#none has ever slow-burned like Elriel

[ater-love]

“Elain cocked her head. Didn’t dissolve into the crying mess she usually became when Graysen came up.”

ACOSF, chapter 17

“Mor no longer sat beside Cassian, draped herself over him, and Azriel ... those longing glances toward her had become few and far between. As if he'd given up. after five hundred years, he'd somehow given up. Cassian couldn't think why”.

ACOSF, chapter 22

[bluelancess]

Midnight Blooms | Elriel AU chapter 2/?

Sports romance, college AU.

Summary: When Elain is told by her father, a ruthless politician, that she is to marry the son of one of his closest friends, Lucien Vanserra, to assure her father’s win on the next election, she has no other choice but to agree. What she never expected was her convictions being tested by a tall, devastatingly beautiful black-haired hockey player who moved in right next door. And if there was one thing Elain was certain of, was that Azriel posed a dangerous threat to the previously dormant desires roaming inside her. And she needed to stay far, far away from him.

Tags: forbidden love, arranged marriage, forced proximity, modern setting, slow burn

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Read on AO3.

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Chapter 2

I notice everything you do or don't do

AZRIEL 

Cassian hits my shoulder hard with one of his huge hands as soon as the main door to the girl’s house closes, and none of them are looking at us anymore. He has probably been waiting to punch me since the invite for the party escaped my lips. 

Good thing he didn’t aim for the jaw or cheekbone, although we do have a no-face-punching rule, but Cassian tends to forget it pretty often. Or at least that’s how he excuses himself every fucking time. 

“What the fuck was that, Az?” He grunts my way. “You want to kill our party before it even starts?” 

“Don’t be so dramatic,” I tell him, taking a couple steps back, I’m holding my third bottle of beer in my right hand, it’s almost over, the liquid pretty much room temperature. 

Last semester, when we lived in that awful one bedroom apartment near campus, parties were one hundred percent off limits. We didn’t even have a living room, for fuck’s sake. The kitchen consisted of the tiniest little oven ever, and a sink that barely fit two plates and a mug. Granted, the rent was cheap. So cheap, we could spend the rest of our money on take-out, liquor and WiFi, which is pretty much all you need to survive college. 

But a couple weeks before finals, the whole building was infested with the fattest, and ugliest rats I’ve ever seen, Cassian even made a sport out of getting the little fuckers out of the apartment, and I guess it was a silent agreement that we couldn’t stay there for another year. No fucking way. 

So I saved every penny I got from all the jobs my boss assigned me during the summer. Yes, maybe not all of them were entirely legal, but they payed generously and in cash, how was I supposed to pass the opportunity when it got us this amazing house? It is only a bonus that we have three, hot as fuck neighbors. Almost like the universe is rewarding us for all the shit it made us go through when we were children. 

About fucking time. 

“Dramatic? I’ve been planning this thing for weeks,” Cassian says, rubbing his face with the palm of his hand. “It’s the last time I can get properly drunk before practice starts. Coach is a pain in the ass with his no-drinking-during-the-season-or-get-the-fuck-out rule, and you know it.” 

“Let’s go inside,” Rhys says, leaving the end of the sentence hanging unsaid in the air, but I imagine it would go as something like: you uncivilized brutes. 

“You’re just proving my point, Cass,” I say, hiding a smile, looking over my shoulder one last time at the house on the other side of the street, I stop on my tracks when I see the curtain of the kitchen window rustle. Are they still watching us? 

Is she still watching us?

The pretty, quiet one. Fuck, I couldn’t look away from those big, sweet eyes and those full, pink lips. I’d die to just give them a little taste, a tiny bite until she’s melting and moaning against me. I remember her from last year. We took a class together, I’m pretty sure she never really noticed me. She sat at the front, I sat on the back. She was quiet, so shy, did all the group assignments on her own, and always got the highest grade. The professor used to be a jerk and tease her because she was so smart, but so damn quiet she never showed how fucking intelligent she was to the rest of the class. I had to fight the urge to kick his ugly ass whenever he started his shit with her. 

It made the whole class laugh at her expense, the fucking asshole. 

I admit my reasons for inviting them to the party were completely selfish. I saw an opportunity and took it. Now, the real surprise would be if she actually shows up tomorrow night. 

“I also think it is a good idea to have them over for the party,” Rhysand says, putting one hand on my left shoulder, and the other on Cassian’s, guiding us inside the house. “They won’t call the cops if they’re having a good time. Right, Az?” 

I shrug. “Sure.”

“Oh, come on, you two,” Cassian shakes his head like his disappointed. “Always thinking with your dicks.” 

“Not my problem that girl is giving you blue balls.” I say, walking a bit faster to get away from him before he decides to punch something other than my shoulder. 

Cassian grunts. 

“Is that why you’ve been so moody all summer?” Rhys asks lifting a brow, and Cass shoots him a death glare. “Wait, don’t tell me you fell in love with this girl after just one night, Cassian. We’re not fifteen anymore” 

“Shut up, asshole.” 

“I’m just saying.” Rhys lifts both hands in the air, innocently. 

I smile, watching them. We’ve been together, the three of us, since we were little kids. Pretty much fending for ourselves in a world that doesn’t like people like us. Alone, but never really lonely. From foster home to foster home. By some miracle, we were always placed together in different families. Five to be exact. Most kicked us out after a couple months, claimed we were too much to handle, or whatever the fuck that means. 

We were children, noisy, curious, maybe a little too energetic, but they wanted us to behave like robots, follow orders to a tee, never complain, and of course, they wanted the government’s money. Turns out, dealing with us wasn’t worth the little compensation they were receiving, so ultimately all of them ended up throwing us back into the black whole we came from. 

Everything changed when we got to Gramps and Nana’s house. Recently retired, house empty after their biological kids were all grown up and left, they decided to take us in. Treated us like their own. It was so unlike every single other house we’d been at, the we contemplated running away the first two weeks. It felt too good to be true. Almost like a trap. 

Nana won us over with her killer brownies and Gramps taught us everything he knew about hockey. 

We wouldn’t be here without them. 

“Well, don’t ask,” Cassian starts walking up the stairs, like the subject actually bothers him, which is completely unusual for him. “I’m telling you guys, those girls are going to be nothing but trouble.” 

Rhys eyes gleam like he’s visualizing exactly what Cassian is referring to, and he’s up for the challenge. 

“Isn’t that the fun of it, Cass?” Rhys teases him. 

“When you’re the one walking around with blue balls over that girl, Rhys, we’ll talk.” 

“Oh, but I won’t.” Rhys’ voice is laced in arrogant confidence. 

“She has a boyfriend,” I remind him, nearing our brand new couch in the living room. It’s dark blue, almost black, and it’s huge. It had to be, if it wants to fit the three of us at the same time. Gramps gifted it to us before we moved here, said he couldn’t bare the thought of us sitting on the floor on such a big house. Is pretty much the only piece of decent furniture we own. 

“Not for long.” Rhys shrugs, opening the fridge we have in the living room and grabbing another beer. It seemed like a better place than the kitchen, considering that if we’re watching sports we don’t have to walk all the way there to grab something to drink. 

Cassian barks a laugh. “You’re too cocky, is going to bite you in the ass.” 

“I happen to enjoy ass bites.” Rhys laughs again, and I’m silently glad we’re not fighting. 

We hardly ever do. 

We’ve been through so much already, always sticking together, and having each other’s back, that there doesn’t seem to be anything that would be important enough for us to fight over. 

Cassian shakes his head, and climbs the stairs like he has so much pent up energy he’d like to release. A couple seconds later, he’s blasting music in his bedroom and to probably hide the annoying noise his rusty-ass treadmill makes. It’s so old the damn thing is practically falling apart by just looking at it. 

“If I’d known those three lived here, I would’ve moved out from that rat hell a lot sooner,” Rhys says, sitting next to me, and turning on the television, none of us really pay attention to it. I don’t have to look at my brother to know his eyes are also glued to the window right beside the screen, the one that gives us a front row seat to the house in front. 

“They moved in last year,” I tell him, taking the beer from his grip to steal a sip.

“You know them?” He asks me, a curious look in his eyes. I know almost everyone. I like to watch people. Listen when they think I’m not paying attention. I happened to learn at a very young age, that information is the real currency of the world. It can get you pretty much anywhere you want to go if you know how to use it correctly.

“Just two of them.” I tell him, giving his beer back. “The third one is probably a freshman. I’d never seen her around here before.” 

“I hadn’t seen any of them around here before.” 

“Nesta’s pre-law,” I begin to explain. “Has every loser in campus either shitting their pants on her presence or trying to get into her pants.” 

“That’s Cassian’s?” Rhys asks, as if it needs confirmation. 

“Yup,” I nod. “And Elain… No idea what her major is. She’s pretty reserved, keeps to herself, doesn’t go out much.” I shrug, pretending she doesn’t pique my interest in the slightest, which couldn’t be further from the truth. “I took a class with her last year, I’m guessing she’s maybe an art major.” 

Rhys takes a big gulp from his beer. “That leaves us the third sister.” 

“Right, the one with the boyfriend.” 

“Love it that you keep reminding me,” Rhys shoots me a not so friendly glare. 

“There’s a thousand girls on campus that would pretty much give up their first born to sleep with you, Rhys,” I remind him. “No need to want one that’s unavailable.”  

“I happen to like challenges.” His shoulders go tense when the door of the house in front of ours opens, and the girl whose name we don’t know yet walks out, some cash on her hand. There’s a bike in the street, some skinny guy pulling handing her two boxes of pizza. 

She thanks him with a wide smile, and Rhys takes a long gulp from his beer. 

“Yeah, but you’re a sore loser.” 

He smiles wickedly at me. “Which only means I have to make sure I don’t lose.” 

I roll my eyes, and he simply lets out a dark chuckle. I’m not joking when I say any of us could get literally any girl on campus we wanted. They’re practically drooling at our feet, mostly after games, and the quota of girls drastically increases if we win it. But, after a couple years playing for the Night Beasts, and getting used to the attention, it has only made it… boring. Predictable. 

Too easy. 

Rhysand grabs the keys of his pick-up truck that were laying on top of the fridge and hands me his half empty beer bottle.

“Where are you going?” 

“To buy the best fucking wine I can get my hands on.” 

He leaves before I can stop him, and I’m left on my own in the big, dark first floor of the house, surrounded by nothing but shadows, peeking trough the window like a complete stalker, at the way they’re sitting in the kitchen table, eating pizza and laughing. My eyes glued to one of the sisters in particular, her soft smiles, the curve of her neck, her lips wrapping around the straw of her drink, putting such filthy images in my head I force myself to look away, adjust the bulge on my pants and go take a cold shower. 

Fuck. 

It’s going to be a long year. 

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in honor of time magazine softlaunching elriel i decided to post another chapter! I actually never thought people would read it so i'm glad you guys are liking it<333

[rowaelin-herondale]

All This Time - An Elriel Fic - Chapter 5

Summary:  Slow burn Elriel fic taking place two years after the defeat of Hybern. Elain decides to reject her mating bond to Lucien, only to find that what she had been looking for was in front of her all along. Chapters 1. 2. 3. 4. AO3 link. A/N: After going through a pretty tough break up a few years ago, Ellie Goulding’s Halcyon Days album pretty much kept me afloat. I like to think Elain would also love my favorite song on the album (Explosions), and as such, a few references to various lyrics lay scattered throughout this chapter. Enjoy!

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The center of the night sky, the moon had always led him home. And there she was, drenched in moonlight. Suddenly, it all made perfect sense.

******

Azriel stood on the roof of Elain’s townhouse. He’d been on watch for the past several hours and was currently waiting for Rhys to show up and relieve him. The bastard was late, per usual, and he knew it was entirely Feyre’s fault. Before Feyre had come into all of their lives, Rhys had been nothing but punctual. Mostly because he had nowhere else to be. But with Feyre around, and he was more than thankful for her, his dear friend was almost always late.

He was admiring a speck of dirt under his right thumbnail, when he heard her cough. It was a slight cough, not like she was choking or anything, but Azriel couldn’t help but turn his gaze towards her immediately to make sure she was okay. She was laying flat on the cement bench in her garden, where she’d been for the greater part of the afternoon, catching the sun as she read a book. He could tell from angle she held the book that she was using it to shield her eyes from the direct sunlight. Over the course of the last few hours, she’d shifted the book’s position so that it was in line with sun. He’d chuckled every time she’d move, knowing she didn’t realize she was doing it.

“You’ve always had a pull to that one, haven’t you?” Rhys whispered into his ear. Azriel had been so focused on Elain that he hadn’t even noticed his High Lord arrive. And it was hard to catch Azriel off guard.

“She’s just...special.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Rhys said, giving him a knowing smirk. “Take a break, there are leftovers at our townhouse. No sign of Lucien, I assume?”

“None.”

“And no word from Helion?” Rhys probed, scanning the skyline.

“Not a word. I assume he’s trying to reason with him a bit.”

“I’m not sure that rejecting a mating bond is something that can be reasoned with,” Rhys added, a bit sadly.

Az merely nodded, and without another word, he took to the skies. Rhys was right, he needed a break. He was hungry, but he also needed to clear his head and put some distance between himself and Elain. She obviously wasn’t his mate, but he couldn’t help but feel protective of her. He knew it would never be anything romantic - who could want someone as damaged as he was? He was a bastard covered in scars and she was beautiful and strong and gifted. A war hero. She could grow flowers where none should be able to grow, and he, well, he was friends with the shadows. That was all he could give her. And she’d only just ended things with Lucien.

The clouds were starting to move in, which suited his mood perfectly. A good meal, some rest, and a quick trip to his favorite bar were all he could think about. Well, not all. But he thought if maybe he focused on those things, he’d be able to tune out that little voice in his head telling him that he’d never be good enough.

*******

Az stayed away from Elain’s house for a day, giving Cassian, much to his disliking, a double shift. He’d been desperate to clear his head, and a night out in the city was exactly what he needed. He felt refreshed when he landed on the roof to relieve his friend.

“Nice of you to finally show up,” Cassian grumbled.

“I needed some time away.” Azriel said, defensively.

Cassian looked him over, and his normally tough appearance softened a bit. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Azriel shook his head. He was never one to talk about his feelings - after all, he’d kept silent about Mor for centuries and barely ever spoke about his early childhood and the unimaginable horrors he’d faced. Cassian clapped him on the shoulder, hard enough that a human would have fallen over, and raced off into the sky for his well-deserved break.

He didn’t mean to, but his eyes immediately searched the garden for her. She wasn’t outside and Azriel loosed a breath, plopping down on the edge of the roof. Lucien would come for Elain eventually since things weren’t settled between them. It made Azriel feel slightly on edge at the thought of having to leave Elain alone with him, again, to have another conversation and vowed to try and be in the room with her. He just hoped that when Lucien did eventually arrive, it would be to talk and not to drag her away. He didn’t think she’d approve of him tearing Lucien limb from limb.

Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned around quickly to find Elain standing before him holding a plate of freshly baked cookies. He noticed they were oatmeal chocolate chip, Cassian’s favorite.

“Oh,” she said, clearly surprised to see him. He noted that it looked like she was disappointed it was him. “I thought Cassian was still here. Do you like oatmeal chocolate chip?”

He didn’t, but he nodded and stepped towards her to take a cookie from the the plate. He took a few small bites, and although he wasn’t normally a fan of sweets, it tasted quite delicious. Mouth full, he nodded at her in thanks.

An awkwardness settled over them as she continued to stand there in front of him, holding the plate of cookies, and he continued to stand there, chewing slowly. Finally, she mumbled something that he didn’t quite catch.

“Hmm?” he said.

“I said ‘where were you?’ You’re not one to be late unless something important happened.” Giving him time to answer, she walked over to small iron table on the corner of the roof and placed the plate down before pulling out a chair and sitting down.

Azriel walked across the roof and sat down next to her. They were like two magnets - whenever he was near her, he felt a pull, the need to be even closer.

“Just a little worn out, needed a night away is all.” He knew it sounded like the lie it was. He’d never felt even remotely worn out before, always pushing the boundaries of exhaustion.

“I was worried.”

“About me? I’m the last thing you should be worried about,” Azriel said, concern seeping into his voice.

“I know you can take care of yourself and everything,” she said, waving her hand towards the sky as if that encompassed the everything. “Still doesn’t prevent me from worrying.”

He frowned. “I wish you wouldn’t.”

“It’s not just you I worry about,” Elain added. “It’s Feyre, and Rhys, Cassian, and Mor, too.”

“Not Nesta?” He said with a smirk, burying the wound left by her explaining he wasn’t singularly important.

“Why would I need to worry about Nesta? Most people keep a distance from her to begin with. She radiates misery, in case you haven’t noticed.”

His smile faded and he asked quietly, “You don’t think I radiate misery?”

“Cauldron, no. You radiate life, twilight,  s--” she stopped speaking and awkwardly cleared her throat. “I should probably head to bed. It’s been a long day.”

“Okay,” was all Azriel managed to say. She picked up the plate of cookies and as the door on the roof closed, he quietly whispered into approaching darkness, “I’ll be here.”

******

The knock on the front door awoke her. She knew who it was. Finally. Azriel appeared in the window, cobalt siphons glowing and shadows sprawling from him before she could even place a foot on the floor. He held his finger to his lips, urging her to be silent.

“I need to talk to him. I owe him that much. Wait on the roof.”

“No. It's the middle of the night.”

“Azriel, you’ll do as I say or I may never speak to you again.” She knew she was being harsh, and somewhat stubborn, but if she didn’t get him out of the room, she’d never be able to have an honest conversation with Lucien.

The pounding on the door increased, and as she rose from the bed, she gave Azriel a gentle shove out of the window he’d been perched in.

“Coming!” she yelled as she raced down the steps to the front door. When she reached the closed (and heavily locked and warded) door, she placed both hands on it as if she could feel Lucien doing the same thing on the other side. Eyes closed, deep breath. She could do this.

She opened the door to find her mate completely disheveled and distraught. His one good eye was completely bloodshot, the other whirring around his head if searching for enemies. “Can I come in?”

She nodded, and although it went against all instincts to turn her back on him, she turned around to lead him into the living room. He sat on one of the plushy chairs, a comfortable distance away from Elain.

“So, it’s clearly been a rough few days,” Lucien began. She could tell how nervous he was, fingers fidgeting in front of him. His right knee began bouncing up and down slightly. “And I didn’t come here to have a long drawn out conversation...but I did want to say a few things to you, before I disappear back to the Day Court for good."

Immediately, Elain relaxed. He was going to go. He was accepting her choice.

“First, I want to apologize for how I reacted. I could have burned you, and I’m sorry for that. I just sort of...erupted." He stopped talking then, and stood up. He started pacing around the room, silent for several minutes.

“Can I get you something to drink?” Elain offered, trying to ease the tension.

He shook his head. “Need to get through this.” A deep breath. And then, “For the longest time, I thought you were this wonderful gift after everything I’d been through. We don’t need to rehash every horrible part of my life, but I thought the moment you tumbled out of the Cauldron soaking wet onto that cold floor, I thought that you were the best thing that ever happened to me. It took me longer than I care to admit to realize that while you may have been the best thing to ever happen to me, you did not feel the same way in return. You had your mortality, your human life taken from you. And no time to process what that meant before being given a mate. I don’t think I realized just how incompatible we always were. How broken I am.”

“You’re not broken, Lucien. But even if you were, I’ve always loved fixing broken things.” She didn't know what possessed her to say it. She loved tending to flowers that struggled, coaxing weeds that shouldn't belong into other parts of the garden. She loved taking a broken cup and instead of throwing it out, using it for seeds to flourish. And when it came to people, she always had an open heart, never turning anyone away, even if they had shown her cruelty. She loved getting people to open up, to talk to her, when they were not willing to talk to anyone else. And although she would never consider her mate broken, he had not had the easiest life. And he'd happily, willingly, opened up to her about it.

He gave her a puzzling look. “I’m so sorry, Elain.”

“There’s no need to apologize. Really.” She was calm and collected, a sail weathering rough seas during a storm. She could do this. She could get through this.

“There is, though. I should have realized you weren’t happy. I’m your mate and I didn’t even realize how unhappy you’ve been. I’ve been so consumed lately with finding out Helion was my father and what that all meant that I didn’t notice you were suffering in silence. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I hoped it would get better. Easier. I hoped it would just click.”

“It never really did, did it?”

“No. It didn’t.”

He looked at her as if it was his last glimpse at the sun. “Something tells me I’m going to thank you for this one day. But right now, it’s taking every ounce of strength not to whisk you away with me. But I respect your decision. So before I say something that I’ll regret...”

He stepped towards where she sat on the couch and bent down. For a moment, she thought he was going to scoop her into his arms. Instead, he gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek, breathing in her scent for the last time.

“Be well, Elain. Be happy.”

And before she could even say goodbye, he was gone.

******

She took time to gather herself. After Lucien winnowed away, she’d laid down on the couch and sobbed (uncontrollably, but in a good way, she told herself) for several minutes. She knew Azriel and whoever else he called were probably pacing relentlessly on the roof, worried sick, but she was allowed to take these few minutes to feel the pain. She deserved it.

When she finally made it onto the roof, Azriel was nowhere in sight. A loud thud behind her told her he’d just landed and had been circling the skies.

“You didn’t call Rhys or Cassian?” Elain asked, looking for their silhouettes in the sky.

“I didn’t think to call them,” he replied truthfully. “I was too worried that Lucien was going to winnow away with you and I didn’t want to break my concentration for even a second.”

He was fuming, she could almost see the smoke coming out of his ears.

“I’m okay,” she said. “He didn’t hurt me.”

He didn’t say anything.

“He just wanted to talk, to tell me that he was sorry, which I thought I was ridiculous. What does he have to be sorry for? It’s not like he was the one who was rejecting me...” She knew she was babbling, but she couldn’t stop. The tension pouring out of Azriel’s shadows in waves was making her nervous.

“I could tell he was devastated, and it kills me to know how much he’s hurting and that I’m the one that caused that pain. But in the end…he understood. He even said he thought that one day he may thank me for doing this. And that means more to me than any of the rest of it.”

Azriel still remained silent, arms folded across his chest, glaring at her.

“Azriel, say something. Anything. Please.”

He took a step towards her. “He could have hurt you,” Azriel growled, taking another step. They were on a dangerous collision course. He towered over her, but she stood tall, their noses less than an inch apart. “Because you wouldn’t let me in that room with you, because you sent me away, he could have taken you...and I wouldn’t have been able to stop him. And that scared me, that scared me more than anything in my 500 years of existence. I was completely powerless, Elain and I--” And then he did what she suspected he’d wanted to do for weeks now - he reached out, his hands gripping the side of her face, and kissed her. Deeply. Passionately. As if it was their last moment in this world and nothing would ever stand between them. She kissed him back. It could have been minutes or hours or seconds or centuries before she placed her hands on his, gently pulling them off the sides of her face and taking a step away from him.

He was beautiful. And he’d been her protector, not only tonight, but for entire immortal life. The hole Lucien left in her heart was only newly closed, like a thin band-aid over a bullet hole. It could break open again at any moment, and she was terrified of bleeding all over him. “I’m sorry,” was all she managed to say before turning her back on him and walking away.

She wasn’t ready for it yet. Another time. She’d love him another time.

A/N: Sorry not sorry for the emotional rollercoaster that is this story. That being said, please reblog or reply :)