In this post I will compare the Elain and Lucien scene in acowar and Elriel scene in Azriel's bonus chapter.
This is a pro-elriel post so if you don't like elriel scroll past it.
“But there she was. His mate. She was nothing like Jesminda.”
“Soft steps padded from under the stair archway, and there she was. The faelights gilded Elain's unbound hair, making her glow like the sun at dawn. She halted, her breath catching in her throat.”
And there she was has a parallel with nessian bonus chapter from acomaf you can find it here >>> And there she was by @onceupona-chaos
Jesminda had been all laughter and mischief, too wild and free to be contained by the country life that she’d been born into. She had teased him, taunted him—seduced him so thoroughly that he hadn’t wanted anything but her. Sh e’d seen him not as a High Lord’s seventh son, but as a male. Had loved him without question, without hesitation. She had chosen him. Elain had been … thrown at him.
Azriel ignored the question. "The Cauldron chose three sisters. Tell me how it's possible that my two brothers are with two of those sisters, yet the third was given to another."
@silverlinedeyes made a post about this part >> the post
In the post she states that how Azriel sees Elain as a gift while lucien sees her as a burden.
Before we move onto third point of this post. I need to add one more thing about both the first and second point.
So the elucien scene in the first and second point is one scene. Like this:
But there she was. His mate. She was nothing like Jesminda. Jesminda had been all laughter and mischief, too wild and free to be contained by the country life that she’d been born into. She had teased him, taunted him—seduced him so thoroughly that he hadn’t wanted anything but her. She’d seen him not as a High Lord’s seventh son, but as a male. Had loved him without question, without hesitation. She had chosen him. Elain had been … thrown at him.
and the full given to another scene in azriel's bonus chapter is like this:
Azriel stiffened. Let his cold rage rise to the surface, the rage he only ever let Rhysand see, because he knew his brother could match it. "What if the Cauldron was wrong?" Rhysand blinked. "What of Mor, Az?" Azriel ignored the question. "The Cauldron chose three sisters. Tell me how it's possible that my two brothers are with two of those sisters, yet the third was given to another." He had never before dared speak the words aloud.
When you look at the green highlighted parts... Lucien, her mate, favors his past lover instead of his mate. Azriel favors Elain instead of the woman he was in love with for 500 years. He has feelings for Elain. And he moved on from Mor from what we read in acosf:
Distant words—ones that prevented Cassian from prying further. He was still happy to be Mor’s buffer with Azriel, but there’d been a change lately. In both of them. Mor no longer sat beside Cassian, draped herself over him, and Azriel … those longing glances toward her had become few and far between. As if he’d given up. After five hundred years, he’d somehow given up. Cassian couldn’t think why. (Acosf)
okay..... To the next point.
Touch her, smell her, taste her— The instincts were a running river. He fisted his hands at his sides.
He needed to know what the skin of her neck tasted like. What those perfect lips tasted like. Her breasts. Her sex. He needed her coming on his tongue --
Her arousal drifted up to him, and his eyes nearly rolled back in his head at the sweet scent. He'd beg on his knees for a chance to taste it. But Azriel just stroked her neck again.
“There’s a plate of biscuits. Would you like one?” He didn’t expect her to answer, and he gave himself all of one more minute before he’d rise from this chair and leave, hopefully avoiding Nesta’s return.
Elain closed the distance, and her breathing quickened as she again paused, now a scant foot away. She extended the wrapped gift, her hand shaking. "Here."
Azriel let his shadows whisk away the box as she said softly, "Put it on me?"
Azriel's fingers lingered at her nape, atop the first knob of her spine. Slowly, Elain pivoted into his touch. Until his palm lay flat against her neck.
But Elain blinked slowly. “You were in Hybern.” “Yes.” It was all he could say. “You betrayed us.” He wished she’d shoved him out the window behind her. “It—it was a mistake.” Her eyes went frank and cold. “I was to be married in a few days.” He fought against the bristling rage, the irrational urge to find the male who’d claimed her and shred him apart. The words were a rasp as he instead said, “I know. I’m sorry.”
Rhys vanished, and Azriel was left standing before Elain, who still awaited his kiss. His stomach twisted as he pulled his hand from her hair and stepped back. Forced himself to say, "This was a mistake.” She opened her eyes, hurt and confusion warring there before she whispered, "I’m sorry." “You don't-- Don't apologize,” he managed to say. "Never apologize. It's I who should…” He shook his head, unable to stand the bleakness he'd brought to her expression. "Goodnight.”
@silverlinedeyes thanks for the help in this point. 💜
In Elucien scene Lucien is the one who says "it was a mistake" and Elain's eyes go frank and cold. She is angry at him. He played a role in her trauma but it was just a mistake to him but whereas Elain's whole life changed. And that role is a barrier for her to warm up to him and in acosf we see that she loses her newfound boldness around him.
He and Lucien did not exchange gifts, though the male had brought a gift for Feyre and one for his mate, who barely thanked him after opening the pearl earrings. Cassian’s heart strained at the pain etching deep into Lucien’s face as he tried to hide his disappointment and longing. Elain only shrank further into herself, no trace of that newfound boldness to be seen.
And in Elriel scene Azriel is the one to say "it was a mistake" but he doesn't mean it. He said it because of Rhys not because it was a mistake. And Elain is hurt because she thinks she read him wrong. Azriel is unable to stand the bleakness he'd brought to her so he just winnows away. There is a misunderstanding not an actual mistake like what Lucien did that built a wall between them.
Have good day Elriel fam 💜
gummygunk
dededos
snowghoul
tangentwithtanner
origamiaround
2087
stormborns
