Just to clear some things up with the Bryce, Nesta, and Azriel bonus chapter:
HOUSE OF FLAME AND SHADOWS BONUS CHAPTER SPOILER AHEAD
Bryce’s phone died. It’s dead. And Azriel’s shadows were dancing to his singing. It’s literally said like that in the text. HER PHONE IS DEAD. So no. Azriel’s shadows aren’t dancing for spotify. They are dancing for his voice. Kinda how they are sing back to Gwyn at the end of his chapter in Silver Flames.
Lucien was the one to say to get her out of that house.
Lucien was the one to say take her to a garden-somewhere she would love.
Lucien was the one who told them she needed sunshine.
Sure, he may not have immediately recognized Elain was a seer. But he sure in the fuck didn’t sit by for months and not bat an eyelash at Elain withering away.
Azriel didn’t figure out what was wrong with her. He only pointed out her powers. And even then—Lucien was the one to take her visions seriously and put faith in her. Just like Lucien has been the only one to credit Elain for killing Hybern.
No, Azriel does not see or understand Elain anymore than anyone else in the inner circle.
Lucien does though.
And it’s no coincidence that when Lucien came is when Elain started getting better.
Because he’s her mate. Something Az will never be. Just like he was the one to spend time with Papa Archeron. Something Az never did. Coincidence? I think not.
This male is being prepped for his spectacular arc in ACOTAR5 I'm not taking any arguments about it.
His shadows? His backstory? His knife (Truth-teller)? His mother? SJM is hitting all those weak spots of Az through Bryce to keep all this in our head. He still has a loooong healing journey ahead.
His time is coming alright and I've been seated for it since ACOSF.
I still don’t understand how people finished the chapter with this paragraph, then closed the book, and thought that this bonus chapter build up a forbidden love story with Elain 🤦🏻♀️
a/n this was inspired by a wonderful art commissioned by my friend @trashforazriel (link to artwork). consider this an early holiday gift from me to you Laura! thank you for being a wonderful friend to me and for always gifting us stunning Gwynriel artworks all year long<3
Read on AO3 here!
Gwyn finds that reading smut wakes her up in the morning, especially before an early training session. However, her reading is soon ruined by a nosey shadowsinger who has more than a few opinions about the book in question.
WC: 1407
Warnings: Azriel reads out a smut scene in the book Gwyn is reading but other than that, it's just fluff!
Dawn may be seen as too early for reading smut, but not for Gwyneth Berdara.
“In my defense,” she would say , “it really wakes me up in the morning.”
And it certainly did, especially today when she was up at what felt like the crack of dawn in the forest, dressed in simple training attire, and waiting for everyone to show up.
A few weeks ago, Emerie had suggested that the Valkryies along with Cassian and Azriel start training on rougher terrain, as combat wouldn’t always be on the smooth and open surface of the training ring. Gwyn had hastily agreed, loving the idea of a harder terrain to navigate, unfortunately she didn’t take into consideration that the only time the forest near Velaris was truly empty was in the wee hours of the morning.
So here Gwyn was, standing alone, and reading the filthiest smut known to man in order to wake up her mind before she spends the next three hours doing the most sadistic workouts that history can offer.
Her eyes scanned each line as the main characters finally broke through their tension and were wrapped in a lovers embrace, with desperation in each movement as their bodies grinded against one another, striving for a release that they had held back from for-
“I don’t even think that position is physically possible.”
Gwyn let out a shriek and her book, her wonderfully smutty book flew into the air. A large scarred hand quickly shot out and caught it before it hit the ground.
“Seriously,” the voice said, deep and smooth, but coated in disbelief, “there’s no way that she can bend like that.”
The priestess still had a hand pressed to her chest as she whipped around towards the intruder who had so rudely interrupted her reading. Standing just a few feet away was a very tired, yet very intrigued looking shadowsinger, who’s eyebrows pulled together with each word his eyes took in. Even his shadows seemed to peer over his shoulder curiously, as if to read whatever had their master so confused.
“Azriel,” she gasped out, “what is wrong with you?”
Hazel eyes cut to hers and a dark eyebrow raised on his face, “I’m not the one reading bad sex before the sun is even fully up.”
“There is no rule stating when someone can read- did you just say bad sex?” The dig at the writing only just registered in Gwyn’s sleepy mind. “Sellyn Drake is one of the finest writers to ever live and their books are highly acclaimed.”
A loud scoffed echoed in the otherwise quiet air. “One of the “finest writers”?”
Azriel cleared his throat before continuing, “ ‘I couldn’t contain my cry of pleasure as his hard cock drilled-’ what is he a machine?- into me at a pace that made me see heaven itself-’ yeah sure, I believe that. ‘I was half worried that the others in the inn could hear our songs of pleasure-’ been there and sex noises are not fun to listen to, especially Cassian’s.”
“Give me that!” Gwyn cried before lunging at Azriel. To her utter dismay, he simply held it higher and continued reading the scene. She silently cursed his height as her book was completely out of reach.
“Seriously Berdara,” he remarked with a dry tone, using only one hand to hold her entire body back from him, “this is nothing like how sex is in real life.”
“Just because you’re not having hot sex in an inn doesn’t mean that other people don’t!” She objected.
Azriel paused. “Are you saying you have?”
Gwyn felt her face heat up, “What? N-No!”
He hummed low in his throat, “Then are you offering to remedy that for the both of us?”
His hazel eyes grew slightly darker and Gwyn mind went to mush. Sure, the two had teased and flirted with each other in the past, but never so blatantly. She couldn't say she didn't like it though.
“You- huh? Aren’t you supposed to be a quiet guy?” Gwyn finally shot back, though with far less bite than she intended.
Azriel broke his gaze from hers to let out a loud laugh which echoed in the forest, his black shadows danced around him with glee. She tried not to think about how pretty he looked so relaxed.
“You’re too easy to tease Valkyrie.” He said before turning his back to her and walked over to a tree that had fallen over near the clearing, presumably to keep reading her book.
Gwyn dragged her feet over to him before sitting down herself, silently plotting how she would make sure that one of her favourite reads was not going to be ruined by the overgrown bat.
“Are you going to be holding my book hostage for the remainder of the day?” She grumbled.
Azriel turned to look at her with wide eyes. “You mean you actually like to read this kind of stuff?”
“We all have our niches.” Gwyn replied defensively.
“Niches yes, but this,” he said with a laugh, gesturing towards the book still held in his hand, “is nothing short of satire sex.”
“Unless you have experienced the sheer satisfaction of two characters finally getting it on after 200 pages of pure tension, then I don’t want to hear anything from you.” She replied, with a teasing smile on her face.
Azriel raised his hands in defeat, “You’ve got me there Berdara. I can’t say I’ve read anything like it.”
Gwyn raised her chin in triumph over her mini victory against the shadowsinger. “I can always give you some recommendations if you want to read pure literary masterpieces.”
A smirk settled onto his features, “Do these recommendations come with you reading these-” he tipped the book towards her “-scenes to me too?”
She felt her face heat up and her jaw fell agape in shock at the forward request. Gods, it was way too early for her brain to handle this new side of him.
Azriel’s lips shifted into a toothy grin, looking downright pleased with himself before he pushed off of his knees to stand, holding a hand out to Gwyn as well.
“Come on Berdara, it’s time to stop reading smut books and start training.”
Training. Right, that’s what she was here for.
She shook her head slightly before grasping his outstretched hand and tried not to think about how it completely encased her own.
“Wait, but I thought we were meeting up here with everyone else?” Her voice coated in confusion.
“The clearing where we’re meeting is further into the woods, I was sent to find you by Nesta who thought you got eaten by a bear.” Azriel replied with a chuckle.
Gwyn’s face flamed once again but this time in embarrassment. “Whoops.”
He let out a soft laugh before holding his arms out. “May I?”
Her eyebrows furrowed, “May you what?”
“It'll be faster if I fly us there rather than walk, but if you’d prefer the latter then we can do that too.”
She softened a bit at the gesture. “No, we can fly. I trust you.”
Azriel’s face seemed to relax into a warm smile and Gwyn mustered up her courage and stepped closer to him, standing on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck, as his went under her knees, pulling her into a bridal style hold. A feeling of contentment encompassed her as she was carried in his arms, little black wisps swirling around them. For a second she thought she even felt one of the shadows dance across her cheek.
“You ready Berdara?” His deep voice rumbled against her ear, soothing whatever nerves she had from how close their bodies were. She nodded her head, too afraid to break whatever moment they were having before.
Gwyn felt Azriel bend his eyes and braced herself for the takeoff. With one massive flap of his wings, they were both airborne and in the midst of this, Gwyn suddenly came to a realization.
“Wait,” she said, “how did you know where I was? The forest is huge.”
Without even looking at him she heard the smile in his voice as he replied, “I just knew.”
Her heart beat started racing again before Gwyn tucked herself even closer to Azriel, burying her face into his neck and relaxed into his arms as they flew towards the clearing.
Thank the Cauldron I was reading that smut book.
a/n pt2 this drabble was also inspired by my roommate peering over my shoulder at the gym and seeing the a/b/o smut fic I was reading. it was also 7 AM and yes, I do stand by the point that smut wakes me up.
i just wanted to share some gwyn moments that really made me love her as a character and how she ultimately become one of my favorite characters in acotar 💟
Gwyn marked the change. “I don’t need your pity.” The words were sharp, as clear as her teal eyes.
“It wasn’t pity.”
“I’ve been here for nearly two years, but I haven’t become so disconnected from others that I can’t tell when someone remembers why I am here and alters their behavior.” Gwyn’s mouth flattened to a line. “I don’t need to be coddled. Only spoken to like a person.”
(sometimes i feel like people forget gwyn is such a badass and doesn’t take shit from anyone)
——
“A few priestesses drifted by, either directly past her or on one of the levels above or below, utterly silent. This whole place was utterly silent. The only bit of color and sound came from Gwyn.”
——
“Nesta had never heard a voice like Gwyn’s—by turns trained and wild, as if there was so much sound fighting to break free of Gwyn that she couldn’t quite contain it all. As if the sound needed to be loose in the world.”
——
“Gwyn nimbly rolled to her feet, grinning so broadly that Nesta was momentarily taken aback by it. The priestess had been pretty in the library, but with that joy, that confidence as she aimed for the three priestesses, she had emerged into a beauty to rival Merrill or Mor.”
——
“Gwyn to push her group harder. She wanted to be the first. Wanted Nesta and Emerie and her to be the ones who wiped the smirks from Azriel’s and Cassian’s faces. Especially Azriel’s.”
(i love how competitive she is 😭❤️)
——
“It moved him beyond words, that Gwyn had braved the world beyond the library to comfort Nesta.”
“She wrapped her arms around Gwyn. Let her friend sob into her chest. “I’ll face it with you,” Gwyn whispered, over and over again. “Promise me we’ll face it together.”
——
“Why did you sign up for this, then?” Nesta drank the glass Gwyn extended. “If you already have mind-calming exercises you’re accustomed to?”
“Because I don’t ever want to feel powerless again,” Gwyn said softly, and all those easy smiles and bright laughs were gone. Only stark, pained honesty shone in her remarkable eyes.”
——
“Gwyn whispered, “I am the rock against which the surf crashes.” Nesta straightened at the words, as if they were a prayer and a summons. Gwyn lifted the blade. “Nothing can break me.”
“I have been broken once before,” Gwyn said, her voice clear. “I survived it. And I will not be broken again—not even by this mountain.”
——
“Emerie was the one to say to Gwyn, “I can’t believe you left the library.”
Gwyn stroked Nesta’s head. “Some things are more important than fear.”
currently imagining gwynriel teamed up together for a snowball fight and creating an absolute fortress around themselves meanwhile elucien are sitting by a fire keeping warm, cassian is ogling nesta, nesta is mad because it’s cold, feyre is actually making snowballs, rhysand is making snow angels, and nyx is just happy to be there
2087
titsay
stormborns
ellievsbear
izzy806
dailybridgerton
kianamaiart
