#v ; half truths & lies ( acotar )

[bcbliophile]

@inabcck asked:

❛  believe it or not, i do enjoy spending time with you.  ❜ to Penelope from Lucien

The half nymph gave a soft laugh "I have never doubted it as you are always the one seeking me out" she teased. In truth she like his company as well, even on days like this, sitting on the banks by the river reading a book. Spring was a lovely enough court most of the time, but she found she rather enjoyed the peace away from the main gatherings on nice days like this. Penelope was born out of a love affair between a high fae father and a flower nymph mother, so she often wondered if she even belonged at court in the first place.

"What weighs on your mind today?" The redhead asked, tilting her head so she could better look at him. Blue eyes studying his expression for any sadness or worries. He was quite handsome, even with his mask on, a fox-- her favorite animal.

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@inabcck Moved from X

His sad smile made her chest hurt in a way it hadn't since she was human. It was almost comforting to know she could still feel things like sorrow and guilt-- she knew she would never be human again and one day yet she may gain control over her powers. . . But she still did not know how to convey any of this to another person, the feelings of everything being too much, her senses too sharpened, her emotions too heightened. "I was told--" Elain started, willing herself to be brave like her sisters, strong like Freya and Nesta. "I was told that Fae do something similar to humans, courting?"

It was more complicated than that and she knew it, but to make it sound so simple was less terrifying to her. "Could... that is if you're willing to, could we start slowly with courting?" She realized she did not know enough about him to make a decision on if he could be her mate or not. She knew how Freya spoke of him and what little she had observed since coming to the night court-- but she didn't know anything else about him.

[bcbliophile]

@inabcck asked:

“ don’t fight it… it’ll only hurt more if you do. ” from Az to Nesta

"Save the bedroom talk for after you reset my shoulder. shadowsinger" Nesta gritted her teeth as she tried to will her body to relax through the pain of a dislocated shoulder. An unfortunate side effect from overzealous training brought on by goading from the males and cheering from the females currently watching on in awe as Azriel looked over her shoulder.

[bcbliophile]

@inabcck asked:

“ but you shouldn’t fear death. it is after all… inevitable. ” Az for Nesta

"Perhaps it is, and yet for all of our talks of walking beside it-- everyone here has cheated it at least once" Nesta pointed out as she took a sip of her wine. She looked out over the gathering of her sisters and the night courts inner circle and felt more alone among them than she ever had in the human realm-- this was not where she was meant to be, she knew it in her bones and yet here she sat next to the only one she called a friend, enjoying their mutual alienation.

"Does death really hold such power and inevitability when so many have laughed in it's face? Or is death just a mask we wear now, Shadowsinger?" Sharp eyes finally turned back to Az, studying his beautiful face, the blue flicker of his siphons and the swirl of the shadows around them. She no longer feared death, least of all when she stood next to death personified, the only person who might know what it was like to be trapped in her head.

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@ircnwrought Rhys and Feyre

"Are we being too hard on Nesta?" Sending her to the house of wind had been a decision they made together-- but now she was having her doubts. She was worried for her sister, and the path she was going down but was forcing Cassian down her throat and making her train what would keep her from spiraling? Feyre stopped her pacing so she could look at her mate, hoping he would have the answers to still her worried mind. She reached out a hand to him, her free one resting on her still flat stomach, both now knowing she had a babe growing inside of her.

"I worry in forcing her to do this she will only grow angrier and lose herself to it" the High Lady admitted with a soft sigh, she knew her sister better than anyone, she loved with her whole self when she elected to love at all and she hated just as deep, right now that hatred was directed at herself and it would end up killing her.

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@ofthornsandfury Roisin & Arista

It was rare Arista had visitors, normally it was Baron who had guests, ever trying for a power grab. But her husband aside she entered her rooms and smiled as she saw her youngest son's mate. "Roisin, what a delightful surprise, what brings you to me today?" Times like this she wished Helion was by her side, meeting his grandchild and bonding with his son. But the secret of their affair and Lucien's true father could get them all killed, so she pushed those feelings down and focused on her daughter-in-law, greeting her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Come, sit-- I will have some tea brought for us" she ushered her to her personal receiving room and towards a deep green couch. She instructed her maid to have tea and some light food brought up for them and the girl quickly left.

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@tofeelthecold Gavriel & Arista ( Lady of the Autumn court)

"What foolery have the Night Court gotten themselves into this time?" Arista sighed as she noted the all too familiar wax seal telling her that the letter was from her son. She loved Lucien, and his mate was a lovely girl-- but the court they chose to live in was chaotic at best and a mess most of the time, not that her oldest was much better, Eris had aged her rapidly from the time he was all of ten and her only solace these days was Gavriel, whom she could vent to about her problems.

"Please tell me it's just to inform me I am to be a grandmother and not that we're being called to war again?" The High Lady doubted it, but she could have some hope as she laid her hand on his shoulder, peering over it so she could see the letter itself.

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@tofeelthecold Cassian & Nesta

"This feels like a punishment for being too tired to fuck you last night" Nesta grunted as she continued her jog down those mother forsaken stairs. She should have known something was up when her mate woke her up, grinning like a cat that had caught the canary this morning. She didn't care for most training, but these stairs still held a lot of resentment from her, mostly because she still wasn't completely sure he hadn't pushed her that day. But this-- it really did feel like a punishment. She had been with the Valkyrie until late and by the time she returned to their room, she had enough energy to wash up before passing out and that was it.

"I've got to tell you-- if you want sex today, this is not the way you get it" she huffed, a little over half way to the end and she was dreading the run back more than what they had done so far.

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@tofeelthecold Az & Nesta

Nesta still hat trouble some days coming to terms with what she now was, so much had changed and been ripped from her and while she was glad to be alive-- she was more so thankful that she had Azriel through all of this. Sometimes they wouldn't speak, he would just sit with her-- he never pushed her to light a fire or mocked her for her fear of baths, he didn't try and force her to 'get better' quicker because it was more convenient and she had a sneaking suspicion he was defending her even when she wasn't around.

Perhaps that was why she didn't fight her sister and her husband when they made her move into the House of Wind. Only requested that Az be over her training if they insisted on making her train which they had been quick to do for some odd reason. She would look more into that later, but as the days went on, she found a routine, she trained during the day, took meals with him and Cass, on days where they were not off on a mission and worked int he library with the Priestesses. Nights where she couldn't sleep, she put his Solstice gift to good use or she walked the halls. This was one such night, her slipper clad feet were almost soundless as she walked, pausing she noted a light still on in the shadowsinger's room and after a moment of hesitation she knocked.

[bcbliophile]

@vvarriorheart moved from X

A groan fell from her lips as she made no move to stand whatsoever, only giving him a glare. It would seem whatever connection they briefly had in the moment was well and truly over. "I would-- but would you look at that, this heart to heart took up the last of my obligated hour and I have endurance training with Az in a few hours. You'll have to find someone else to harass, I'm sure there is some desperate maiden you can con into believing you're charming, or perhaps Mor is skulking about somewhere" she gave his arm a pat as she finally pushed herself up and went to brush past him. If she said it or not, she still held a great amount of anger towards him for not coming to her after the battle, instead he stayed with the inner circle, with her perfect sister while she was left to rot and find what comfort she could in the bars.

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@grimmusings Cassian / Nesta

"Feyre asked me today about when we were going to have a mating ceremony-- I wasn't aware that was something you had to have" Nesta spoke over her mug of coffee, glaring across the table at the mountain of a bat she called her mate. There were a great number of things she still didn't know about this life she had been forced into and some things she only found out because they were screamed at her in the heat of the moment. But a mating ceremony was never something they had talked about before now.

She had assumed once the bond snapped on her end, that was that and there was nothing more to it. Now she was being pressured into planning an elaborate ceremony when she knew for a fact that her sister and her mate just snuck off in the middle of the night and completed it. She was tempted to style it after a human wedding, just to piss off some of the inner circle-- but she didn't feel like wanting to annoy her brother in law was a good enough reason for some elaborate showing.

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@manupropria Muse roulette starter ! Rhysand & Feyre

"I should have thrown my other shoe at you-- perhaps it would have deterred you from calling in our barge" Feyre wasn't quite sulking, but she wasn't exactly her most cheerful self in the moment. So much had happened both during and after under the mountain-- she hadn't been granted much time to process everything. One thing she was sure of was Rhysand was smarter than she had initially thought and slightly less evil than she had been led to believe.

Her knees were pulled up to her chin, which rested there as she watched the High Lord with misty blue eyes. "So you have me here-- now what?"

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@qanedanegros continued from X

"You left me alone for a week with Cassian and Rhysand. . . . If I have to hear one more time about how my sister's unhappiness is all my fault or how everyone here hates me I may well finally fling myself down those damn stairs" Nesta didn't like being alone with her own thoughts these days, in a fir of what she was now sure was deliria she had sought out Cassian when she found Az was still on a mission. . . It had not ended well and it only got worse when the High Lord came for a visit.

After that she locked herself away in her room, the house took care of her needs and it was easy to block out Cassian's constant pounding on the door. She had made good use of Az's solstice gift during that time, she was relieved that there was at least one friendly face in the house once more. But none of this was his fault and she managed to give him a half smile "I'm glad you're home. . . How was your mission?"

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@collectionofvoices Gwyn & Mor

Gwyn had been up at the house looking for Nesta, not knowing she was with her sister, visiting the baby that day. She found instead Mor standing in the main living room, looking like a living Goddess as always, she offered a kind smile and a nod of her head, the priestess greeted her as she would anyone.

"It would see everyone is out today-- were you looking for someone in particular?" The redhead asked, moving further into the room, even Azriel was away on a mission and the house was unnaturally quiet which meant Cassian must be wherever Nesta was. With no training that day she wasn't quite sure what to do with herself as her work in the library was done for the day.

In truth she hadn't spent much time with the blonde, she had always been kind enough to her and now that Nesta seemed to speak more kindly about her she didn't find her as intimidating, enough so that she approached her as she would Nesta or any of the Valkyrie.

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@fcntasyadvcnturc Elain & Lucian (will be tagging you in another starter in just a few ! )

"Out of curiosity-- did moments after I almost died really seem like the best moment to drop the 'M' word on me?" Elain didn't think she had ever asked him that out loud. Ignoring him hadn't worked, and so here she sat in the garden, tending to her flowers, she knew he was there before she saw him. . She always knew and that was sometimes unnerving to her.

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❝ oh, i am one of the monsters. but that just means i can keep all the other monsters from ever hurting you again. ❞ (Nessian, please! 💛)

"I've met real monsters and looked them in the eye-- despite your extra appendages, tendency to laugh when people are hurt, and over inflated ego, you Cassian are not a monster" she may have still been annoyed at the stair incident and there were days she wasn't sure if she fell or if he had pushed her. But she had made peace with that he just wanted to help her and despite what she would have said a year ago, he was in no way a monster. "Out of the two of us-- that title is mine" Nesta truly believed that out of the two of them she was still the monster.