Josephine

He drew four lines in the dirt, all intersecting to form an eight-pointed star. “This is your map for striking with a sword. These eight maneuvers. You’ve learned six of them. You’ll learn the other two today, and we’ll start on the combinations.”

("I think that eight-pointed star was tattooed on you for a reason. Take that sword and go figure out why.")

Gwyn asked, “Why don’t we use the Valkyrie techniques; if you admired them so much?”

“Because I don’t know them.”

Nesta smirked. “If we are to be Valkyries born again,” she said, “maybe we should combine the Illyrian and Valkyrie techniques.”

She’d meant it in jest, but the words rumbled through the space, as if she’d spoken some great truth, something that made fate sit up. Azriel turned to them fully this time, eyes narrowed. Like those shadows had whispered something to him.

A chill breathed down Nesta’s spine.

And then:

“Emerie said, “Nothing can break us.”

The world seemed to pause at the words. As if it had been following one path and now branched off in another direction. In a hundred years, a thousand, this moment would still be etched in his mind. That he would tell his children, his grandchildren, Right then and there. That was when it all changed.

Azriel went wholly still, as if he, too, had felt the shift. As if he, too, were aware that far larger forces peered into that training ring as Gwyn moved.”

And:

“Succeeding in the Blood Rite didn’t mean the training stopped.

No, after she and her friends told Cassian and Azriel most of the details of their ordeal, the two commanders had compiled a long list of mistakes that the three of them had made that needed to be corrected, and the others wanted to learn from them, too.

So they would keep training, until they were all well and truly Valkyries.”

FMK the following tropes for elucien:

Only one bed at the inn

Who did this to you

I had no where else to go

I’m late and I’ve never done one of these before but it looks fun!

F: only one bed at the inn (get it? lol) because it’s such a hot trope that creates lotssss of tension

M: Who did this to you? A mate who’s protective and goes insane when someone hurts them??? Fantastic give me 14 of um right now.

“His body distilled at that scream, as if it were no more than the knife in his hand, a weapon to be used to eliminate and destroy any threats to her, to kill and kill and not stop until every last enemy was dead or bleeding.”

Gwynriel:

I’m irritated.

And I’ve discovered the only impact it’s had was making it very clear, very obvious that these two are using each other as a distraction from their issues.

Even between all of their “sweet” moments, even after them, these two continue to pine after the two people they cannot have. Greyson and Mor.

I was more then half way through A Court of Frost and Starlight and it was noted that Elain did not want a male or a mate, but a human man.

And just a few pages later, Feyre notes the longing on his face as Azriel receives his gift from Mor.

There’s no growth with Elain and Az. I personally don’t see any build up of something that could last.

This is not me excusing her words and actions. Not at all. There are moments she’s in the wrong, but I’m tired of this fandom purposefully ignoring her growth and insisting she’s the worst of the worst and the only one who’s ever wrong, when that’s not the case.

If your hatred for Nesta or your love for E/riel has blinded you,

Feyre claims Nesta is devastating as High Fae, Cassian said he was on his knees for Nesta even before she turned High Fae.

Feyre also claims that Mor is one of the most beautiful women she’s ever seen. Calls her the female equivalent to Rhysand.

Nesta says that Gwyn’s beauty rivals Merrill and Mor’s.