Daily Elriel Moments.

“Why not make them mates?” I mused. “Why Lucien?” […] “What decides it? Who decides it? You said your mother and father were wrong for each other, Tamlin said his own parents were wrong for each other.” I peeled off my dressing robe. “So it can’t be a perfect system of matching. What if” — I jerked my chin towards the window, to my sister and the shadowsinger in the garden—“that is what she needs? Is there no free will? What if Lucien wishes the union but she doesn’t?”

Azriel said, as if in answer to some unspoken debate, “I’m getting her back.”

But she started. “Elain—”

“It was angry,” Elain said quietly. “It was so, so angry that something was taken. So it took something from them as punishment.”

DARVO stands for Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender. It is a psychological manipulation tactic often used by abusers, narcissists or perpetrators when confronted by their wrongful behavior.

“You said your mother and father were wrong for each other; Tamlin said his own parents were wrong for each other.” I peeled off my dressing robe. “So it can’t be a perfect system of matching. What if”—I jerked my chin toward the window, to my sister and the shadowsinger in the garden—“that is what she needs? Is there no free will? What if Lucien wishes the union but she doesn’t?”