A Page From Another's Book
Eris Week - Day 1 - Bonds and Bargains
Summary - After 2 full years without you acknowledging the bond, Eris is willing to do whatever it takes for just a moment of your time
Warnings - Smut, choking (kind of), mating bonds, forced proximity, slight manipulation, and possibly a few missed errors. If you see them, no, you didn't 👀
A/N - Happy @erisweekofficial! I have challenged myself this week to try to use both prompts in one fic. Why? Because I could not choose! They were so good this year.
🍂Eris Week Masterlist🍂Eris Masterlist🍂Master Masterlist🍂
Dividers by @tsunami-of-tears 💕💕
The look in your eyes was not what a male wanted to see from their mate. You looked at Eris like you hated him, a soft snarl always playing on lips too plush to have been real.
But Gods that look did things to him. Things that had his own smirk growing as you two stared at each other in silence, waiting for Rhysand to finish looked over the contact for trade Beron had forced his heir to come present. Rhysand was using his hand to hide a smirk.
The scent of the bond between Eris and y/n was potent. Honey and apples. Ginger and cinnamon. The High Lord understood now why so many of his family members complained about the way his and Feyre's scents mix. He could hardly tell who was who anymore but he couldn't stop breathing it in all the same.
“You can go sister, I believe I can hold my own against our dear Eris,” Rhysand dismissed you so easily. Your eyes met his in silent conversation before you stood, black dress swishing as you did and walked out of the room.
Eris felt himself relax then, body melting as he and Rhysand began to show each other vulnerability, “You told me she'd warm up to me by now.”
Rhys pinched his brows, “Y/n is a complex creature. Beautiful as the rising moon, complex as the stars.”
“And crafted from the very darkness between them,” Eris's fingers rolled, nails tapping the table in a pattern of annoyance. “What do I do?”
“Force her into a bargain,” Rhysand was half joking as he struck out a line on Beron's trade agreement. He paused, sharp mind and eyes hitting Eris. “That.. May actually work.”
Eris looked at Rhysand like he had grown two heads, “She would not make a bargain with me, she hates me.”
“She likes knowledge more than she hates you, trust me. And, Eris Vanserra, you live in a court she has never been able to go to.”
Eris fell into a brief moment of silence, “And you believe this could work?”
“It turned out well for me,” Rhysand picked at his jacket. “Make a bargain with her, force her to spend time with you.”
Rhysand slid the contract back over, a look of annoyance on his face as he did, "Your father,” the word spoken with such disdain, “needs to learn what fair terms actually means.”
“I do not believe my Father would know fair if it bit him in the ass,” that snake like smirk came forward. “Luckily, it will be me you deal with soon-”
“Is it not you I deal with already,” Rhys groaned. “Anyways, y/n. Bargain her a week in Autumn in exchange for intel.” He said it so casually, having accepted what the Fates and Cauldron decided would be with you the second the bond snapped during the war with Hybern.
And what a dramatic way for it to have snapped. A fight between Autumn and Night's emissaries leading to you pinning the heir to the ground, dagger at his throat.
It was one thing you and Azriel had in common:
Going for the jugular whenever you two deemed it fit.
Rhys waved a hand dismissing Eris, “I'm sure she is in the hall, waiting to guide you to your room.”
And you were, leathers clinging to every curve, one wing stretched out while you pulled your arm across your body, “Sore, assassin?”
Defiant eyes met his, narrowing slightly as he stared, “Only by the sight of you, heirling.” You began to walk away from him, forcing Eris to follow you to his room in Hewn City. Footsteps fell in time, breathing in sync as the bond between you two pulled and flickered.
It wasn't tense, but the quiet that lingered was thick. There were mountains of emotions between you two. Anger that lingered from years of what he claims was all an act and lies.
“You look beautiful today,” you were the only being he ever spoke this gently to. “Your hair has gotten longer.”
“Are we making casual observations?”
Eris smirked at the way your held a bite yet your eyes were soft. You were truly the most beautiful creature he had ever gotten to lay eyes on. In a dress, armor, casual clothing, leathers. Your confidence was unmatched. You owned every room you walked into. He admired that about you.
Eris opened the door to his room, hand going just above the small of your back to usher you in, “I have an offer for you.”
You leaned against the wall, a shadow coming to check on you. It indicated he was on a time crunch, that your brother would be coming soon. “I am listening.”
“Come with me to Autumn. A week of your time in one of my private residences in exchange for intel on my father.”
Your mind began to race at the possibilities. Bringing home info to Rhysand that the Night Court could use was like dangling a sparkling object infront of a fish. He knew you would bite. “What is in it for you?”
“You. Just one week where I get to see my mate in my court, in our fashion, enjoying our food. Such a small thing to give me in exchange for the knowledge I will give you, and your ability to stay safely in a court you've never enjoyed.”
It was tempting, so tempting the shadow on your shoulder panicked and ran to Azriel. “What's the catch?” You moved to sit on the chair, long legs crossing at the ankles as the two of you continued staring each other down.
“No catch, my lady.” He moved to you, a hand touching the loose hair from your braid. It was a bold and dangerous choice, touching you so freely. “Just a week in exchange for information. That's all I wager.”
His hand raised to you, the freckled skin calloused from training and earning his place as a general, but so soft. Hands spoke volumes to you, and his were so similar to Rhysand's. You raised your hand slowly and took his, feeling the warmth from his skin heating yours.
The bargain mark for you was nothing, a small rune on the inside of your left ring finger, but he flinched slightly before moving to the mirror across the room and pulling up his shirt. He rolled his eyes at the small matching rune above his heart. “What does it say?”
“Agape,” you responded quietly. “We need to leave if you plan on getting out of this alive. Azriel is coming.”
He grabbed your without hesitation, without even putting his shirt back on. Fire and smoke surrounded you before the silence of a cabin. Soft whimpers immediately started before howling. Loud howling. 12 hounds all began to point their noses to the skies they couldn't see. It was a celebration of his arrival home before the smallest then began to pawn at the door.
Eris just smiled as he made his way over, “Be back before dinner,” he told them, patting each one on the head as they can out into the warded clearing. Your feet carried you behind them, eyes wide in wonder as you took in the colors of the trees.
Warmth.
A fireplace with a good book and spiced cider.
Chilled air and pumpkins.
You had always longed to see Autumn, but Beron's prejudice towards Illyrians always got in the way. “Eris..” You were speechless as you admired the woods, the crunchy leaves on the ground. “Its-”
“Home,” he finished as he leaned on the railing watching his hounds. “We're right on the border of Autumn and Winter. There are times where the run rises and sets on the creek and lake near by that makes the snow of Winter appear like it is on fire.” His smile was so soft, eyes relaxed, muscles even slowly loosing tension. “This is my favorite cabin I have. The village nearby is quiet, open minded, hates my father.”
“That seems to be a reoccurring theme,” you jumped in.
Eris smirked but didn't say anything. “Can I offer you more comfortable clothing? A drink?”
Night one with him was filled with you two reading silently, one of his hounds being the first to inch his way into your lap and cuddle. Rhysand had not checked in, Azriel had not searched for you. Not even a mocking letter from Nesta. It was peace, bliss that allowed your guard to fall down.
He allowed you to sleep alone in a spare bed, not even asking as you used your ability to shift to get rid of your wings for the night and stole his sweater to sleep in.
The smell of bacon woke you from your lay in. A rare lazy morning that had you stretching as you walked on in just his sweater.
It felt so domestic, natural to both of them. He wordlessly handed her coffee and sugar, sipping his own. He was shirtless, lean form on display and making your brain spiral to the what ifs. His sweatpants hung low on his hips as he continued cooked breakfast, knowing you could not do it.
“How far do you powers as a wild form go?” You glanced at him, not ready to speak without at least getting one sip of coffee in. His hands shot up in defense, a graceful step back as he did. “I am asking because I wanted to leave you with some marks so you could do shopping. Observe the village here.”
You only hummed, reaching for a finished piece of the crispy bacon and bending down to give it to the sweet hound that had attached himself to you. “What's his name?”
Eris sneered as you gave his well trained pet a piece of bacon, dark brown eyes meeting his like it was a victory, “That is Whiskey.” The Hound seemed to skip away as you stood up, “And you will not spoil him.”
“Says the male who had 3 in his bed last night and the rest all in fluffy dog beds that a nicer than what some poor lower fae have.”
“They are orthopedic. Smoke hounds require comfort for their limbs,” his tone was definitely defensive. Almost parental. “They are faithful companions. They deserve comfort.”
You were thankful for your ability to hide laughter, but your eyes began to betray you. This male was not the one you knew, the one who you believed left your dear friend for dead. “To answer the earlier question, it's limitless, like Tamlin's ability, only less effort and my scent is hidden.”
“So you can spend my coin today,” he tossed the bag casually on the counter. He moved the pan from the heat before reaching around you, “You are even beautiful in the morning.” He'd carry the torch for you. He'd carry it even if you rejected the bond, as pathetic as that was.
Day two with him was filled with heated glances that grew the more he showed you who he was. Touches that lingered as he took you from shop to shop, purchasing candies, clothing, books.
He was a handsome male. You'd be a fool to lie if you said otherwise.
The third evening is when things became more. The bond was humming, desperate for anything to happen between you two. Music was playing softly as you two read again. You books on the history of Autumn, Eris a novel he refused to let you see the cover of. His fingers swayed his bookmark in a small dance, the movement as smooth as you had witnessed as he and Nesta glided across the floors of Hewn City.
“You're staring,” He said without looking to you. “Did your high lord never teach you it's impolite to stare?”
“Maybe if your bookmark wasn't waving all over the place while you read your smut,” you muttered back at him. Amber eyes met yours, brows raised as he mouth tried to formulate a response.
“It's not smut. It's a love story!”
You snatched the book from him, the brief contact of your body against his making the bond pound, “Her body sang for him. Each roll of his hips setting fire to her veins,” Your voice reading those lines had the scent in the air shifting. He could no longer mask his need for you as he took a deep breath. “His length filled her, reaching places inside of her she'd never find without him, pulling sob after sob from swollen lips as she held to him.”
“Enough.” He grabbed the novel back and drank his whiskey like a shot as he stared at you now.
No more words passed as you tell held eye contact.
No pointed remarks. No jokes.
The music seemed to fade as the bond began ringing in your ears.
2 years. 2 years if knowing who your mate was. 2 years without even so much as a kiss.
It was finally too much. You had never enjoyed slow burn romances. Why turn this into one when the longing lingered all the same.
Perhaps he closed the gap. Or maybe you did, but it happened. His lips on yours in a passionate kiss, dominating you quickly by tugging your hair back to angle your head.
There was no looming war. No assassinations waiting to happen. No lingering past wounds. Not as he lifted you, laying you down infront of the fire place.
Not as he pulled your shirt off, then his own.
Not as he kissed down your body, nipping and marking his favorite places to remind him to spend more time there later. Neither of you could wait. Neither of you wanted to.
Your bodies were born ready and aching for each other. Like two halves forced apart and just waiting to collide.
Even in the heat of this moment, he looked at you, eyes searching for a sign of doubt, for anything that didn't ring a resounding yes. All he found was lust. Heavy deep want weighing on both of your souls.
He reminded you that you two were nothing more than stardust. Stardust given life and form. Needs and wants. A chance.
You understood the book now as he filled you, stretching you after time spent without a partner. You understood that now, too. Understood why Lucien was all too happy to wait as well.
It had never felt like this. Sex had never felt like coming home. Like your soul was nurtured as he wrapped your legs around his hips. As he moved, he used the bond to instantly get his feedback. He wanted you to sing for him, to cry his name, and when he found that soft spot inside of you, he knew he could have it.
His movements focused on that spot as you grabbed his forearms, back arching off the ground for him, mouth falling into a silent scream.
“Look at me, y/n,” he panted. “Look at me when I make you see the heavens.”
His thumb moved to your clit, circling and rolling it in time with his hips, watching as your breasts bounced.
There wasn't an inch of you Eris wasn't instantly falling in love with. You were exquisite. Not too thin, curves in all the right places. Muscles strong and flexible.
“You are better than I dreamed,” he moaned. “A muse hidden to all but me.”
You whispered his name, eyes squeezing shut as the coil began to build and tighten. He would be the death of you. You of him if he wished, “Eris.”
“Sing for me, my fire.”
The coil built more and more, “Eris!”
He kept pushing and kept hitting that spot. He wouldn't last, not with the way you two fit like a puzzle. With the way your warmth hugged him. But you were also there, dangling from the edge by a string Eris held in his hands.
“Eris, please?”
“What do you need,” he whispered. “I want to hear it. Beg for me it.”
Your hands trembled as you moved his hand that wasn't occupied with your sensitive clit to your throat, eyes looking at him in silent understanding.
Life had not been gentle or kind to you, nor to him, love would not be either.
He squeezed softly, only enough to make you feel the euphoria. His pace picked up, driving hard and faster into you.
It was a chain reaction as you hit your high, screaming his name like you had in all of his dreams. He followed you over, groaning loudly before he praised you and worked you through your heightened state. Screams fell to soft whimpers, whimpers to pants.
Eris waited until the shaking set in, until he knew you were done to pull out before standing to grab a cloth to clean you. Soft kisses were shared as he took care of you before wrapping you both in a blanket.
You two said nothing as you processed what happened.
You didn't even mention the mark on his left hip. One that you knew. That matched Mor’s only hidden mark.
You just processed. Processed that you knew deep down that you loved him. Processed that in few days the bargain mark you shared would disappear from you both, fulfilled and nothing more than a smear on your histories.
In a few days, you'd be going back to the Night Court.
And you couldn't help but you find yourself considering if that was truly home.
How could it be when it wasn't where your mate was?
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I'm worried about the rising rate of young adults getting cancer.
For what it's worth, we've actually made a shocking amount of progress against cancer - especially the most common cancers like breast cancer, and especially in the past 30 years.
Cancer rates have been falling, often dramatically (x, x, x, x, x, x). One of the best examples it that breast cancer deaths in the United States dropped 58% between 1975 and 2019 (x).
Right now, we're at the beginning of an absolute revolution in cancer care that promises to increase survival rates even further. This revolution has been going on to a lesser degree since the first human genome was successfully sequenced in the early 2000s (and in fact, the first gapless sequencing of a human genome was finally finished just two years ago, in 2022), and to a greater extent since CRISPR DNA-editing technology was first successfully tested in 2013, and since medical digitzation/digital communication and vaccination were massively spurred ahead in 2020, by the COVID pandemic (x, x).
Right now, the results of this revolution are only beginning to trickle out into actual treatments. But I guarantee you, in the next one to three decades, the way we fight cancer will be massively transformed.
We're talking personalized genome sequencing for each person with cancer - not just for early and better detection, but even to figure out what types of treatments will work best. (x, x, x, x)
We're talking using CRISPR-based DNA editing to literally cut cancer-causing mutations out of your DNA, to edit the genes of immune cells to better detect and kill cancer cells, and to kill cancer-causing viruses. (x, x, x, x)
We're talking using CRISPR-based screening to figure out how chemotherapy resistance works, so that we can overcome it - and even weaponize it. (x, x)
We're talking using CRISPR to edit immune cells so that they recognize and target the mutations of a single individual's specific tumor. (x)
We're talking new types of testing that can predict if cancer will return years before it shows up on scans. (x)
We're talking using (non-generative) AI to massively increase the accuracy and earliness of cancer detection - which by the way is already starting to happen, there are several AI-based systems that detect cancer earlier and more accurately than doctors do. (x, x, x, x, x, x)
Also, the more we transition to a green, sustainable, and ethical future, the fewer cancer-causing substances will be in the environment (fossil fuels, oil drilling, and mining are massive sources of carcinogens at every point in the process).
Cancer is awful. That is a massive understatement. But the fight against cancer is one where there are so many reasons for hope.
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Reading with Eris Vanserra Handcanons
Warnings - mentions of smut, mentions of alcohol
A/n - my brain is prepping for finishing @erisweekofficial drafts, and this happened 💕
🍁Eris Week Masterlist🍁Eris Masterlist🍁Master Masterlist🍁
Reading is one of Eris's favorite pastimes, so he was so grateful it was one of yours as well.
You two have a specific spot you read in at the Forest House - your bed chambers, in a pile of blankets and pillows, in front of the huge fireplace.
Eris likes a glass of wine or whiskey when he reads. You always make sure he has a crystal decanter filled with the one or the other. You love hot chocolates and teas. Eris makes sure he brings it to you, then he keeps it warm for you.
No snacks in the blanket nest. Ever. Eris has a sensory issue with crumbs in his comfort spots. If you two decide to snack, you go to the balcony in your chambers where he's set a table for you two
Eris is a man of taste. He isn't above reading anything, but you've noticed romance is his favorite. He says they are quick, easy reads. You know it's secretly because this male is a drama whore.
You are a little pickier. You love historical fiction and poetry. You like how they both romanticize everyday things in life and provide you with a safe escape
Eris is a touchy male in private, so expect to cuddle while reading. His head on your lap, you between his legs, you sitting with your legs across his and leaning into his chest. He just wants to feel you when you two are reading
Eris will DNF poorly done novels. You will torture yourself through it due to morbid curiosity.
You both keep reading journals and talk about your books with each other once they're finished. Eris once rated a romance novel 5 stars, a rating he never gives, leading to you reading it. He was generous. It was 4 stars at best with some of the best smut you think Helion has ever written under his pen name.
You two have a massive bookmark collection, and it only grows. Eris tries to collect a new novel and bookmark for you every time he leaves Autumn. And, since you are stuck in Autumn per Beron's orders, you will find and press beautiful flowers and leaves for Eris, enchanting and sealing them for him to use and think of you.
Eris's 100-year anniversary gift to you was a room renovated for a personal library for you two and his mother. You three made it a goal to fill every shelf, no matter how high, and ensured the library could only be accessed through your chambers, creating a safe place for his Mother.
Eris will let you fall asleep when you two have reading dates. He will carefully close your book, keeping your place with whatever book mark he can reach, then he will lay there and finish his chapter or book.
You both know reading time is one of the most important things you share. It's silence filled with comfort and love. It's easy. It's release. Even when you two end up becoming parents, silent reading time is something you get your little ones into the routine of.
Just one big family of readers, curled up in front of mommy and daddy's fireplace in a cuddle puddle.
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