A lot of E/riel moments are centered around Azriel and have little to no significance for Elain.
Take for example, when Feyre and Azriel rescued Elain from Hybern. Was Elain thankful to Azriel? Of course she was, who wouldn’t be? But when she talks about it in Silver Flame, she only gives credit to Feyre. She doesn’t romanticize Azriel’s part in it.
Or when Azriel gave her Truth Teller. Yes, she took it and changed the course of the war with the dagger. But when Mor and Feyre are talking about it, Mor mentions his big of deal it was for Azriel and then Feyre talks about how Elain gave it back, walked away, and didn’t turn back. This indicates that while it held significance for Azriel, it didn’t for Elain. She was done with it, there was no romantic or personal impact to her.
And let’s talk about the necklace. In his bonus chapter, it’s said that Azriel picked it out for her because it reminded him of her, “a thing of secret lovely beauty.” The necklace is of a rose, which people tend to assume is a gardeners favorite flower but usually isn’t (if I had to guess, Elain’s favorite would be a tulip). But a thing of secret, lovely beauty doesn’t match Elain at all. She’s known for her beauty. And again, Elain had no problem giving this back less than twelve hours after receiving. It again, held little significance for Elain herself.
Does Elain find Azriel attractive? Yes, we can all agree on that. But are her feelings deeper? There’s no indication that it is. The feelings seem to be very one sided on Azriel’s end (but are still kind of shallow).
