#truth teller

[lovelyfawnxx]

Undo it.

🎨 by art_by_ava.georgia

[makingsenseofwhathappened]

“When a woman tells the truth she is creating the possibility for more truth around her.”

- Adrienne Rich, Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying

I come back to this line every time I feel the pressure to make something sound softer than it was. Rich wrote about truth like it was an airborne vector of contagion. A dangerous thing, often hurtful and violent, but in the end, a freeing act.

If you aren't familiar, this piece is a wonderful account of her evolution as a feminist writer, revolutionary and what I see as the patron saint of 'unexpected women' in a man's man-eat-man world.

[mortalfae7]

[merymoonbeam]

Why Truth-teller is called Truth-teller is the question...who carved those illyrian letters into the blade itself?

What Truth-teller does it tell? Especially now that we know it can "unmake" things?

So...unmake what?

When Nesta unmade Brialllyn it is described like this

But Nesta bellowed and bellowed, letting her magic rage, unleashing every ember. Erasing the queen beneath her from existence. The young hands turned to ash. The pretty face dissolved into nothing. The dark hair withered into dust. Until all that was left of the queen was the Crown on the ground.

Can we like...erase a fake mate bond from existence? 👀 Just a thought?

Only bridge of connection... that knife 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

[alicenchanted]

⊹pov: she's an azriel girl⊹

“Find people you love- they make the time pass quickly.”

[sideb-alicenchanted]

Can I request Azriel × reader smut which covers the incident that let Rhysand and Cassian know he was kinky for the very first time, since he is secretive about his lovers otherwise?

Run, Rabbit

PrimalHunter!Azriel X Fem!Reader

Summary: Azriel chases you through the woods of Windhaven, his shadows tracking you as he follows with hunger. Your screams of pleasure cause a bit of an unplanned interruption, though.

Word Count: 2,107 

Content Warnings: Primal play, chasing, light choking, knife play (no blood drawn), use of the nickname "bunny" for reader

Author's Note: This request was so fun to write! Thank you to the anon who sent it in. I hope this was along the lines of what you were imagining!! I love thinking about them walking in and cass being like yooo can i watch and rhysand being like #shockedanddisturbed. I know it's canon that they would do things in the same room as each other but still. That's why we have headcanons. Ily anon ty for the ask.

Read on Ao3

The woods of Windhaven were darker than usual, as if the stars themselves were playing hide and seek. Onward, and faster. Breathe in, breathe out. 

In no universe would your legs ever be fast enough to outrun him, the Shadowsinger of the Night Court. He was Carynthian, blood on the battlefield, and so corded with muscle that you were drooling just thinking about him.

Branches snapped, your own misstep. Shit. Azriel had given you a headstart, of course, but how much of a difference could that really make? 

He had every advantage: keen smell, eyes made for penetrating the darkness, and powerful legs that would track you to exhaustion. But deep down, that was exactly what you wanted.

A low growl rippled through the tree line, maybe thirty paces behind you. A shiver ran through your body, both from excitement and the chilly spring breeze soothing your hot skin. 

You were sweating now. It would only serve to make your scent that much stronger, you knew. Another grunt sounded from behind, so so close now. 

You broke left, hand bracing on the trunk of a gnarled pine as you used it to propel you forward. 

“Where have you run off to, little bunny?” Azriel mused, nowhere near out of breath yet. His words were coaxing, teasing you. If your scent hadn’t given you away yet, the sound of your harsh panting would.

Your legs began to ache as you pushed harder, determined to make it at least five more minutes. You were probably pathetic compared to other playmates of his, but you held some measure of pride knowing he was here with you instead of the Morrigan.

The sound of heavy boots on your tail slowed, fading out as you ran, pumping sore legs. You had lost him, for now, but it was dangerous to believe he wouldn’t be picking up on your tread soon. 

A thick fir tree blocked the sort-of-path you had mapped out with your eyes, and you stepped out of sight behind it. Lungs tight, you stretched your arms upward, arcing your chest forward to breathe deep.

“There you are~”

Instantly, a scarred hand was covering your mouth, muffling any noises of surprise. The scent of cedar and cool mist flooded your senses, lulling you into stillness as dark tendrils of shadow peeled from his hidden form. Of course he had been waiting in the darkness.

His shadows snaked up your body to coil around your wrists, taking advantage of the position you were in as they locked your arms into place above your head. His shadows were rigid and firm, but somehow softer than spider-silk. They were careful not to irritate your skin.

Azriel wouldn’t hurt you, at least not like this. But that was Truth-Teller strapped to his belt.

He had plans.

“Don’t scream,” he said, brushing soft lips against your ear. The hand holding your mouth pulled back tentatively, and when you didn’t yell, his mouth moved down to your neck. “Very good,” he purred, hazel eyes glinting in the starlight like a big cat’s. 

Azriel wasn’t one to overwhelm you with desperate, sloppy kisses. No, he would string you along with a tender graze to your pulse, or a little nip to your earlobe. 

You bit your lip, fighting down the sounds threatening to slip out. Azriel grinned, sensing them, and he kissed your throat again. You could feel his teeth as he smiled, slightly sharp at the canines, and achingly gentle as they scraped against your skin. He pulled back, though, not daring to leave a mark there. 

He would hide them across you later, you were sure. Only ever in secret spots, the curve of your breast, the soft plane of your rear. Any place you would see in the mirror later as you inevitably touched yourself to the memory.

More shadows drifted off of his body like smoke, tracing up your calves to your thighs, your hips, where they clung possessively. 

His shadows wriggled softly and Azriel chuckled, low and dry. “My shadows tell me you’re excited.”

Red tinted your cheeks, and his shadows tightened their grip. A tendril slid up the inside of your thigh and you instinctively shut your legs. It made no difference, though. Azriel’s shadows were incorporeal. It slid through the tight crease of your plush thighs to cup your clothed mound, petting you through the thin fabric of your pants.

“Making things difficult for us? Good bunnies don’t hide away like that…”

Azriel’s hands gripped your thighs, easily pushing them apart. More shadows embraced your body, drifting down to your ankles to hold your legs open wide. “Az…”

Ons hand gripped your thigh, and the other slid to his belt. You waited to see him free his already hard cock, but he went for the hilt of Truth-Teller instead. He slid it free from its sheath, flipping it in his hand before aiming straight for the seam of your pants.

“Az-”

“Hush,” he chided, slicing a clean cut down the fabric. “I’ll have it fixed,” he assured you, sensing your ire. And he better make good on that, these were your favorite pants. They made your butt look good.

The tip of Truth-Teller pierced your panties next, and you gasped. “If you squirm, you might get hurt,” Azriel murmured. His shadows tightened, holding you still. They were strangely protective, keeping you from even the smallest nick. 

Azriel’s blade ripped apart your panties, leaving you exposed to his gaze and the touch of his strange creatures. Moonlight shimmered over your slick folds and Azriel’s eyes glittered. “Mm,” he hummed. “They were right… you’re soaked for me, bunny.”

Your throat went tight. He traced the tip of Truth-Teller over the seam of your cunt, the point lightly gliding over your skin.

You were suddenly grateful for the strong grip of the shadows as your knees buckled. Azriel laughed, pulling the blade back. “I thought you might like that,” he said, lips finding their way back to the shell of your ear. “Naughty.”

He pressed close enough, now, for you to feel the tent in his pants. His cock strained against his zipper, tightly confined, and you marveled at the control he held over himself. 

The urge to free his dick, to feel it heavy and warm against your tongue, was strong, but his shadows kept you pinned to the tree. His cock was perfect… ribbed with veins and just thick enough to-

A finger slid through your folds and everything went blank in your mind. Azriel laughed dryly, gently circling your clit. 

“Come back to me, bunny,” he cooed. “Don’t tell me that one finger is enough to make you melt, I expected better.”

You mumbled something incoherent as his fingertip grazed along your entrance. “Ah-”

“I know, bunny, feels too good, huh?” Azriel slid his finger inside, but only to the first knuckle, and you whined pitifully at the feeling. “You’re pathetic,” he said, voice smug.

You already knew it, but the way he said it made sparks flicker in your belly. You had no doubt you were dripping onto his hand now.

He slid deeper, circling the spot that made you moan only once before pulling back out.

“Wha- why?” You stammered, needing so much more from him already.

“You think I brought you all the way out here just to finger you against a tree?” He asked, a cocky smirk pulling at his lips.

 You looked at him, lost to what was coming next. His shadows unfurled, letting you loose from their bindings against the tree. Azriel’s hands held you steady as you stumbled forward, wobbly now that your supports were gone. He turned you in his arms, then gave you a shove forward, pushing you out onto the forest path again.

“Run.”

You turned away from his wicked grin, begging your legs to cooperate as you ran again. Fuck. Would you get a headstart this time, or would he simply pull you to the ground in a few feet?

There was no time to think about it. You turned at ever tree, having just enough sense to know that you could get farther switching up your trail than just trying to be fast. 

A rumbling purr echoed beyond the trees but you could no longer tell where from. The way he moved within the nothing space of the shadows was untraceable. It was not like winnowing, not like flying, not like anything you could ever understand. 

“Faster,” he said. His command was so close you turned, hazarding a glance over your shoulder. He had sounded so close…

Behind you, you could see a flash of tan muscles. He had taken his shirt off to hunt you down, and he was sweaty and gleaming in the dark. Yeah, you were fucked.

Azriel was right behind you, boots crushing stick and stone into the dry forest loam as he chased with ruthless intensity. 

A force knocked against your shoe, and for a moment you cursed yourself. Of course you would be dumb enough to trip and fall. But the culprit was no tree root or branch- mischievous wriggling caught your eye as you went down, and his shadows cushioned the fall.

Azriel was atop you in an instant. You tried to roll onto your back to face him, but he shoved your hips back down and flat to the forest floor.

“Please,” was the only word that managed to escape as his big hand slid around to your neck. His grip was firm, but not tight enough to have you truly panicking.

Azriel cradled your head by the throat, keeping you from slumping face down into the dirt. His zipper whined, and you heard a delicious grunt as he likely grabbed his own cock. 

If only you could move- watch him stroke himself above you like a beast- but he held you firm. 

The wait was over pretty soon. Without bothering to pull your pants off, Azriel poised his blunt tip at your entrance, through the convenient hole there. He  pushed all the way to the hilt in one go, knowing you could take it.

“Ah!” You whined, eyes watering at the stretch. Soft coils of darkness cupped your cheeks, tenderly brushing back your tears as he began to thrust. It was ruthless, but oh so good. The head of his cock found your cervix after a few searching pumps, and your answering scream told him exactly where to hit. 

He slammed into the soft spot without mercy. He wanted to carry you back home that night, to see you limp and twitching in his arms and unable to walk. 

You screamed again as he slid particularly deep, your head lolling forward in ecstacy. He tightened his grip around your neck, squeezing until he heard you breath come out thin and soft. Bliss clouded your mind with each squeeze and he pounded you through the numbing pleasure, bringing you to the edge of climax in minutes. 

“Stop screaming, baby, you’ll lose your pretty voice,” he said between grunts, but his pace did not slow. 

You shattered with a shriek, muscles tightening to pull him in deep as every bone inside you turned to mush. 

“Fuck, that was h- Hey!” He yelled suddenly. Warm, leathery skin brushed against your back as a giant bat-like wing folded over your body protectively. He slid his cock free from your pussy, but stayed crouched over your form. 

Turning to the side, flashing metal caught your eye. A sword, an aimed, threatening sword. “What the fuck are you doing, Cassian?” He bit out.

Cassian- that was the High Lord’s general. Oh for Cauldron’s sake. 

“Wh- oh. Ohhhh.” Cassian’s voice came out off-kilter. “Turn around, Rhys, turn around!” 

The winged males jostled into each other as they both turned away from the scene. 

“She’s- ah- not hurt?” The High Lord of the Night Court asked awkwardly.

“No,” Azriel growled. 

“The good kind of choking, then.” Rhys stated matter-of-factly and Azriel groaned.

“Damn, Az, nice one-” the general tried to say, but he was cut off by the gentle whooshing of Rhysand’s winnow.

There were several beats of strange, tense silence, before you had to laugh. 

“Fuck me,” Azriel mumbled. He covered his reddening face with his hands when you turned, almost bashful now. What a sight.

“Did you still want to finish?” You said, trailing a hand over the now zipped up front of his pants.

He considered for a moment, dick twitching in interest. “I guess it doesn’t matter if I bring you back home with me now…”

“I’ll be more quiet this time,” you giggled.

[lplusl]

Truth Teller is not what makes Azriel a “Shadowsinger”. Truth Teller doesn’t create shadows. When Truth Teller is “activated” it doesn’t allow other people to “shadow walk”. Now, we don’t know when Azriel came to possess Truth Teller, but we DO KNOW that his Shadowsinger abilities are not tied to the blade. Azriel himself didn’t even know the extent of TT’s powers, even after all this time having it:

“Vesperus took another step, steadier now, and smiled at Bryce. At Azriel, at Truth-Teller. “You don’t know how to use it, do you? Typical of your kind. You want to play with our weapons, but have no concept of their true abilities. Your mind couldn’t hold all the possibilities at once.”

Later in the story we find out that Truth-Teller’s actual powers comes when wielded together with Gwydion: they can create a portal to nowhere. Together they can Make and Unmake things when commanded by the person destined to wield them both:

“The Starsword is Made, as you called it.” He waved an idle hand, sparks at his fingertips. “The knife can Unmake things. Made and Unmade. Matter and antimatter. With the right influx of power— a command from the one destined to wield them— they can be merged. And they can create a place where no life, no light exists. A place that is nothing. Nowhere.”

Also, the ability to “activate” Truth Teller’s powers is not for ALL Made people. Nesta was Made and the blades never sang for her or tugged as they did for Azriel and Bryce.

“He must have had some sort of Starborn blood in him, then—a distant ancestor, maybe. Or maybe his possession of the knife somehow allowed him to also bear the Starsword.”

This seems to be a trait reserved for the Starborn line. Azriel appears to be Starborn or his possesion of the blade for so long makes the Sword sing to him too. While I do believe that Nesta might be Starborn too, this is a situation of where the blade chooses where to go. Because Theia helped make the sword and dagger, and they answered to the call in her blood and power, and that’s the Starborn line. The blades CLEARLY want to go to Azriel too.

“Azriel was already poised over her, that deadly dagger drawn and gleaming with a strange black light. He noted the darkness leaking from the blade and blinked. It was the most shock Bryce had seen him display. “Put it away, you fool,” Amren said. “It sings for her, and by bringing it close—“

“Where did the dagger come from?” Azriel’s hazel eyes held nothing but cool wariness. “Why do you want to know?” “Becatuse the Starsword,” she murmured to the blade he had down his back, “sings to it. I know you’re feeling it, too.” Let it be out in the open. “It’s driving you nuts, right?” Bryce pushed. “And it gets worse when I’m near.”

“They seem to want to be near each other.” Bryce nodded. “When I landed on that lawn, they instantly reacted when they were close together.” “Like calls to like,” Nesta mused. “Plenty of magical things react to one another.” “This was unique. It felt like…like an answer. My sword blazed with light. That dagger shone with darkness. Both of them are crafted of the same black metal. Iridium, right?” She jerked her chin to Azriel, to the dagger at his side. “Or from a fallen meteorite?”

“Carrying both the dagger and the Starsword was clearly bothering Azriel. As they pushed into the gloom, clothes slowly drying, bodies slowly thawing, Bryce counted his wings twitching or shoulders rolling no less than six times. Not to mention the occasional hollow thump in her own ears if she drew too near to him.”

In conclussion:

- Elain didn’t “activate” Truth Teller when she used it.

-Elain didn’t “shadow walk” - she just literally stepped out of a shadow that was being cast by a tree or the King where she was taking cover.

-Yes, Elain wielded Truth Teller, but she just used it like a regular blade, you know? Stick ‘em with the pointy end. She took down the King with it so Nesta could kill him. That was that.

- Saying that anything happening with Truth Teller coming up has anything to do with Elain is a fan-made theory with no base in canon.

PS: all quotes from House of Flame and Shadow.

[elainsvisions]

Elain looked up at Azriel, their eyes meeting, his hand still lingering on the hilt of the blade.

I saw the painting in my mind: the lovely fawn, blooming spring vibrant behind her. Standing before Death, shadows and terrors lurking over his shoulder. Light and dark, the space between their bodies a blend of the two. The only bridge of connection … that knife.

🌸🗡️I am just so excited how this was depicted so beautifully, the contrast between Elain’s gentle, vibrant spring and Azriel’s brooding shadows is powerful, almost ethereal.

The imagery of light and dark blending in the space between them speaks volumes about their connection, delicate, tense, yet deeply meaningful. And at the center of it all is that knife.

The very blade Elain used to stab the King of Hybern, in an act of courage that changed everything. A blade that Azriel guarded and has never let another soul touch. Yet Elain not only took it, but returned it to him, despite the horrors she endured, despite the blood it spilled.

That small, silent exchange between them is more than a moment, it’s a symbol of trust, understanding, and a bond that neither fully speaks of, but both feel deeply.

Thank you to the incredible @hatchatwork who brought this poignant moment to life with such care and beauty. The emotion, the symbolism, it’s all captured perfectly. 🦇⚔️

⊱❊⊰⁣⁣⁣

⁣⁣⁣⤞ Art by @hatchatwork on IG

⁣⁣⁣⤞Commissioned by me

⁣⁣⁣⤞ Please do not repost without permission

⁣⁣⁣⤞ Instagram

⊱❊⊰⁣⁣⁣