hurting those that deserve better than shouldn't E/riel be the ones punished by not getting what they want (which to an E/riel is for E/riel to be together)? Shouldn't Lucien, the one who "deserves better", get what he wants most? And doesn't that appear to be a true happily ever after with his mate, the ultimate thing in an SJM novel?

#anti e/riel #pro lucien vanserra #pro elain archeron #pro gwyneth berdara #gwynriel #elucien

[flowerflamestars]

Shoreless Sea snippet

“You tried to get him out,” Nesta said, throat burning, “Before Rhysand put a sword in his hand and sent him off to fight a true immortal?”   Azriel, carding what looked like red-tinged gravel out of his thick hair, grimaced. “No.” “No?” “Nesta.” Annoyed at the depth of his tone and nonetheless grateful for it- Az, back in hated black armor she’d honestly thought he’d burned- Azriel, who knew exactly what she was feeling and was far too kind to say it aloud- Az, her friend, the only member of the Night Court who’d ever apologized to her.   Nesta breathed out, salt clinging to her own skin the smallest refuge in overwhelming copper.   “Bandage your fucking head,” Nesta grumbled, setting down the crystal bottle in favor of shoving medical supplies his way.    “I’m having dinner with your husband and I do not want to listen to him complain about this.” She pointed a vicious finger before he could open his mouth, “And salve your hands, you look like you tried to punch a boulder to death. Then, you can tell me what the hell happened.”   The spark caught.   Murderous coldness melting away until Azriel looked a little more like the breathing, laughing, happy man she’d grown to know. An uptick of his full mouth- not the absolutely shitheaded grin, but its tiny descendant.  “Needs stitches.”   She thought about getting Elain, whose needle proficiency put Nesta to shame.   Azriel had come straight to her- not Lucien. Waited bleeding before Nesta’s door with the knowledge unspoken she’d understand why, share the same aching frustration. There was nothing about either of them that Elain or Lucien didn’t love in different ways, but neither shared the inclination to keep pressing on a bruise until yellowed tenderness became a true and purple pain all over again.   Nesta stood. “Tell me it’s not a mess.”   Azriel shook his head, matted curls falling into his eyes. “Clean. Straight split on impact.”

Three nauseous silken loops pulled tight before he spoke again, grave. “Rhysand is getting impatient. Something is starting to go…wrong, in the Hewn City- he’s going to have to choose where to concentrate his forces.”   No point in asking how Azriel knew the feelings of the man who’d once owned him absolutely in loyalty. Wind and darkness spoke to the world’s sole shadowsinger wherever he was, Night’s north particularly prey to tenebrosity.     “He’s going to end it.” Nesta said, flat.

#one page of....27? #in part two we remember that there is sort of a plot #Nesta: THREE HOURS AGO I WAS MAKING OUT WITH A HIGH LORD #I DO NOT NEED THIS NOW #wherein we also remember that this IS the Daylight universe #with a apparently closer to canon Cas #Az is tired #he just wants to be a dad and stop dealing with this shit #Nesta thought he burned his armor and she was RIGHT (this is the shitty spare) #Nesta and Az: both feeling shitty that can't help a people #who would kill them for trying #watching in horror as Rhysand asks Cassian for exactly what will push him past a brink he cannot return from #Listen daylights sister fight is a favorite #but Az and Cas? trying to murder each other with their bare hands? #fighting about the meaning of hONOR AND LOVE? #offscreen but the most important #why yes Erebus is slowly rising #why yes the shadows in the Hewn City are eating people what of it