#cressida acotar

[highladyofterrasen7]

Kallias and tarquin when their badass women say they’ll ally with feyre do they have to too

[toast-com]

Cressieda gives off Sailor Neptune vibes to me. Sailor Neptune is the guardian of the deep sea, and Cressieda is of the Summer Court so...

[rosesncarnations]

Cressida sketchy sketch

[1800naveen]

If Emerie were to get with someone, let it be either Cressida or another Illyrian woman.

KEEP THE RED WEARING, ILLYRIAN HATING CHICK AWAY FROM HER.

Are y'all forgetting that Mor said they should burn Illyria? Y'know, she's casually talking about ethnic cleansing them off the map. And said that Nesta should be tossed into the court of nightmares, the same place where she was brutalized.

And you think she should get with Emerie. An Illyrian woman who was brutalized and besties with Nesta.

She'll probably lead her on like how she did Azriel.

(Also could someone drop the quote of where Mor says this? Page number or chapter number is fine. I assume it's either in acomaf or acowar)

Mor after leaving women and children to suffer even though she's literally in charge of the entire place and for some reason, she doesn't have the guts to kill her father (nothing is stopping her from doing that):

Mor after another day of not doing her fucking job and only going down to Hewn city to piss people off (GET HER FIRED):

[washmchineheart]

if we can ship gwyn and tarquin maybe emerie and cressida could be a thing too? just saying

[ae-neon]

Nesta Archeron in the Summer Court!

Disclaimer: in my head Summer is more Brazil than the Mediterranean. Visuals: X , X

She comes to Summer seeking the sun.

Tarquin's been hard at work with integration policies but certain areas still have a zoned feeling to them.

Nesta finds somewhere close to a human neighbourhood. Some days she lies on the floor with her window open - keen ears picking up on the familiar dialects of her human life.

Some nights it's hard to look at the ocean, reminds her too much of the Cauldron but it sings so different, so soft and apologetic that something in Nesta eases.

Because of the contrast of the ocean and constant exposure to pools and water gardens, it slowly becomes easier to bath too

She slowly adjusts to the fashion too, less grating on her internalised modesty when the weather demands it.

She tans, it's barely a shade or two, but it catches her off guard to look in the mirror and not see the porcelain doll the Cauldron Made. It makes her smile, a little victory.

She listens to bossanova.

Loves the restaurants turned half dance floor by the setting sun. She loves the icy drinks and the fruity salads.

After they're sure she isn't there to cause more trouble, the royals ease up their surveillance and leave her be.

She sees them out and about sometimes but doesn't go beyond greeting or making small talk.

The humans adjust to faerie festivals and take to sitting outside, on their roofs and patios, to watch the carnival and water dancing.

She's surprised one day by an invitation to celebrate the Summer Solstice with the HL and his delegates.

There's a small panic in her and she doesn't reply until she's out on a walk and bumps into Tarquin himself and ends up agreeing to at least join for the banquet before the night takes off in full

She isn't forced to interact beyond small talk and besides Tarquin himself, no one tries to be overly familiar.

It's not terrible and she ends up watching the carnival from the palace balcony when most leave to join the crowding streets

One day the sea calls more sweetly than usual and Nesta even manages to make it out to rocks to find a group of mermaids waiting. At first they don't say much, just offer her gifts from the ocean

Guilty, she says she has nothing to give back but the mermaids settle that she should tell them a story. The first few times she retells familiar fables and recent reads but one day ends up simply bringing a book along

The women of the sea don't blush or giggle but they seem entranced by certain aspects so Nesta curates her collection to include what they like

News of this reaches Tarquin and Cressida when they go Under to meet with their watery counterparts.

Cressida later recounts this to the head of the royal library who then offers book suggestions to Nesta

One night Tarquin quietly joins the crowd, fresh from the sea.

It doesn't take long, not with how nice Tarquin is, for them to become friends despite the small self hating part of Nesta that insists she doesn't deserve it.

Her visits to the palace happen almost monthly now and it isn't long before Cressida sends her tailor Nesta's way

Nesta isn't sure she can fully embrace Summer Court fashion - the Fae a little too free for her taste but she comes to like the loose, open and colourful dresses she and the tailor decide on

Cressida teaches Nesta how to Samba. Then they slow dance and kiss.

She receives a patterned silk scarf as a gift from Tarquin and weaves in into her crown braid for her next visit.

The visit is not quite the usual, Tarquin is taking her out of the city and into the jungle. The Fae there are less exposed to humans than those on the coast and he wants her to act as a sort of test to whether they might begin to build refugee settlements inland as well

Nesta becomes a sort of middleman and begins corresponding frequently with the human-fae integration task team before fully joining.

She's grateful but the work begins to open her eyes to how accommodating the Fae are being and she becomes interested in seeing and connecting with the wilder, more faery side of Summer too

The grin Tarquin gives her when she tells him this lets her know she's about to experience a whole new world.

Nesta looks like a jaguar with her tan and freckles and casual grace with underlying power

Nesta getting an actual jaguar as a pet cause it just follows her out of the forest one day

Nesta with an apartment full of tropical plants and she has a parrot!!!

There was no overarching structure to this but that's what I get for rushing into making this. Anyyyywayyyss

Nesta Archeron with a tan and freckles. A gold n red scarf in her hair and a flowing blue dress with tropical flowers on it. Her feet in the sand. Tarquin and Cressida will have her wearing gold jewellery soon enough. Nesta learning the Summer dialect and teaching Fae the Human dialect from south of the Wall.

[huntquinlan]

gwyn/cressida. is this anything

[polyacotarweek]

Look at this preview of the yumminess that's coming our way in April. We can't wait to see these three ladies together!

EXCUSE ME, LESBIANS COMING THROUGH

ROUNDING THE CORNER WITH A COUPLE LESBIANS

meet one of my favorite rarepairs: cresseida and emerie!

they both deserve the world

come back for more from them for @polyacotarweek where i'll add nesta to the mix

[toast-com]

Eris x Cresseida, if you're still taking requests

The Firedrake and the Sea Nymph (1-26-23)

Eris landed on the sandy shore, his talons sinking into the soft ground. He whipped his head one way, and then the other, before bounding towards the sea. Excitement was rushing through his veins, but he stopped before he reached the water's edge, and sank onto his haunches, and waited, watching the waves as they crashed against the shore. The crashing waves were soothing, and he lowered his head onto his front talons, and closed his eyes.

"I knew I was taking a long time to get here, but I didn't think you'd fall asleep, Ris." A bubbling laugh had Eris surging up on his feet, looking down at sea blue eyes. A laugh rumbled out of him, and he blew a plume of smoke at Cresseida, who smiled, as he lowered his head and nuzzled her affectionately.

[extremely-judgemental]

Welcome to another one of my long rants!

Media has been violence porn for men since forever with female characters reduced to no more than an object to project their fantasies onto. So, when I read a book written by a so-called feminist woman who writes about badass female leads and feminist characters, and uses major societal issues to push her narratives, I’m expecting her to treat them for what they are and not brownie points for her creativity and aesthetics for her characters.

I'm glossing over every abuse mentioned in the ACOTAR books. I won't be taking responsibility for your reactions if you choose to read.

SJM loves trauma dumping, especially on her female characters. Whether a lead or a supporting role, every one of them undergoes a form of abuse.

Feyre is sexually assaulted by Rhysand for two months on top of being starved, imprisoned and forced to participate in life-threatening games. After this, she becomes a victim of domestic violence at Tamlin’s mansion. But in her apparent safer life with Rhysand, she’s thrown into the house of the Weaver—a death god whom even the ‘most powerful HL’ himself is afraid of. From there, the amount of physical violence she suffers is lessened though she becomes a perpetrator herself. And then, there is the impossible pregnancy (because even in a book about her sister, Feyre can’t take a fucking backseat) that even the best minds in the Prythian can’t save her from (since apparently these two bigger-than-thou are the only ones to ever mate or crossbreed).

Nesta is abused at the hands of her mother and grandmother, and she’s neglected by her father. She’s sexually assaulted by the man she intended to marry. She’s thrown into the Cauldron against her will and killed—which is equivalent to SA. She’s exploited in a war when she has no experience or training. She’s verbally abused by her sister’s family and disrespected. She’s imprisoned, tortured and tamed like an animal by the man she’s meant to end up with. She’s emotionally manipulated and psychologically abused by Cassian in the entirety of SF. She’s sexually abused by a Kelpie and to some extent by Lanthys. She’s kidnapped again and thrown into a game where she’s hunted and expected to kill.

Elain suffers the same fate as Nesta during the transformation. She’s later kidnapped by Hybern and the Cauldron during the war. (And in her book, I will bet anything that either some heinous abuse she suffered in the past from Graysen/his father or before her rescue from Hybern’s camp will come up, or she will be abused somehow by at least one man. Given how Rhysand abused Feyre and Cassian abused Nesta, I won’t be surprised if SJM drags Lucien down the same path as well because that woman’s idea of romance is hurting someone and apologising which is the equivalence of vulnerability in her stories. She would even use the ‘fire in his veins’ to push this, something he couldn’t control or whatever.)

Morrigan is brutalised by her father and dumped naked in unknown lands. Her abuse is so grotesquely described and too twisted for her crime of sleeping with a man out of wedlock.

Emerie loses her wings to wing-clipping, an improper method no less. Later on, she is abused by her father after he killed his wife in the same way. She even digs her own mother’s grave on his orders. She’s kidnapped and forced into Blood Rite for being a woman and wanting to never be abused by men again.

Gwyneth is r*ped by Hybern men. And she suffers the same as Nesta and Emerie for wanting to grow stronger and defend herself in the future.

Lady Autumn is abused by her husband.

Cressida suffers under Amarantha’s rule. (I don’t remember how exactly but I know it was mentioned somewhere. Remind me if you know.)

Clotho, other priestesses—all of them end up in the library after they suffered at the hands of men. They are too afraid of the world and broken by their trauma that they are content to spend the rest of their years never once leaving the library even for daily lives.

Almost every woman in SJM’s books is tormented in so many ways and it’s always the men who perpetuate it. And this is a theme that spans over all of her books, not just this series. Micah abuses Bryce. Pollux SA’s Lydia. I haven’t read TOG nor am I planning to, but I know there’s something in there to pick about.

I don’t mind a little violence and I don’t mind representation of such issues in a female oriented books. What I can’t tolerate is the idea is that a woman has to endure such things and rise above it all and only then she can be labelled ‘strong’.

Elain is the only soft character so far as SJM wants to keep that ‘inclusive writer’ status, and this pattern is also seen in the CC series where June is the only soft-spoken female and every other woman is either rageful or a fighter.

These characters are introduced with violence, their whole identity revolves around this. Their emotional intelligence, capacity and growth all stem from violence and how they heal from it. Feyre’s MO is her hunting and her trauma. But there’s no self-reflection to drive her growth. It’s her relationship with Rhysand that takes precedence and even then the SA is swept under the rug. Same with Nesta—her trauma is on the forefront while her healing is so vague and none of her real issues are ever addressed. In fact, violence is a core part of her healing. During majority of her screen time, Elain cries, suffers and gets rescued. Morrigan is all hatred and trauma and wine. Emerie and Gwyneth have depth but the first thing anyone recognises in either of them is their trauma—Emerie’s wings and Gwyneth’s indefinite abode in the library.

Clotho’s past alone is enough to prove SJM’s obsession with women’s pain. Clotho is not a major character and she has little screen time and yet her abuse is described in such detail for pages and often. Even a fleeting character like Lady of Autumn suffers the same fate. SJM’s idea of cruelty in men is perpetuating physical violence against women.

Moreover, all of these characters have the sense of justice and power which are strongly rooted in these abuses. None of them see the cruelty in the world and choose to stand up to it or fight it unless they have suffered too. As if one can have strength and courage only if they have been broken down by a man first. Like their fight can’t be driven by kindness and compassion for the people around them.

See, my female hero doesn’t have to be abused by every man as a trial for her to overcome. She doesn’t have to be a siren 24x7 seducing men left and right. She doesn’t have to sleep around with different men every night to let me know she’s likeable. She doesn’t have to kill in every chapter to be strong or brave. She doesn’t have to be sex on stick to be beautiful. She doesn’t have to have big boobs or ass in leathers to be beautiful. She doesn’t have to be thin and fair to desirably moderately tanned or dressed in skimpy dresses to nothing at all times. And she doesn’t have to have miracle sex with her abuser partner to heal every one of her traumas.

It’s infuriating how criticising these books calls for such hatred when these topics are exposed to young audience without proper warnings or sensitive measures. These are defended as written for and marketed to NA as if the brains of the 17 year olds level up to the full functioning adult brain overnight when they turn 18. The first book is still sold as YA and there is no warning in it either for the amount of violence, gore, SA in it. Even if the latter books are NA, someone who reads the first one in a series is bound to pick up the sequels.

SJM hides behind these technicalities and refuses to educate herself or take accountability for all these toxic narratives she’s passing off as feminism and ideal romantic relationships. She shouldn’t be writing about these topics as she herself has a warped concept of violence and she can’t recognise the different kinds of SA and uses it freely to pass them as sexual tension like in case of Feyre and Nesta.

She’s not the best fantasy writer out there. She’s not a progressive, feminist writer. She doesn’t even respect her own female characters for more than playing out her fantasies with these ‘ideal’ men she created in her head. If anything, SJM writes like a man who hates women.

[ofbreathandflame-archive]

i haven't read the acotar series but yeah there are...SO many issues with it. I was about to say I'm not surprised that people wanted the racism to be more violent so they could acknowledge but actually, y'know what? No, I am surprised. I'm concerned that people want characters of colour to be dragged through the dirt and be the victims of horrific acts before they can acknowledge the racism of the author. I cannot emphasise how crestfallen, how upset I felt when I searched up what Illyrians were for the first time. Like...oh. They are brown, like me. But they are also a whitewashed version of what white people want them to be: a violent, primitive nation that treat their women awfully, just so that white people can come in and save them, as if they weren't the ones ramping up that kind of misogyny in the first place.

I look across the YA sphere and I see white authors constantly say, through their writing, that poc are violent, that we are backwards, that the women should not exist and do not have lives unless they are attached to white people. I feel that the only time this has kind of been challenged in a mainstream YA fandom has been the grishaverse, and even then, the rep for brown peoples is muddled and vague at best, and the rep for Black people feels like there was no exploration of culture at all.

What I'm trying to say is: it's not great in the YA market, but SJM is by far one of the most racist authors out there. White fans shouldn't be begging for the violence against characters of colour to be ramped up so they can decide when they can step in and say enough is enough.

ugh! this was so beautifully put!

thiis will be a long discussion!

i really want to preface this by saying i would really implore everyone in their free time to read toni morrison's playing in the dark! it's a deep dive into the ways blackness (and in this case minority status) is defined by white superiority; how the very presence of the non-white is always used to reiterated the inherent superiority of their white peers! poc are used as conduits to uphold beliefs of white supremacy - the very existence of the nonwhite existing to boasts the intelligence of their white peers.

sjm's work moves in such racist territory that it so easy so see these mentalities etched into her work. every single poc that is included in the story is relegated to this ideology; their very existence speaks to the power of the main character. the primary function of the interactions deal in shame, humiliation, and cowardice (see: tarquin, nehemia, thesan, helion, tarquin, cressida, nesryn, lucien, the unnamed enslaved @ endovier, baxian, unnamed illyrian population etc).

morrison opens up her novel by asserting that we should be conscious of the way the author's imagination expresses itself:

“Both [reading and writing] require being mindful of the places where imagination sabotages itself, locks its own gates, pollutes its vision. Writing and reading mean being aware of the writer’s notions of risk and safety, the serene achievement of, or sweaty fight for, meaning and response-ability.”

morrison also posits that author's intenionality and/or bias are unfortunately apart of the creative process of imagination, reiterating:

“The imagination that produces work which bears and invites rereadings, which motions to future readings as well as contemporary ones, implies a shareable world and an endlessly flexible language. Readers and writers both struggle to interpret and perform within a common language shareable imaginative worlds. And although upon that struggle the positioning of the reader has justifiable claims, the author’s presence—her or his intentions, blindness, and sight—is part of the imaginative activity.”

this initial opening builds an understanding of the creative process, in a wholesome way. what i mean is - morrison is establishes that the creative process is informed by our own perceptions and understanding. the way our the narrative voice reconciles normalcy vs. unknown says something about the author. or what the author has put to page. the reason i am even discussing this is to make a similar point: sjm's writing oftentimes subconsciously asserts the dominance of the 'main, white character,' in conjunction with a ethnic, poor, nonwhite individuals of the story. when we meet celaena, we are immediately aware of aelin's 'superiority' over the slaves in endovier. the function of her slavery is to relate her power, while the story views the enslaved as dump, hopeless, individuals whose only goal is to die for their liberation in an endless cycle. aelin even complains that she 'finally' can talk to compotent people with assumption that the enslaved at endovier were somehow too dumb to adequtely communcate with her.

a court of thorns and roses invents an entire culture whose only cultural practices seemed be filled with violence, misogyny, and brutality. then the story argues that only three (3) out of thousands of brown men actually have common sense. that they're so dumb and brutish that they'd absolutely choose to have barely any resources out of spite of their benevolent high lord. cassian, rhys, and az are the strongest in history. and to relate their power, we get these dumb brutes who just seem okay for fighting for a country that would not even be allowed to enter....that's actually some crazy racist writing lmaooo. or the fact that nuala and cerridwen are trained spies, who up to this point, make so much money they'd probably be able to retire...and they just choose to be also the handmaidens...for five-hundred year old fae. like...immediately after acotar, there back working. rhys and feyre can still be reeling from that experience but nuala and cerridwen can just serve because that's just what they like to do.

the next notable quote states:

“These speculations have led me to wonder whether the major and championed characteristics of our national literature—individualism, masculinity, social engagement versus historical isolation; acute and ambiguous moral problematics; the thematics of innocence coupled with an obsession with figurations of death and hell—are not in fact responses to a dark, abiding, signing Africanist presence”

“The fabrication of an Africanist persona is reflexive; an extraordinary meditation on the self; a powerful exploration of the fears and desires that reside in the writerly conscious. It is an astonishing revelation of longing, of terror, of perplexity, of shame, of magnanimity. It requires hard work not to see this.”

in this way, the nonwhite becomes the site of a descent into darkness, hypersexality and power for white people. think of the way in which feyre's darkness is often times heavily associated with the nonwhite (see: court of nightmares). this sexy, liberated, dark woman using south asian culture to establish superiority while eschewing the people who are the originators of said culture.

but - really want to move this away from a discussion on individual characters and really focus the subject on sjm's role as the write. ultimately, feyre, aelin, nehemia, rhys...aren't real. they are reflections of the author's own internal dialogue. i actually really resonated with this observation/ assumption morrison's makes and that is:

“I assumed that since the author was not black, the appearance of Africanist characters or narrative or idiom in a work could never be about anything other than the “normal,” unracialized, illusory white world that provided the fictional backdrop.”

ultimately, i believe the racism comes from the fact that, although these are fictional worlds born from sjm's imagination, a lot of the racism comes from the fact that sjm is writing what she believes to be normal. and so - that's why the problem ultimately persists. violence against woc and poc are justified already. it doesn't matter that rhys slaughters hordes of illyrians because the assumption is that they're probably horrible, brutish people who ultimately deserve to die; nevermind, they could have had complex reasons, just like rhys. it's okay that the illyrian women are oppressed because...that's just the way things have always been. the only queen who helped rhys and feyre is humilated, murdered, and has her head shaven. we get one sentence about her and the story moves on. nehemia planned her own brutal murder, awoke dorian's power, and as a reward....her entire country is burned to the ground and the liberation of ellywe is delegated toward one sentence about maybe going to visit. , sorcha gets her head cut off (and its treated as a joke by the fandom) and dorian blames her for essentially being 'too fragile' or something like that. poc are already being brutalized in these stories, we're just positioned not to care.

and im not saying that ya isn't extremely racist - but i think sjm is by far one of the worst racist authors i have come across. not even ms. bardugo or aveyard or her other peers have this many racial problems by comparison and boy are there still problems even in those stories. like damn even george rr martin has like...semi-better writing (but he's actually another author that really exemplifies what morrison was talking about and id love to one day talk about that. but it woul take me quite awhile. i do like like asoiaf obvi, but it just has a lot of problems that i cant ignore). lmaooo even armentrout made some attempt to rectify her representation issue and thats saying a lot.

[b3anieperson]

I have NEVER read any Sarah J Maas book, do I want to? Kind of, just so I know what others are talking about. Otherwise? Nope.

I like dragons more than Fae and stuff.

repeat after me: fantasy existed before sarah j maas

[xxvalkyriesxx]

A Court of Smoke and Scales - Masterpost

Hi Everyone!

Here is the masterpost for my ongoing fic, A Court of Smoke and Scales. Everything connected to the fic will be found here.

Before anyone could inject with salted opinions or promises of death, Albess landed on the balcony where they all stood. The ground and palace shook as all four of his legs perched on the old castle stone. His dark gray scaled body stood out in the beauty of the daylight. Her dragon. Albess' wings spread in full as he roared. Giant rows of teeth layered his mouth. Scents of fear and awe catered around her. Screams and cries echoed below the tower of the citizens.

Ren approached Albess, quickly mounting his back. She smiled in triumph witnessing all seven high lords at her mercy. However it wasn’t Ren’s intention to harvest control over anyone in this room nor anyone in all of Prythian. She wanted to to rebuild the home that was promised to her. To ruin her mother's plans who was screaming from the depths of hell.

"I am the Queen of Hybern."

Or an Eris/OC story following Ren, the daughter of Amarantha, determined to rebuild her kingdom and bring forth a new era to Hybern. However Ren has a powerful secret that could throw the whole world into jeopardy if she's not careful. By side her is her dragon, Albess.

Legend has it the very first rulers of their world were not old gods or daglan but eight dragons and their riders back when the lands were merged as one but eventually the dragons were all cursed into hiding by a powerful witch. The legend goes on to say in order to find the remaining seven dragons, it takes a one dragon to awaken them all.

Set five years after ACOSF and the events of HOFAS.

Snippet | Prologue | Chapter One | Chapter Two

Deleted Scenes

IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO NOT READ THE DELETED SCENES UNTIL YOU HAVE READ THE ACOSAS CHAPTERS THAT CORRELATES TO THEM. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS MENTIONED.

Content warnings and additional tags under the cut

If anyone would like to be added to a tag list to receive updates, let me know!

Content Warnings: (subject to change) Graphic content (v*olence, g*re), minor mentions of miscarriages (not FMC or any leading female), pregnancy, labor/delivery, mentions of SA, ab*se, mentions of ab*se, consensual s*xual explicit scenes

**censoring certain words as I'm not sure Tumblr will flag my post.

Tags: (subject to change) DRAGONS, DRAGON RIDERS, DID I MENTION DRAGONS?, dragons can shift, dragons have strong magic, slow burn romance, eventual smut, Eris is a prick but we love him anyway, Night Court for Dummies: How to get away with something without starting a war, Ren is the morally grey FFM we need, Ren and Eris bicker, sapphics, TWO MAIN SAPPHICS SHIPS, We will finally learn what happened between Eris and Mor, Bargains will be made (insert cool night court tattoo), original content, Koshei is the main villain, Fuck Beron, character death? yes, major character death? perchance, will feature several POVs (will try not to give readers mental whiplash like in HOFAS however nothing can be promised).

*Main Ships: Eris/OC, Elain/Lucien, Emerie/Morrigan, Cressida/Viviane's Sister (Liliane), Nuan/OC, OC / OC

*Minor Ships: Nesta/Cassian, Feyre/Rhysand, Gwyn/Azriel, Helion/LOA (Aster), Viviane/Kallias

*Additional ships may be added/removed as the story progresses

** I don’t own any of the characters or elements of ACOTAR as they are owned by SJM. The original content including Ren and Albess are mine.

** Graphic made from Canva. I don’t own any of the images used.

[kristeristerin]

There’s not enough Tarquin content here so I was wondering if I could send in Tarquin x reader to Mary’s Song (Oh My My My) by Taylor Swift as a prompt for the drabbles you’re planning on writing? Thanks!

AN: Thank you so much for the ask! Tarquin is a character that I may not have chosen to do on my own, but after writing him I feel like I need to explore more with him! I hope you feel like I did him justice!

As Always my asks are open for more Taylor Swift song and ACOTAR pairings! (I'll take other requests too of course!)

Song: Mary’s Song (Oh My My My)

Pairing: Reader X Tarquin

Content Warning: None

Words: 860

Your hands were shaking as you looked around the Summer Palace. This was your first time returning to Adriata in over 50 years and while coming back home should feel like a happy occurrence, you can’t help but worry about seeing him again. 

When you last saw Tarquin he’d just been the prince of Udrin, and the man you’d loved since you were children. Now though, you supposed, things would be different. While you could convince yourself that love would have been enough for the two of you when he was a prince, High Lords have a duty to uphold and marriage to a lesser fae was not part of that. 

Varian gave you a tight smile as he held out an arm to you, “He’s been asking for you. Are you ready?” 

“I’m not certain I’ll ever be ready to face him if I’m being honest,” you looked away from the Prince’s eyes as he led you through the palace hallways. Your eyebrows draw together when Varian turns not toward the High Lord’s study, but instead toward the doors leading to the back garden. 

“He’s out there waiting for you,” Varian drops your arm and gives you a gentle push toward the doors. 

When you step outside he’s facing away from you, instead choosing to look out at the ocean beyond the city. You are several feet away from him when you stop and drop into a low curtsy. “You wanted to see me, High Lord?” 

You hear him turn, but you don’t dare look up. 

“Y/N,” Tarquin laughs, “Surely you know we are far past these formalities. We’ve known each other since childhood after all.” 

You rise but still don’t look him in the eyes. “I’ve never known you as High Lord, though.” 

He steps forward and runs his hand through your hair, using it to gently raise your gaze to his, “I’d like you to.” He whispers before his lips brush yours in a gentle kiss. He steps away but grabs your hand before you can mourn the loss of his touch. “Come with me, I wish to show you something.” 

He led you further into the garden to the all too familiar tree. 

“Do you remember when we first met?” He asked as he pulled you closer and wrapped an arm around you. 

You laugh at the memory. “I wanted Cressida and Varian to like me so bad. I followed them out here to meet their cousin, and you hated me. I believe you even threatened to throw me into the ocean that day.” 

He looked away, biting his lip to contain his own laughter. “To be fair that wasn’t until after you had threatened to tell my mother that I wouldn’t be the Prince in your game of make-believe.” 

“Mmm, yes, and fitting punishment for my crime,” you pull away from his grip and approach the largest tree in the corner of the garden. You touch the small carving in the tree and turn to him. “Do you remember this?” you ask in a small voice. 

When he approaches you, Tarquin turns you toward the tree and wraps both of his arms around you. “Of course, I do,” his breath tickles the shell of your ear as he speaks. “This was the carving I made into the tree 9 years later when I finally agreed to be your prince. Nostrus was very cross with me for carving our initials into the tree.” 

Smiling at the memory you turn in his arms so you’re face to face. “I always hoped I’d be your princess.” You murmur looking at him through your lashes. 

Tarquin cupped your jaw and returned your smile, “Now I’m hoping you’ll agree to be the High Lord’s Lady. Perhaps not right away, but if you’ll let me court you again I know I can prove to you that we can have everything we once had, and so much more.” 

His smile falters as you begin to cry, “Have I said something wrong, my love?” 

“No,” you sniffle and then laugh at the horrid sound you made, “this is just unexpected. I thought you had asked me to join you here so you could tell me that we were through because a High Lord could never spend his life with a lesser fae.” 

“Y/N,” his voice cracked as he looked into your eyes, “There is nothing lesser about you. It’s the thought of you and the life that we could have together that got me through every day under that mountain. I’d be honored to be able to one day call you my wife, and our people would be better off with you at my side. Please, don’t think for a moment you're unworthy of anything, least of all me. I have loved you with all that I am since I was 18 years old, Y/N, and I will continue to do so for centuries more.” 

You lift a hand to his cheek and lean up to press a quick kiss to his lips. “I love you too, Tarquin, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us.” 

[ae-neon]

ACOTAR Ships I Think About For No Reason (gimme fic recs please)

Feycien/ Feyre x Lucien (take me back!!!)

Lussian? Lucien x Cassian (the enemies to lovers Nessian could never be)

Feyssian?? Feyre x Cassian (maybe the best friends to lovers that never happened)

Feyre x Lucien x Cassian (heavy Band of Exiles vibes actually?)

Rhycien / Lucien x Rhysand (this is actually just a variant of the no-no ship, ifykyk)

Nezriel (I've read every fic and they're all delicious but Nesta vs Buffer is compulsory)

The no-no ship that everyone hates

Nesseida? Nesta X Cresseida (why did autocorrect try make that Nessian, Ew)

Nesquin / Nesta + Tarquin

(I've made a few posts based of my vision of Nesta in the Summer Court

+ I swear I've read two fics about them but I can't remember the names!! I just know at least one was from Flowerflamestars cause of their distinct style)

Actually wouldn't Elain and Tarquin be so cute omgggg!!! (I'm going to be consumed by this idea for the next 3 to 5 days)

Elain x Mor

Emerie x Cassian (I'll admit I don't know much about ACOSF but Emerie is the most prominent and probably the only real look at an Illyrian woman we'll ever get and old/fanon Cassian had so much potential to represent Illyrian men. We need poc x poc shiiiiipppssss)

Human!Elain x Graysen (I'm tired of anti human propaganda especially since in both acotar and cc they represent previously enslaved peoples and minorities as a whole, just say it out loud Sarah)

Rhysand x being alone as a morally gray person unsanctified by sjm's narrative.

Rhysand x Amren (villain power couple with rich guy bending over backwards to shower his enby lover in jewels, also poc x poc if you close your eyes and just accept it cause I said so)

Amarantha x being a more complex and competent villain

King of Hybern x a name

Papa Archeron x sitting in Human!Elain's greenhouse and thinking of his beloved bitch wife (love them idc idc)

Vassa x her throne in acotar Russia

Me x writing without spiralling down 3 separate tangential rabbit holes

[mossytrashcan]

90% of their POVS are “omg… pretty women… bewbies…” and Sarah expects us to believe that they’re not girl kissers

All the Archeron sisters are lesbians