Lady Loki

and now the author (who has never used this emoji combo before) has also used them together.

Mate instinct, totally fine 🥰🥰🥰

Also ACOTAR readers when Elain, healed and confident, wants to kiss Azriel:

Azriel is a creep 😠😠😠

She’s been building them up for multiple books. They are both connected to similar plots. There is a ton of foreshadowing for them.They have complimentary rare powers, their personalities compliment each other, they are what the other needs ect. How is any of this “bad writing”?!

…for shipping the only canon couple in this ship war who mutually like each other?? For reading the books correctly???

I truly cannot understand why people hate Elriel SO MUCH. As if both Az and Elain have done something heinous. The way antis talk about them, it’s like they think they’re toxic, horrible villains in a dark romance novel who will kill off every other character if they end up together or something.

If azriels shadows vanishing meant something bad or sinister we would have seen him questioning it. Hes had them for over 500 years. Sjm has shown us time and time again that they are a defense mechanism.

ok and? Lets say hypothetically, this is the route Sjm is taking. That all bonds are wrong/corrupted - maybe by the end, all bonds disappear.

Who does that affect? Not the couples that love each other.

Do you think once the bond goes away or if its revealed they’re “wrong” for each other then the love Feysand, Nessian, VivianneKallias have will just disappear? They’ll go their separate ways because they no longer have a magic tether tying them together? Of course not. At the core, each couple loves each other. They chose each other before a bond. Take the bond away, their love doesn’t just disappear into thin air. They will always have that connection. A bond is the cherry on top.

but it does affect the mates that do not want each other. They finally get an answer as to why, no matter how much they try, they cannot love their mate. They know its not their fault. They can stop spending their entire lives making the bond work and instead, walk away from each other without consequences and choose a love for themselves. They finally have freedom of choice.

so whether Sjm goes down this route or not, it doesn’t affect couples like Feysand/Nessian that truly love each other. Their bond being questioned is irrelevant because they will always choose each other. It does however, give an answer to those mates that don’t click.

The level of buildup Elriel has is insane. I would be shocked if SJM was not planning for them to be together all along. There are just too many romantically coded scenes between the two of them, not to mention their unresolved romantic/sexual tension.

Trust me when I say we have every reason to believe Elriel is endgame. The other ships don’t even compare. Hell they aren’t even on the same playing field.

People love to say every ship has the same likelihood of happening. They don’t. If the other ships had even a fraction of what Elriel has in terms of romantically coded scenes, maybe, but as it stands they have none.

Also SJM isn’t going to throw away four books of foreshadowing/buildup. She’s going to follow through with what she’s been setting up all of this time…

"It was too late to bank without appearing like he was running." He literally wanted to run away from her.

“Fine,” he said, and realized a heartbeat later that it wasn’t a socially acceptable answer. “It was nice.” He could barely manage civil conversation.

"She opened her mouth to ask more, but he didn’t feel like explaining. Or demonstrating, since that was surely what she’d ask next." It's almost like he knows Gwyn will keep prying despite his obvious disinterest.

"He wouldn’t go so far as to call Gwyn a friend." Ooof.

"Gwyn let out a high-pitched noise that was nothing but pure excitement. Azriel, on the other side of the ring with the rest of the priestesses, half-turned at the sound, brows high." This isn't because he's drawn to the sweet sound of her voice. He's irritated at the disruption.

-

Scenes like this exists in the book but people are still thinking this guy just lusts for her...?

I think this was a deliberate juxtaposition between a bond that exists only to produce offspring and the soulmate bond. Lucien's connection to Elain is shallow based solely on the thread that binds him to her. He is not genuinely interested in forming a true connection with her. From the beginning his attitude was like take her to the garden or somewhere. Did he ever make a real effort to earn her forgiveness for betraying them, or to spend time with her and truly get to know her? No....because he's waiting for the bond to magically do the work. He appears from solstice to solstice, hoping Elain will suddenly change her mind simply because the bond exists.

For the same reason his interpretation of what Madja said was only to try to sense the bond in order to understand what was happening. But without emotion or true connection, he remained clueless. It's very surface level much like Rhys and Tamlin's parents, they weren't compatible or genuinely in love, but they tried to make it work because that's what was expected in Fae culture.

“𝙊𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣. 𝙃𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙮 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙛 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙨.”

Elain and Azriel may not have a mating bond between them, but they’re still drawn to each other in an unexplainable way. I cannot wait to see the heated moments this connection leads them into. We will likely see them trying to resist their connection for a while, but ultimately, the pull is too strong to ignore.

In this commission, the rain is interrupting a moment where Elain and Azriel are once again caught up in each other. Thanks so much to rockieartt for creating this for me! You are soo talented and I’m so grateful I had the chance to work with you 💙

Art by rockieartt and commissioned by me.

Characters belong to Sarah J. Maas

Meanwhile, Elain:

- Watches water boil instead of talking to him.

- Looks relieved when Lucien says he’s not staying.

- Loses her smile when he gives her gloves.

- Says, “I don’t want a mate. I don’t want a male.”

- Makes excuses and leaves whenever he’s around.

- Shrinks further into herself and loses her new trace of her newfound boldness when he gives her the earrings.

So, let’s review some of the times this nickname shows up:

“Send the shadowsinger.” – Jurian

“Get them in and out again, shadowsinger.” – Rhysand

“I hope you can carry three, shadowsinger.” – Jurian again, Gwyn who?

“If any of you interfere, the shadowsinger dies.” – King of Hybern

“Thank you, Shadowsinger.” – Amren

“Is that a threat, Shadowsinger?” – Nesta

“With the shadowsinger’s knife.” – Gwyn

“See you tomorrow, Shadowsinger.” – Gwyn again

Like I’m sorry but at this point anyone could call him Shadowsinger and someone would try to claim it as chemistry. So yes, Gwyn called him Shadowsinger. So did everyone else. So will the baker, the mailman, and probably the next villain.