rise and rise again until lambs become lions

 “I love you. I’ve loved you from the moment we raced each other in that park. I have loved you at every dance, on every walk, every time we’ve been together and every time we’ve been apart. You do not have to accept it or embrace it or even allow it. Knowing you, you probably will not. But you must know it, in your heart. You must feel it because I do. I love you.”

“…I love you too.”

ANTHONY BRIDGERTON AND KATE SHARMA IN BRIDGERTON SEASON TWO (PART TWO)

+ bonus

BRIDGERTON #2.04 ‘Victory’

my endless list of otps | kate and anthony

But we know this from Sarah herself through interviews and statements she has made ever since the first ACOTAR book came out.

Lucien was supposed to be Nesta's mate, not Cassian.

Originally it was planned for Nesta and Lucien to be mates, but SJM realised they wouldn't work out. And before she realised this she had done a bit of foreshadowing for them in the first book by mentioning that Feyre had painted flames for her on their drawer.

She was able to twist the flames' meaning from symbolising Lucien's power to instead symbolising Nesta's new found powers, the silver flames.

Lucien becomes Elain's mate instead.

SJM had said that she decided to match Lucien and Elain as mates so they could heal together.

But it's obvious she changed her mind again in ACOWAR and we now know that Lucien and Elain wouldn't work either. Through Jesminda we know what attributes attract Lucien and Elain doesn't belong in that category.

There are zero interactions between them since they were revealed as mates to indicate that even one of them views the other romantically.

And that's where the third change of LI comes.

Azriel becomes Elain's love interest in ACOWAR through foreshadowing.

In ACOWAR he lends her TT, he's the first and only one to realise she's a Seer and there's nothing mentally wrong with her, Feyre wonders why the Cauldron couldn't make them mates.

In ACOFAS Elain gifts him the headache powder and he laughs so full of joy that Feyre mentions it. He makes Cassian stop eating, just to wait for Elain to come back so they can eat all together.

In ACOSF Nesta notices a charged glance between Elain and Azriel and thinks to herself "His secret to tell, never hers".

I'm sure I may be forgetting some things, but you get my point.

And I won't even mention that infernal bonus pov.

Elain shall wed for love and beauty.

In ACOSF Nesta remembers her mother telling her she would marry for conquest and Elain would marry for love and beauty.

That statement came true for Nesta, and we can assume it will be true for Elain too.

Elain's beauty is described as the kind that brings kings to their knees. And who is the other person that is always described as beautiful? Azriel.

Also, she called his scars "beautiful" and I don't think that's a coincidence.

All that being said, I don't think SJM will let all the foreshadowing she's done for them go to waist just to have a secondary character with no connection to the IC and the main trilogy get a book.

It’s interesting that Elain’s first conscious, so to speak, action, which she took upon herself, once she became Fae, was to go and bake break with Nuala and Cerridwen.

I think there is an interesting symbology in that action. Elain is not fighting. She is building. She is building a ‘home’ for herself, because bread and bread-making is associated with the hearth and serves as the foundation of home-making. 

Elain willingly decides to take take that step–towards normalizing herself, her life and finding a place for herself in this new world. We know that Elain is always overlooked by everyone, but that’s a telling sign of how she actually wants to adjust. SHE is the one who actually takes that step. She isn’t told by anyone, she isn’t asked to do it, it’s not a ‘polite suggestion’–it’s her own action, which again, hints at inner strength. Later, in ACOSF, Nesta is both surprised, and maybe somewhat envious, at the fact that Elain became the ‘adjusted one’. But as with every healing journey, it must start with you. You must take the first step. Interestingly, it’s (as usual) not acknowledged with Elain that she did that. But looking back at both Nesta, and Gwyn, for that matter, and Emerie–all of whom were on their own healing journeys–they all took those first steps themselves. Elain’s done exactly the same thing–only in a different direction.

Now, Elain, who probably took the loss of her life, her home, her future and her future home with Graysen, the hardest, decided to start re-building that very home inside of her. 

What’s an interesting parallel here? Who’s never really had a home? Who’s never had a childhood? Who’s never had a ‘family’, because by the time he came into his adopted family, he was already 11? Who still doesn’t have a home? Who still meanders between HoW, which is no longer home, and the River Estate, which has never been one? Who looks at a vial with medicine every night, because maybe it gives him a little sense of home, since it was a gift given out of concern and care? 

Who, most likely, will get the Town Home as their residence, cozy and familiar–the place where it all began for them? The place where they started to fall in love? The garden to which he took her? The kitchen where she cooked and baked? The windows through which they both stared? The one home that they truly shared?

Elain and Azriel, in the Town Home, together. The scent of delicious bakes wafting from the kitchen. The fire the crackling in the fireplace. Home. At last.

“I saw a great love as a kind of perfect love. Maybe it’s not. Maybe a great love, like a great country or a great leader even… is a flawed one. Maybe what makes it great is its embrace of our failings, our scars…our fucked-upedness… as long as we are questioning always for the better… knowing that we will bring ourselves down as often as we set ourselves free.”