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vanserraseris · 2 years

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END OF EPILOGUE II - This is set sometime after ACOWAR but before ACOSF. Prince of Ashes is officially finished, and it was so great to share it! Thank you, Ruchi, for everything <3

holy shit oh my god okay okay its happening oh my god everyone just stay calm everybody just FUCKING CALM DOWN

in all srsness tho thank you so much for this experiences. poa was genuinely such a good and well written fic and im honored that you shared it with us :) please feel free whenever to drop by either inbox and say hi, or if you make a tumblr/discord (there is an azris server!). ilysm!!! <3

without further ado:

Prince of Ashes. Epilogue II.

Eris lifted a pale hand. Slender, unscarred fingers danced across the spines of ancient books as he walked among the small library’s mahogany shelves. The Forest House had always been lovely, with its shining marble floors and its carved wooden furniture, but the Lady of Autumn’s personal library, Eris thought, had always been the loveliest of its rooms.

When Eris was young, he would sit in one of the big cushioned chairs by the windows and stare out at the falling autumn leaves as his mother read aloud to him. It was a room that was cozy and quiet and peaceful, a room the High Lord never saw any reason to enter. The small library became a place that Eris and his brothers would run to if they needed a moment of peace. It was easy to find hope in the pages of its many books, at least when they had all been much too young to know any better.

Perhaps it had been because Beron Vanserra had never particularly liked his wife’s library that her children had all come to love it so much.

“What’s on your mind?” The Lady of Autumn asked her eldest son, her voice so soft Eris almost hadn’t heard her. She was sitting right by the stone fireplace, her skirts so close to the flames that if the forest-green fabric had been sewn in any other court, it would have been ruined by the embers.

“Treason,” Eris replied, taking an adventure novel off of the towering shelf in front of him.

“So then nothing is amiss,” Rufus mumbled from where he was sitting. Eris watched as his younger brother managed to make flipping the page of his book look obnoxious.

“Do not joke about such things.”

Eris would have rolled his eyes at his mother’s remark had he not known how much she worried over this sort of thing.

The most harmless of actions and words were punishable in Autumn, so he simply sighed as he put the book in his hands back to its proper place. “Why am I here, mother?” Eris asked, waving his hand in a vague gesture. It had been a long time, even before Amarantha’s rule, since Beron had wanted Eris in the Forest House. It was strange, Eris thought, that his father would want him there now.

“You have better things to do?” Rufus looked up from his book, raising an auburn brow at his older brother. His smile was a knowing one.

Eris glared at him, but didn’t bother replying.

His mother shifted in her seat, closing her own book gently and placing it on the low table in front of her. The golden leaf-shaped combs that held back her hair glittered in the light of the evening sun streaming into the room through the windows.

“Perhaps Beron thinks it best for all of you to be in one place, especially now that Hybern is no longer a threat.” Eris knew that was unlikely considering how all of the Vanserras in one place for more than just brief periods of time was usually disastrous.

Rufus snorted in a way that was not befitting of a prince. “Perhaps he’s worried Eris is planning a military coup, is what you mean.”

“Why?” Rufus grimaced as their mother settled her gaze on him. “Why would Beron be worried about that?”

Rufus looked troubled for a moment, choosing his words carefully before he replied. “The army is loyal to the one who leads them.” He shrugged, trying but failing at upholding an unbothered expression. “Father doesn’t really lead them. If I were constantly worrying about which of my sons was going to try and kill me in my sleep, it would definitely be the one with an entire army at his back.”

The Lady of Autumn turned her head suddenly, staring at Eris, embers flashing in her russet eyes. “Tell me you are not.”

Eris crossed his arms, “I am not.”

“You cannot,” she said rather sharply.

“It’s good to know you think I’m capable, mother.”

She clenched her jaw, straightened the wrinkles of her skirts. “The Royal Guard is loyal to the High Lord.”

And Maddox was the guard’s captain. The words remained unspoken as Eris shook his head, “I’m not planning a military coup.”

She nodded, red embers in her eyes as she spoke. “I’ve been meaning to ask something of you.” Eris stiffened. With her words, he was reminded of a time so many years ago, of a vow he’d once given, and of a promise he’d broken. The Lady of Autumn continued, “What have you done that has angered your father so very much?”Eris shook his head, his father had seemed much more irritated as of late, much more frustrated with his sons and his wife.

In the past few days he’d done a number of things that would make his father absolutely livid, but he was fairly certain the High Lord had not learned of them. He’d spoken to Lucien, which went better than Eris had expected but not as well as he’d hoped. He’d managed to read some of Beron’s private correspondence to one of the former human queens, which was troubling but not yet an immediate problem.

He’d also spent the night before last in Micah’s bed, which was an entirely selfish decision, but he’d promised himself he wouldn’t be doing something like that again. “Nothing,” he said.

“For once, Eris, you could just tell the truth.” The way she spoke reminded Eris very much of the woman from his childhood. The Lady of Autumn had belonged to one of the strongest, oldest, and most vicious families in Prythian, a fact even Eris seemed to forget.

Eris still thought she was a force of nature, but Beron had spent centuries taming her fire. He often wondered what his mother might have been like had she married someone else.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, mother.” He grabbed one of the many books off the shelf and threw himself onto the nearest armchair.

She hummed, “Then I suppose you haven’t allied yourself with the Day Court, too tired to simply wait for the crown.”

The sconces that lined the walls flared, a response to her clear displeasure. Eris rolled his eyes, “You really think I’d ally myself with that useless, self-important librarian?” To be entirely fair to both his parents, Eris had briefly considered using Lucien’s parentage to force Helion into an alliance. He had decided to never mention it to his mother.

“I think that Beron has convinced Maddox of your plans to kill us all and put yourself on the throne.” The many books rattled slightly on their shelves. “Did you know that Beron no longer cares one way or another whether Maddox brings him your head?”

“Cauldron,” Rufus muttered, setting his book on the table in a way that would surely ruin its spine. “Fucking hells.”

“Mother—”

“I will not lose another son because of him.” The last word was nearly a snarl.

Rufus placed a gentle hand on their mother’s shoulder, “Eris will fix this.”

Eris sighed, “I am not planning to kill you all and put myself on the throne.” He couldn’t. Eris looked at his younger brothers and remembered the children that would run to grab hold of his hand, remembered the children that would sit next to him at the dinner table, remembered the children that would clamber onto Eris’s chair as he worked at his desk.

He still felt an overwhelming urge to throttle them most of the time, though. Eris wondered if they looked at him and saw the older brother who had read books to them, remembered the older brother who had taught them how to winnow, remembered the older brother who had tried to shield them from Beron’s cruelties. Eris knew Rufus did, and he sometimes felt as though Maddox and Priam did as well.

“We must kill him,” the Lady of Autumn said, sitting up in her seat.

The only sound in the room was the crackling of the fire next to them. Eris had never before heard his mother say it out loud. He always figured she’d thought about it often, but whenever Eris had mentioned it to her, she’d always asked him to speak about anything else.

“Kill the High Lord?” Rufus asked, shocked.

“This court will never mourn him,” she said, flames in her skirts. “And neither will we.”

Eris leaned closer to his mother, “I might have lied when I said I wasn’t planning anything.” He had the good sense to look slightly ashamed.

She nodded, “We must work together, with Maddox and Priam.”

Eris shook his head, “The others do not trust me.”

“They trust me,” she assured him.

“Are we really talking about treason?” Rufus ran a hand through his hair, but the expression on his face was not one of concern. He looked more surprised than anything.

“Try and keep up, Rufus, darling.” There were embers flashing in her eyes, more light to her than Eris had seen in centuries. There was a light flush on her cheeks, her hair bright as blood.

“I have not planned a kind death for him,” Eris warned. He was horrible, really, for wanting to make his father’s death as painful as possible.

“I would not have expected otherwise,” said his mother, golden flames in her eyes. Eris was certain those same golden flames were dancing in his eyes as well.

Eris smiled at her, his first genuine smile in decades, “I have waited a very long time for my vengeance.”

Eris watched as his mother lifted her shoulder in a shrug, as she returned his smile. “What is vengeance, Eris, if not justice taken by your own hand?”

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