I would literally, genuinely, without question sell-nay, gift, my soul to whomever would like to have it for a manorian book. I wouldn’t even care for plot, just them together for a whole novel… that “we’ll see” is so heavy on my heart I want to cry right now
I love drawing blood and dark stuff in general... But i usually don't have that much chance to draw that kind of characters/illustrations. I'm sure everyone knows who she is. 😁 Been ages since I drew Manon Blackbeak. This illustration was commissioned by @ellyspopsparadies character is from Throne of glass series by @sjmaas Hope you guys will like it xoxo
I loved this so much!! I wanted to do something that showed a bit of the "father and daughter" relationship and Dorian's pov.
I apologize for any grammatical errors, I am tired and so lazy right now that I won't proofread much.
I hope you enjoy!!!!!
Princess Asterin Blackbeack Crochan Havilliard, Crown Princess of Adarlan and Heir of the Witch Kingdom
The King Dorian Havilliard of Adarlan was watching his daughter freeze and thaw an entire flower bed without damaging the lives of the flowers - and trying to contain a smile, failing proudly -. Fifteen years old. Asterin was already fifteen and she kept surprising or making him proud. And Manon.
And there's that with The Thirteen.
It had been strange, surprising, and in some ways comforting, when Asterin had arrived at the Castle two days ago and told what had happened in Perranth. With The Old Alliance of his wife.
Dorian and Manon were still thinking about it. The King of Adarlan saw how The Crochan Queen looked after hearing what their daughter had to say. But almost immediately when Asterin finished telling what had happened, a soft, comforting breeze hit the young princess' parents. As if it was confirming everything.
Dorian had always felt magic, power and something else coming from his daughter. None of it ever made him uneasy or nervous. The Crown Princess of Adarlan was simply a young woman with magnificent power and a big heart. And these two factors together made her the daughter Dorian wondered if he deserved.
Sitting under the shade of a tree, still watching his daughter, the King of Adarlan visited his memories.
At first, when Manon had told him - directly and without much emotion - that she was pregnant, neither of them had been exactly happy. They knew absolutely nothing about how to be good parents, how to care for and raise a child. The most contact with babies that the couple had had was with Chaol and Yrene's daughter, and then Rowan and Aelin's.
So for the first few months, before they told their family and friends, Dorian and Manon were not very happy.
It had been a few years after the war, and they were already recovering, but to have a child...
But they both decided to have the baby. There was no other option, for either of them.
They continued living normally and pretending to each other and to themselves that it was no big deal.
Until the day Dorian woke up with the first rays of sun on a particularly hot morning and threw the blankets aside. Manon grumbled - still sleeping - in gratitude. The King of Adarlan kissed his wife's neck and wrapped an arm around her. His hand brushed against a slight, small lump on the Queen's belly and it was at that moment that Dorian felt it. His daughter. Her power, almost half trying to communicate with his. And it was beautiful, bright, rare, like the pure light of the stars, just like Dorian's power, but like it was lighter, gentler... It sent a soft pang to his heart.
Manon, somehow, felt it too.
From that day on, the reality that they were expecting a baby came crashing down on them, much to the happiness of Abraxos, who had been less than satisfied with the way Manon and Dorian had handled the situation at first.
The announcements of the arrival of a young princess were made - Dorian and Manon had always been sure that it would be a girl -. Adarlan and the Witch Kingdom went into celebration.
And Perranth - because they were also expecting an Heir -.
As the months passed, when Manon's belly began to really grow, when they could feel the baby's movements, Dorian Havilliard began to feel his chest getting heavy. Very heavy.
Abraxos and the King of Adarlan took very good care of Manon - even too good care -.
Every day that passed, Dorian felt his daughter more and more.
He really felt her.
As if she were a little piece of him growing beautifully inside Manon's belly.
Then affection and caring came. Both from Dorian and Manon. That little being that hadn't even been born yet was already settling permanently in their hearts.
When the day of the birth came, Dorian did not leave Manon's side. And the moment a loud, high-pitched cry echoed until it reached their ears, that day became the best day of the King and Queen's lives.
Yrene, smiling, handed a small, fussy, hungry bundle to Manon, a few tears streaming down the Queen's face as she snuggled the baby against her and whispered the name with such devotion and... Love: Asterin. Asterin. Asterin.
Dorian kissed his wife's sweaty forehead and smiled, he was sitting on the bed next to her and their daughter.
Yes, Asterin was a very appropriate name.
When the King of Adarlan finally took his daughter in his arms, he understood why his chest had been so heavy lately, that was love, the kind Dorian had never felt before. He loved his family, his friends, and he loved Manon in a way that not even the stars could explain.
But what he was feeling with his daughter in his arms, when she opened her eyes and he saw the pure gold in her eyes, this was an old and powerful kind of love.
The princess's head was a hairy, blue-black mess like his. It made him smile for a month.
She was so small, so delicate and fragile, and the King of Adarlan was afraid to hurt her with the slightest movement. Kissing his daughter's head, Dorian made his second promise to her: to protect her always and forever. To turn to dust, to reduce to nothing, anyone who tried to hurt her.
The first promise he made was to never leave her, to be with her even when he was gone from that world.
Dorian would never break those promises.
The days after Asterin's birth were followed by celebrations. Flags were raised all over Adarlan and the Witch Kingdom, gold and black, in honor of the princess' eyes and hair.
Manon and Dorian did not separate from Asterin and from those first days of the young Little Witchling's life, happiness blossomed in every moment the family spent together.
Dorian had never given much thought to producing an heir, but when Asterin was born, he realized the size of the responsibility on the princess' shoulders. Adarlan and the Witch Kingdom.
At first, that sometimes prevented him from sleeping, but as Asterin grew older and showed what kind of woman, princess and queen she would be, Dorian stopped worrying so much.
And more and more he felt proud of his daughter, that she was the continuation of House Havilliard, that she was different and better than those who came before her.
The Kingdoms, the Empires of Asterin's parents would have a good ruler when she assumed the thrones and crowns.
Manon and Dorian were sure of this.
Back in the present, the King of Adarlan saw the female version of him with golden eyes and long hair walking up to him with a big smile.
More times than one could count, Dorian admired his daughter's face, - with much love and incredulity, sometimes - . His face. The resemblance was amazing, indeed. If Asterin had eyes the color of sapphire like her father's, then people would think Dorian had made a clone of him.
The shape of her face was identical to Manon's, but the eyebrows, the shape of the eyes, the nose, the mouth, the cheeks, even the ears... Asterin was the younger, female version of her father.
And Dorian certainly never bragged or teased Manon about it. Nah.
"I am so tired." Asterin flopped down on the grass beside her father.
The face might have been identical to Dorian's, but the voice was Manon's. Only with softer, gentler, more cheerful tones. The voice of an Asterin.
"And all that you rested in Perranth?" Dorian asked. An eyebrow identical to his rose up.
"There is no rest in Uncle Lorcan's vocabulary. He spent most of the time torturing Cal and me with all those trainings. It's hard to love Uncle Lorcan when he tells me to do fifty push-ups just to warm up." Asterin closed her eyes and cringed as she remembered the exercises she did with Lorcan and Cal every day at dawn. Dorian smiled slightly.
"I'm glad I'm not in your shoes, Little Witchiling." For emphasis on that, a drop of icy water hit the princess's nose.
"Dad!" While Asterin wiped the tip of her nose, Dorian observed the medallion that he and Manon had ordered made when the princess was born. A beautiful gold jewel with sapphires made by the best jewelers in Adarlan.
Inside the medallion the initials M and D were engraved, and underneath was the initial of the princess's name.
That was a symbol, Asterin would never be alone. And Dorian had never seen his daughter without the medallion.
"Since you didn't rest in Perranth, you can rest here then. Talk to Chaol about returning to your training later." Dorian suggested.
Steps approached them, steps that him knew as well as his own.
"No no. That's not necessary. I can just stay here for the rest of the afternoon relaxing and tomorrow I'll go train with Uncle Chaol and Josefin." Dorian knew why she said that. He opened his arms and called out to his daughter.
Asterin snuggled into his side and laid her cheek on his shoulder.
"I miss when I was little and could run into your arms because I could fit in them." The princess said.
"You will always be the Little Witchiling that fits in my arms, and you can always run to me, I will never let you fall. Never." Dorian said.
"I know, Dad." Asterin said softly.
Seconds later Manon stopped in front of them, Abraxos on her side. The beautiful smile that was only directed at Asterin, was already on her face.
"Hi mom." Asterin spoke with a bright smile.
"Hi Little Witchinling."
After speaking to her daughter, Manon addressed Dorian with a smile and joined them on the grass, snuggling up on Dorian's other side.
Abraxos lay on the grass as well, with his head in Asterin's lap, who cuddled him.
And for some time, the four of them stood there, talking about everything, on the grass, under the shade of a tree in front of the castle gardens.
Dorian was more than happy with the family he and Manon had formed. And there, holding the two most important people in his life - accompanied by Abraxos -, he was happy and grateful that he hadn't given up on life long ago.
You are my people. Whether my grandmother decrees it or not, you are my people, and always will be. But I will fly against you, if need be, to ensure that there is a future for those who cannot fight for it themselves. Too long have we preyed on the weak, relished doing so. It is time that we became better than our foremothers." The words she had given the Thirteen months ago. "There is a better world out there," she said again. "And I will fight for it." She turned Abraxos away, toward the plunge behind them. "Will you?
