“Sarah ended elriel in the bonus.”
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.
“I…” He watched her swallow. She clutched a small gift in her hands. “I was coming to leave this on your pile of presents. I forgot to give it to you earlier.”
Lie. Well, the second part was a lie. He didn’t need his shadows to read her tone, the slight tightening of her face. She’d waited until everyone was asleep before venturing back down, where she’d leave her gift amongst his other, opened presents, subtle and unnoticed.
A flash of light, and there she was.
Shining. Lysandra seemed to be shining as she swept a cloak around her bare body, the garment left on a nearby chair for precisely this purpose. Evangeline hurled herself into the shifter’s arms, half sobbing with joy. Evangeline’s shoulders shook, and Lysandra smiled, deeply and warmly, stroking the girl’s head. “You’re well?”
For all the world, the shifter would have seemed calm, serene. But Aedion knew her—knew her moods, her secret tells. Knew that the slight tremor in her words was proof of the raging torrent beneath the beautiful surface.
Why would Sarah include this parallel with an endgame couple from ToG if she wanted to end elriel?
“Azriel’s shadows reacting to Gwyn is romantic”
Her breath curled in front of her mouth, and one of his shadows darted out to dance with it before twirling back to him. Like it heard some silent music.
Azriel entered the warmth of the stairwell, and as he descended, he could have sworn a faint, beautiful singing followed him. Could have sworn his shadows sang in answer.
Irithys’s smile was more subdued as she studied Lidia. The Queen’s flames set Lidia’s own sparking in answer. Dancing over her fingertips, her hair, in joyful recognition. “I sensed the fire in you the moment we met,” the queen said.
The four fire sprites unleashed their power on the war-machines and the Vanir powering them. Lidia’s white-hot flames joined theirs, twining and dancing around it, as if every moment of recognition until now had built toward this, as if her flames had known theirs for millennia.
Azriel dipped his head in a sketch of a bow, something restless in him settling. Even his shadows had calmed. As if content to lounge on his shoulders and watch.
Strange—so strange to find her body suddenly … calmed.
“Open your eyes,” Gwyn breathed.
Nesta did. And for the first time in her life, she felt utterly settled in her own skin.
Seems like Az and Gwyn might have similar powers. And Gwyn is shown to have a calming/settling presence with others. Nothing romantic is going on.
“Azriel still likes Mor but also feels entitled to Elain”
“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, but the third was given to another.” He had never before dared speak those words aloud.
Rhys’s face drained of color. “You believe you deserve to be her mate?
Az ignores the Mor question. Elain is the only one on his mind. And the “given to another” line is the same one we see in EoS involving a fake mating bond situation, but I won’t get into all that on this post.
Azriel thought he didn’t deserve someone like Mor. And I wondered if Rhys … if he somehow felt the same about me.
My heart strained. He meant it—truly felt that way. I stroked his hair again. And I said to him, the words the only sound in the silent, dark city, “We deserve each other. And we deserve to be happy.”
“The issue, actually, wouldn’t be me. It’d be him. I could peel off my clothes right in front of him and he wouldn’t move an inch.”
“he’ll see himself as a bastard-born nobody, and not good enough for anybody.”
He knew it was wrong, but there he was, sliding the necklace around her. Letting his scarred fingers touch her immaculate skin. Letting them brush the side of her throat, savouring the velvet soft texture. Elain shivered, and he took a damn long time fastening the clasp.
Notice how Az is able to touch Elain in the bonus even though he still feels unworthy. She’s different from Mor. It’s also clear that someone who sees themself as “not good enough” wouldn’t be the type to feel entitled to someone else. All of this is hinting at what we’ll see with Az in the next books. He’ll learn that he deserves love and Elain will be a part of that journey.
“The end of the bonus is proof Az and Gwyn are mates”
I think Elain Made her necklace unknowingly like @offtorivendell has theorized, and it became a charm similar to the opal in hoeab.
It took hours for Elain to work her charm on the staff.
the amulet tiny enough that it could be dismissed as an everyday charm.
“They’re luck charms,” the magpie said, waving a feathery hand over the tray of gems.
There are so many similarities between quinlar and elriel that support this theory.
“I thank you for the joy it shall bring her.” Something sparked in Azriel’s chest, but he only nodded his thanks and left.
“You could use some joy,” Hunt said quietly. Something bright sparked in her chest. “So could you,” she said, attempting to press the opal back into his palm.
He found Elain’s necklace amid the pile. He pocketed it.
The opal had been stupid. Impulsive. Likely bullshit, but Bryce had pocketed it.
Shahar would have smiled at the opal—and forgotten about it soon after.
She’d have appreciated the gift but, ultimately, let it disappear into a drawer somewhere.
“I’m fairly sure Azriel has a drawer full of daggers I’ve bought him throughout the centuries that he’s too polite to throw away, but won’t ever use.”
“You honestly think he’d ever give up Truth-Teller?”
“He gave it to Elain,” Mor said, admiring the moonstone necklace in the counter’s glass.
“She gave it back,” I amended, failing to block out the image of the black blade piercing through the King of Hybern’s throat. But Elain had given it back—had pressed it into Azriel’s hands after the battle, just as he had pressed it into hers before. And walked away without looking back.
But Hunt paused at the end of the row of stalls and took her hand. He pressed the opal into it, the stone warm from his touch.
Something bright sparked in her chest. “So could you,” she said, attempting to press the opal back into his palm.
She grabbed the white opal from her pocket and hurled it at him.
We’ve seen Elain bring Az some joy and light in acofas when she gave him the headache powder.
Then Azriel tipped his head back and laughed. I never heard such a sound, deep and joyous.
Azriel mastered himself enough to say “Thank you.” I’d never seen his hazel eyes so bright.
Something similar happens in the bonus.
“I thank you for the joy it shall bring her.”
How Gwyn’s teal eyes might light upon seeing the necklace.
The necklace is described as “a thing of secret, lovely beauty” and that line is repeated at the end of the bonus. I believe this was a hint of Elain’s powers being involved.
So my understanding of the bonus is that it’s teasing an elriel romance and some of the powers these characters have. Sarah is not starting or ending a romance in a limited bonus. Everything that happens is connected to the actual books.
