#yaz reads hofas

[yazthebookish]

I agree with @bookofmirth

I think ACOTAR5 will fill in the gaps we're left with in HOFAS (on the ACOTAR side). I think that will be covered in the first 30% of the book.

I'm very excited for it because SJM dropped some delicious crumbs for Azriel and tied his Illyrian heritage to the crossover and questions about his origins, backstory and magic:

• Truth-teller being the knife of Enalius, the first of the Illyrians. How did he find the knife? It's interesting that the knife went from the Fae back to an Illyrians.

• Illyrians being made by the Daglan and what are the implications of that on them.

• The Daglan fed on the Illyrians power through the Tithe, and just as I suspected they channel firstlight/raw power and its destructive without the wearing siphons (which I assume are quartz crystal too).

• Ramiel potentially being a thin place and also has a core of firstlight, does the Blood Rite contribute to giving it more firstlight/secondlight? What makes the Illyrians all have magic on the night before the Blood Rite?

• Azriel's origins. I still think he is fully Illyrian since he can wear Siphons (unlike Rhys) but I find it interesting Bryce questions if he has Starborn bloodline. Avallen Fae and Theia's daughters had shadow powers so it might be something that will be explored.

• In the bonus chapter he seems fiercely protective of his mother and mentions that she is anything but awful. However he refuses to discuss it more which seems a sore spot for him.

It's obvious SJM is laying down the groundwork for Azriel's arc and it's not going to be confined to a sad lonely depressed love interest, he has a bigger role.

Rhys will 100% be very concerned about people from other worlds showing up in Prythian, he saw two female aliens (Aelin and Bryce) in a span of months.

I need to do a proper post later on but I am so fucking excited I've been waiting for his story and it's going to be nothing short of epic!!

#hofas spoilers #yaz reads hofas

[yazthebookish]

Hello my loves❤️!!

I've said that I do not intend to discuss anything HOFAS-related since I haven't read the book and I only know a few details I specifically asked.

But I read the beautiful, beautiful Bryce, Nesta, and Azriel Walmart chapter and I need to just gush about something. It's not the whole chapter but just small parts of it mostly relating to Azriel.

Disclaimer: I have no interest in engaging in ship discourse (annoy me and it's an immediate block) nor do I want someone to change my opinion because it will not be changed. I stick by what I read and interpret in these books and am quite happy and content with it 😉

⚠️ Bryce, Nesta, and Azriel Bonus Chapter Spoilers Ahead! ⚠️

And with each mile onward, she could hear Azriel humming softly to himself. The rolling, wild melody of "Stone Mother" flowed off his lips, and she could have sworn even the shadows danced at the sound.

Do you realize that the entire time Bryce was playing the songs on her phone, she made no comments on Azriel's shadows but towards the end when her phone's battery died and Azriel started humming to himself, then she made a note of the shadows dancing at his sound.

They did not dance to her songs, they dance to Azriel's humming and I find that so endearing!!

It proves my point again at the instances we get descriptions of Azriel's shadows singing are with positive connotations. Their dancing is not written to be nefarious or odd.

Pray tell, in the entire series when Az's shadows are described to be dancing, which scenarios triggered those actions? Mostly when it comes to Gwyn because if you search in every book you won't find a description of them dancing around someone except Gwyn. This is a point I've been making since ACOSF came out and I'll highlight them below:

• These excerpts are from Azriel's bonus chapter

"How was the party?" Her breath curled in front of her mouth, and one of his shadows darted out to dance with it before twirling back to him. Like it heard some silent music.

Gwyn wasn't singing here, they were reacting to some silent music... which we can suspect as much is the mating bond? A bond Sarah described in ACOSF as music between souls?

Azriel entered the warmth of the stairwell, and as he descended, he could have sworn a faint, beautiful singing followed him. Could have sworn his shadows sang in answer.

His shadows sang in answer. We don't know for sure if Gwyn was singing or it was something else but I'll bet on the latter since she was training and one of his shadows earlier darted out to dance with her breath as if it heard some silent music. It still reaffirms to me that it can hear the music between souls, the mating bond.

• This is from ACOSF (pg. 623) and keep in mind this is post-Solstice/Azriel's bonus chapter

Azriel clapped his hands, and all the females straightened. "You'll work in groups of three."

Gwyn asked Az, her teal eyes bright,

"What do we get if we finish the course?"

Az's shadows danced around him. "Since there's no chance in hell any of you will finish the course, we didn't bother to get a prize."

One of the things I absolutely love when it comes to SJM's romances is she creates a common ground for the couple and gives them some things to bond and connect to.

In this instance, it's not only about Azriel's shadows but the fact that he also is fond of music. He doesn't express his fondness through dancing like Nesta, he hums to the tune. He sings.

Who else adores music and sings? Gwyn.

Who made Azriel admit that he sings? Gwyn.

These are not a coincidental connections.

And the author is a big fan of music so I think it's such a beautiful connection to create between two characters that have had such a dark and tragic past and are still processing the trauma they experienced.

The chapter did not give us much in terms of ships or who is Azriel into, but it did elaborate more on Azriel's fondness for music. It did elaborate on the genuine reactions of his shadows which were sometimes always framed in a negative way.

It also kind of proved my cute headcanon about whenever Azriel sings, his shadows dance around him.

I honestly can't wait for his book!! But first we have to tackle HOFAS so look forward to my reading updates in a few days!

#hofas #hofas spoilers #gwynriel #yaz reads hofas #yaz the bookish breaks her silence #okay yaz didn't read hofas I just want to keep it in that tag for future reference Lol

[yazthebookish]

Azriel stans are being FED!!!!

This male is being prepped for his spectacular arc in ACOTAR5 I'm not taking any arguments about it.

His shadows? His backstory? His knife (Truth-teller)? His mother? SJM is hitting all those weak spots of Az through Bryce to keep all this in our head. He still has a loooong healing journey ahead.

His time is coming alright and I've been seated for it since ACOSF.

Anyhow, back to HOFAS.

#hofas spoilers #yaz reads hofas

[yazthebookish]

House of Flame and Shadow

Prologue and Chapter 1 reading updates

(Warning: spoilers below!!)

Prologue (Lidia's POV)

Morven and Einar are pieces of shit.

I guess Cormac is gone for good 💔

At least we got some descriptions of how some of the other Asteri look like. It still bothers me Rigelus chose the form of a 17-year-old boy. Ugh what a creep.

"Quinlan and Athalar are mates. She will return to this world because of that bond. And when she does, she will go straight to him."

THEY 👏🏼 ARE 👏🏼 MATES 👏🏼

"Athalar and Baxian dangled unconscious from the ceiling, their torsos patchworks of scars and burns. And their backs..."

The Asteri better start counting their fucking days.

"Lidia couldn't look at the third figure hanging between them. Couldn't get a breath down near him."

UGH!!!!

"Baxian still hung unconscious. Pollux had beaten him into a bloody pulp last night after severing his and Athalar's wings with a blunt-toothed saw. The Helhound didn't so much as stir."

Pollux I hope you'll burn in the deepest pit of Hell and get to have the worst death in the history of SJM character deaths.

"They'd never spoken mind-to-mind outside of their dreaming, but she'd been trying since he'd arrived here. Again and again, she'd cast her mind toward his. Only silence answered."

This sounds a whole lot like a Daemati. Like I'm still not sure if she is but it seems like it.

---

Chapter 1 (Bryce's POV)

"The darkness seemed inherent to the three people standing across from her: a petite female in gray silk, and two winged males clad in black scalelike armor, one of them-the beautiful, powerful male in the center of the trio— literally rippling with shadows and stars. Rhysand, he'd called himself. The one who looked so much like Ruhn."

Let's fucking gooooo!!

"You said your name is Bryce Quinlan. That you come from another world —Midgard." Rhysand murmured to the winged male beside him. Translating, perhaps.

Yes Rhys show us how useful your Duolingo lessons were.

Rhys seems to be agitated about her.

Master of spinning bullshit, indeed. "So maybe I'm here for that. Maybe the sword sensed that dagger and ... brought me to it." Silence. Then the silent, hazel-eyed warrior laughed quietly. How had he understood without Rhysand translating? Unless he could simply read her body language, her tone, her scent—The warrior spoke with a low voice that skittered down her spine. Rhysand glanced at him with raised brows, then translated for Bryce with equal menace, "You're lying."

Bryce, honey, that's the Spymaster of the Night Court.

"I just watched my mate and my brother get captured by a group of intergalactic parasites," she snarled. "I have no interest in doing anything except finding a way to help them." Rhysand looked to the warrior, who nodded, not taking his gaze off Bryce for so much as a blink. "Well," Rhysand said to Bryce, crossing his muscled arms. "That's true, at least."

Not Azriel functioning as Rhysand's personal lie detector. Impressive though.

" I do not pry where I am not willingly invited." Bryce lurched back in the chair, nearly knocking it over at the smooth male voice in her mind. Rhysand's voice. But she answered, thanking Luna for keeping her own voice cool and collected, "Code of mind-speaking ethics?"

LOLOLOLOLOL 🤣🤣🤣🤣

"So this is it, then. This is where we-the Midgard Fae— originated. My ancestors left this world and went to Midgard. .. and we forgot where we came from."

The theory I had since before even HOSAB came out is finally confirmed. I mean it was semi-confirmed in HOSAB but some readers still debated it.

The corner of Rhysand's mouth curled upward. "We will not torture it from you, nor will I pry it from your mind. If you choose not to talk, it is indeed your choice. Precisely as it will be my choice to keep you down here until you decide otherwise."

Bryce couldn't stop herself from coolly surveying the room, her attention lingering on the grate and the hissing that drifted up from it. "'ll be sure to recommend it to my friends as a vacation spot."

Of course Rhys has to pull the "choice" speech whenever he can 🤣 also, BRYCE LOL!!!

"You haven't seen it in fifteen thousand years, or spoken this language in nearly as long-which lines up pertectly with the timeline of the Starborn Fae arriving in Midgard."

So they exist in the same timeline then but Midgard happens to be more advanced.

"It is in our history, Rhysand," Amren said gravely. "But the Asteri were not known by that name. Here, they were called the Daglan."

Asteri are the Daglan, we guessed as much in HOSAB but that's another theory confirmed now!

"Azriel, without Rhysand to translate, watched in silence. Bryce could have sworn shadows wreathed him, like Ruhn's, yet... wilder. The way Cormac's had been."

Ruhn's darkness seemed more similar to Rhys, but Cormac was close to what we know of Shadowsingers. But if Shadows are an Avallen Fae's gifts then how is Azriel one? We're told Shadowsingers are not specific to any courts but there are no Shadowsinger Fae in Midgard than Avallen Fae. But Azriel has a unique way with his shadows (given that magic is more powerful in Prythian.

"The Veritas orb?" Amren said, and Azriel lifted an eyebrow.

Oh damn.

Rhysand mastered himself, a cool mask sliding into place. "You live in such a world." It wasn't entirely a question. But Bryce nodded. "Yes." "And they want to bring all of that ... here." "Yes." Rhysand stared ahead. Thinking it through. Azriel just kept his eyes on the space where the orb had displayed the utter destruction of her world. Dreading-and yet calculating. She'd seen that look before on Hunt's face. A warrior's mind at work.

She showed them the destruction and all the weapons the Asteri have. She even showed them Rigelus. Rhys, Azriel, and even Amren seem at a loss for words.

Bryce examined the silver bean that lay smooth and gleaming in her hand. Amren said without looking at her, "You swallow it, and it will translate our mother tongue for you. Allow you to speak it, too." "Fancy," Bryce murmured.

Of course they have a pill for translating any language and here we've been pondering about how they would communicate.

Amen turned to Rhysand and said in that new, strange language -their language: "The glowing letters inked on her back... they're the same as those in the Book of Breathings."

Oooooh Leshon Hakodesh 👀

Then Azriel said in a soft, lethal voice, "Explain or you die."

Holy hell that's hot—I mean—Azriel that's not a way to treat a woman chill the fuck out.

---

And we got to the end. This is what SJM only had available on her website. 4 more days until I get the full book and continue then 🤩!!

Also, Azriel's shadows seem to be around and thriving after all 😌 I recall being told they're gone for good based on HOSAB's ending, not that I took it seriously Lol.

#hofas spoilers #yaz reads hofas

[yazthebookish]

Bryce is parading around with Truth-teller while somewhere in Prythian the IC have to deal with Azriel's broody ass ever since Bryce stole his beloved knife.

#hofas spoilers #yaz reads hofas

[yazthebookish]

Chapter 100

“You said you had an eight-pointed star tattooed on you,” Bryce explained. “And you found the chamber with the eight-pointed star in the Prison, too.”

Nesta lifted her head. “So?”

“So I want you to take the Starsword.” Bryce held the blade between them. “Gwydion—whatever you call it here. The age of the Starborn is over on Midgard. It ends with me.”

Oh?

“I think that eight-pointed star was tattooed on you for a reason. Take that sword and go figure out why.”

ACOTAR5 let's fucking go!!!

@bookofmirth theorized about the Prison turning into the Valkyries main headquarters and I'm very intrigued about that idea 👀

#hofas spoilers #yaz reads hofas

[yazthebookish]

Lidia and Ruhn Bonus Chapter

Ruhn is down BAD for Lidia and I don't blame him.

She keeps her hair down now and wears casual clothes 🥹

He couldn't get enough of her. Even living together these past several weeks, working together most days in the Aux... he couldn't stop wanting her, needing her. It wasn't just her body, though. It was Lidia herself-her wit, her dry humor, her bravery and selflessness and compassion.

He's going to kill Flynn and Declan for interrupting his evening with Lidia.

Lidia pulled away, and for a moment, Ruhn let himself admire her. His mate. His brave, lovely, brilliant mate.

Stop being so damn sweet.

"There's, uh . . . a problem."

Ruhn gripped the phone so hard the plastic groaned.

"Is Rigelus back from the dead?"

"No."

"Then leave me the fuck alone." Ruhn hung up.

Don't be a cock block Flynn.

His phone rang again. Dec this time.

Ruhn growled deep in his throat and answered, "What."

"I really think you might want to check this out."

I love these two morons.

Lidia's hand stilled on the side of his neck. There was such love and joy and hope in her eyes that his breath stalled in his chest.

She smiled again, like she sensed that. She peered down at their linked hands. "I've been thinking that . .. I'd like to marry you."

Hnnnnnnghgghhh 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

She glared daggers at him. "Yes. I mean, we're mates, and I thought it might be—"

Ruhn kissed her deeply.

"I want to marry you," he said between kisses, nipping at her lips. "I want you to marry me. More than anything." She laughed again, and he swallowed the sound as he kissed her harder, deeper.

THEY ARE EVERYTHING!! They deserve to be happy after everything they've went through 😭

He was so busy trying to read her face that he didn't turn until she pointed into the garden. To where Flynn and Dec stood in suits, Bryce and Hunt grinning with them.

"Because I thought we'd get married right now."

Tears of joy ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Ruhn watched his mate— his wife—talking with her sons. That quiet, radiant joy glimmered from her.

Mate and WIFE 😭

Ruhn pulled Lidia a few feet farther into the garden, night crocuses glowing a deep amethyst at their feet. "Lidia, I don't have words for what tonight was. Is. What it means to me."

Her soft smile was a thing of remarkable beauty. "I was so nervous you'd say no."

He soft smile was a thing of remarkable beauty. I AM GETTING FLASHBACKS OF A WHOLE DIFFERENT BONUS CHAPTER TOO 😭❤️

"Your sister. She told me that if I proposed to you, you'd cry like a baby and say yes." Lidia cocked her head. "Which you did."

He did indeed cry like a baby, which made me love him even more 🥹

"I never got to dance with you in the garden at the Autumnal Equinox. Consider this my way of apologizing for bailing on you."

Ruhn kissed her-gently, lightly. "You do owe me for that, I guess."

Her arms twined around his neck, and as her body lined up against his, as they fell into the melody, everything else faded away.

Janet if only I could hug you right now.

"'I'm grateful, too," Lidia said quietly. "For all of it, good and bad. Because it brought me to you. It brought us to this—to right now."

What a chapter 🥹❤️

#hofas spoilers #yaz reads hofas

[yazthebookish]

Chapter 76

The silver flame now flickered in Nesta’s eyes. “Then say it, and be gone.” Her gaze lowered to Bryce’s side. “And leave the dagger you stole.”

Azriel is crying tears of joy somewhere, probably racing to the House of Wind to reunite with his beloved knife.

#hofas spoilers #yaz reads hofas

[yazthebookish]

Chapter 100

But Ember continued, looking only at Nesta, “I am glad of one thing: that I was able to meet you.”

Nesta’s lips pressed into a thin line, and she glanced down at their joined hands.

This is hitting a deep wound for Nesta 😭

“Your mother loves you,” Nesta said quietly, reading the exasperation on Bryce’s face. “Don’t for one second take that for granted.”

Nesta don't make me cry

Ember at last pulled away from Nesta. But she gently put a hand to the female’s cheek and whispered, “You’ll find your way,” before walking toward the portal.

Bryce could have sworn there were tears in Nesta’s eyes as her mother stepped back into Midgard.

#hofas spoilers #yaz reads hofas

[yazthebookish]

Chapter 21

“One after another, I hunted monsters—the remaining pets of the Daglan—until many of the lowest rooms were filled with them. Until my once-beautiful home became a prison. Until even the land was so disgusted by the evil I’d gathered here that the islands shriveled and the earth became barren. The winged horses who hadn’t gone with my mother to Midgard, who had once flown in the skies, playing in the surf … they were nearly gone. Not a single living soul remained, except for the monstrosities in the mountain.”

So she was the one who contained Koschei and the Weaver, and she was the Bone Carver's salvation.

“I will spare you the details of how I came to wed a High Lord’s son. Of the years before and after he became the High Lord of Night, and I his lady. He wanted me to be High Lady, as the other lords’ mates were, but I refused. I had seen what power had done to my mother, and I wanted none of it.

Yet when my first son was born, when the babe screamed and the sound was full of night, I brought him to the Prison and keyed the wards into his blood. No one knew that the infant who sometimes glowed with starlight had inherited it from me. That it was the light of the evening star. The dusk star.”

Silene 👏🏼 Theia's 👏🏼 Second 👏🏼 Daughter 👏🏼 Is 👏🏼 Rhysand's 👏🏼 Ancestor 👏🏼 Confirmed 👏🏼 his 👏🏼 bloodline 👏🏼 hails 👏🏼 from 👏🏼 High 👏🏼 King 👏🏼 Fionn 👏🏼 of 👏🏼 Prythian

I assumed her name was Nyx (as in the Night Goddess Rhys mentioned) but Silene is also close enough to symbolize night/the moon.

Nesta murmured to Azriel, “Does Rhys … does he know?”

“No,” Azriel replied without an ounce of doubt. “Somewhere along the line … all this was forgotten, and never passed on.”

#hofas spoilers #yaz reads hofas

[yazthebookish]

Chapter 81

“And she,” the Under-King went on, gesturing to that unusual depiction of Urd towering above him, “was not a goddess, but a force that governed worlds. A cauldron of life, brimming with the language of creation. Urd, they call her here—a bastardized version of her true name. Wyrd, we called her in that old world.”

#hofas spoilers #yaz reads hofas

[yazthebookish]

Chapter 23, 24 and 25

(Aka the "holy shit" and "lore galore" chapters)

A sarcophagus made of clear quartz lay in the center of the space. And inside it, preserved in eternal youth and beauty, lay a dark-haired female.

What in the Snow White...

That here, literally right under them, slumbering in that forgotten coffin … Here lay the evil beneath.

Oh shit.

“What have you done?” Azriel rasped, and Bryce twisted to find him on his feet, wings tucked in, Nesta leaning against him as if wounded, Ataraxia dangling from her grip. The male now held the Starsword at the ready, Truth-Teller gripped in his other hand.

He must have had some sort of Starborn blood in him, then—a distant ancestor, maybe. Or maybe his possession of the knife somehow allowed him to also bear the Starsword.

Hnnnnnnnnghhhhhh!!!!!!! Theories swirling right now!!!!!

“I am your god. I am your master. Do you not know me?”

The female’s nails gouged deep lines into the crystal, but the lid held. She searched beyond Bryce, her gaze falling upon Azriel. Her lips curled. “A foot soldier. Excellent. Kill this insolent female and free me.” She pointed to Bryce.

Azriel didn’t move. The caged female hissed, “Kneel, soldier. Make the Tithe so I may regain my strength and leave this cage.”

Oh?

“The female in the sarcophagus was an Asteri.”

Screeching.

The Asteri’s blue eyes lowered to the dagger. “You dare draw a weapon before me? Against those who crafted you, soldier, from night and pain?”

“You are no creator of mine,” Azriel said coldly. The Starsword gleamed in his other hand. If they bothered him, if they called to him, he didn’t let on. Neither hand so much as twitched.

Az is about to find out the Illyrians were the Daglan's creation!!!

The Asteri’s eyes flared with recognition at the long blade. “Did Fionn send you, then? To slay me in my sleep? Or was it that traitor Enalius? I see that you bear his dagger—as his emissary? Or his assassin?”

The words must have meant something to Azriel. The warrior let out a small noise of shock.

TRUTH-TELLER IS ENALIUS'S KNIFE!!! FIONN'S FRIEND!!! Oh this is delightful. What a lore feast!!! Az owns the knife of the first Illyrian!! Let's fucking go!!!

“You may call me Vesperus.” The creature’s eyes glowed with irritation.

She threw a tantrum about the other Asteri being called the Evening Star when she was one Lol.

“We pooled our power, and imbued those gifts into the Cauldron so that it would work our will. We Made the Trove from it. And then bound the very essence of the Cauldron to the soul of this world.”

Solas. “So destroy the Cauldron …”

“And you destroy this world. One cannot exist without the other.”

Behind them, Nesta sucked in a sharp breath. But Bryce said, “You gave this world a kill switch.”

“We gave many worlds … kill switches. To protect our interests.” She said it with such calm, such surety.

So basically the Cauldron is a nuclear button. The Daglan made sure Prythian's existence hinges on the Cauldron. I mean we knew as much in ACOWAR but it's always interesting when we get more history on why. The Cauldron is an entity but the higher divine being is the Mother/Urd.

Vesperus took another step, steadier now, and smiled past Bryce. At Azriel, at Truth-Teller. “You don’t know how to use it, do you?”

Azriel pointed the dagger toward the advancing Asteri. “Pretty sure this end’s the one that’ll go through your gut.”

Vesperus chuckled, her dark hair swaying with each inching step closer. “Typical of your kind. You want to play with our weapons, but have no concept of their true abilities. Your mind couldn’t hold all the possibilities at once.”

Azriel snarled softly, wings flaring, “Try me.”

Vesperus took one more step, now barely a foot from Bryce. “I can smell it—how much of what we created here went unused. Ignorant fools.”

What more can Truth-teller do...?

Vesperus backed up a half step, hissing at the gleaming weapon. “We hid pockets of our power throughout the lands, in case the vermin should cause … problems. It seems our wisdom did not fail us.”

“There are no such places,” Azriel countered coldly.

“Are there not?” Vesperus grinned broadly, showing all of her too-white teeth. “Have you looked beneath every sacred mountain? At their very roots? The magic draws all sorts of creatures. I can sense them even now, slithering about, gnawing on the magic. My magic. They’re as much vermin as the rest of you.”

YO RAMIEL IS THE ONLY UNEXPLORED ONE!! I'm kicking my feet right now!!!

“There are certain places, girl, that are better suited to hold power than others. Places where the veil between worlds is thin, and magic naturally abounds. Our light thrives in such environments, sustained by the regenerative magic of the land.” She gestured around them. “This island is a thin place—the mists around it declare it so.”

A veil between worlds. Oh, this crossover is going to have some implications on ACOTAR5.

The sacred mountains have a core of firstlight under them...

Nesta had plunged Ataraxia right through Vesperus’s chest.

NESTA 👏🏼 FUCKING 👏🏼 ARCHERON 👏🏼

#hofas spoilers #yaz reads hofas

[yazthebookish]

Chapter 67

“I go with Ruhn,” Lidia said quietly, and something in his chest sparked at that.

Oh? Did Lidia use her powers to plant that spark inside of Ruhn's chest?

#hofas spoilers #yaz reads hofas

[yazthebookish]

Chapter 102

Ruhn leaned in to kiss her, and Lidia met him halfway. And the love and joy in him glowed brighter than starlight as he said against her mouth, “To a normal life, Lidia.”

I'm crying 😭❤️

#hofas spoilers #yaz reads hofas

[yazthebookish]

Chapter 94

A wall of blue fire leapt between them. Pollux collided with it, then stuck.

A fly in a burning web. Lidia stalked toward the angel as Pollux struggled against the flames.

Lidia of the Wildfire 😭 even one of her sons is named Brannon!

#hofas spoilers #yaz reads hofas

[yazthebookish]

Bryce, Nesta and Azriel Bonus Chapter Reaction

P.s. this is my second read 👀

Bryce cracked open an eye, surveying her two companions.

Nesta sat against the opposite wall, head down, breathing lightly.

But Azriel was staring right at Bryce. She started, whacking her head against the rock. White pain splintered across her vision. By the time it cleared, Nesta was awake.

I HOWLED at this part 😂😂😂😂

"What is it?" Nesta peered down the tunnel to one side, then the other.

Bryce rubbed the back of her aching head and sat up. "Oh, nothing. Just your usual predator-in-the-night warrior, staring at me while I sleep."

"You weren't sleeping," Azriel said, faint amusement in his voice.

Bryce was insufferable but her commentary was fucking hilarious. PREDATOR IN THE NIGHT WARRIOR 😭😭

"Were you really watching her sleep?"

Azriel glowered. "When you say it like that, it sounds... unsavory."

At least he's self-aware.

"We defeated Hybern," Azriel confirmed. A glance toward Truth-Teller at his side. Then at Nesta. "Nesta beheaded the King of Hybern herself."

Bryce blinked. "Badass," she breathed.

It was a group effort but even in ACOSF no one gives Elain the credit (except Lucien in ACOWAR).

Nesta's back stiffened. "My mother would be thrashing in her grave if she knew I was a warrior-if she knew I wore trousers every single day and that I'm mated to a Fae male. I can't tell what would have horrified her more: me marrying a poor human man or becoming what I am now."

Nesta I'm so proud of you 🥹

Bryce jerked her chin toward Azriel. "You've got the broody look of someone with an awful mother, too. Care to share?"

Nesta snorted. "Az never talks about his mother, and neither will our friends, so I'm guessing she's even worse."

The Illyrian snarled softly, "My mother is anything but awful."

Nesta tensed, like she was surprised she'd gotten such a response from him. "I was joking. Az, I didn't even know-"

"I don't want to discuss this," Azriel cut her off coldly.

I'm so excited to meet Az's mother but I know learning of her story will break my heart. I think she might still be dealing with both physical and mental scars and that's why Az is fiercely protective of her, otherwise why would Cassian in ACOSF even think about if Az tried to convince his mother to come live in the Library.

"So that ... phone of yours," Nesta said suddenly, as if eager to change the subject for all their sakes. "You said earlier it has music inside it?"

Bryce's advantage here is music because she won over Nesta so easily (at least during this moment).

"Stone Mother" began playing, its rolling, thumping drums offsetting the wild, yet mellow, guitars. And then Josie's voice filled the tunnel, sharp and yet soaring, accented by Laurel's sweet, clear backups. The sound was foreign, earthy-haunting. In the span of a few notes, Bryce was back in her childhood bedroom in Nidaros, sprawled on the carpet, letting the sound of the music run over her for the first time.

This song had carried her through it all-through the years of pain and emptiness and rebuilding. It had carried her from light into darkness and then back into the light.

I don't know if the name choice for the song is intentional but if it's inspired by the myths it feels like an indirect nod to Theia/Fionn/Aidas (which we learn about soon after this scene) or even Ember/Randall/Autumn King.

This was one of my favorite dances. It's from a ballet called The Glass Coffin." Bryce hit play again, and the violins began.

This is definitely a nod to Vesperus who they found in a clear quartz sarcophagus 👀

Again, Nesta was silent, knees now clutched to her chest, staring into the darkness. As if she was dedicating every inch of herself to listening.

"This sounds like some of our music," Azriel murmured. Nesta shushed him.

Nesta is so entranced by it.

Two hours later, they were walking again. Maybe Azriel had been interested enough in the music that he'd let them linger.

He is a singer after all 😏

Nesta had clapped her hands over her ears at the screaming, wailing death metal, but Azriel had chuckled.

He'd probably get along with Ruhn and his idiot friends.

It comes at no surprise that Az in the modern world would be a metalhead.

Nesta had loved the classical stuff the best, and both of them had been intrigued by the pulsing, thumping club music. "That is what you dance to in your world?" Nesta asked. Bryce hadn't been able to tell if she was intrigued or dismayed. Azriel, at least, had seemed on board.

My mans was ready to break a leg right then and there in the tunnels I know it.

"So you guys have swords and stuff?"

"Something like that," Azriel hedged. He clearly wasn't going to enlighten her about their defenses.

"And your magic is ...”

"Don't push it," Azriel said, a hint of that earlier chill entering his voice.

Nesta's lips thinned at the tone, like she was remembering it, Like it didn't sit right with her.

Az's attitude switches up so fast even Nesta is wary of it. He needs a long holiday.

Bryce asked Nesta, "You have a mate, right?" She nodded to Azriel. "Do you?"

"No," Azriel said quickly, flatly.

"A partner or spouse?"

"No."

Bryce sighed. "Okay, then."

Azriel's wings twitched. "You're incurably nosy."

"I think that's the nicest thing you've said about me." Bryce winked at him.

Bryce hit him where it hurts the most 🤣 it's always fun to have confrontational characters interact with him because the IC tend to walk around eggshells when it comes to Az.

Nesta asked, "Without firstlight, would your world become like ours, do you think?"

Bryce considered. "I don't see another way to power our cars or phones, so... probably."

Post-apocalyptic Midgard in CC4.

"You can do good," Azriel warned, "while still being bad."

Bryce whistled. "I know a number of males back home who could only dream of delivering that sentence with such cool."

I wonder if this is more about him than anything else...

Nesta laughed again. "If you weren't our captive," she said, shaking her head, "I think 1 might like to call you a friend, Bryce Quinlan."

I knew if there was anyone who would have bonded with Bryce from ACOTAR, it would be Nesta.

Did it matter? The Fae in Midgard weren't her problem, and she didn't want them to be, but what if they could be more? Was such a change possible?

A lot of the resentment Bryce feels towards her the Fae in Midgard reminds me of how Az feels about the Illyrians.

Nesta went on, "I'm stronger, faster. Harder to kill. I don't see a downside to that."

"And the near-immortal life span isn't so bad, huh?" Bryce leased.

"I'm still adjusting to the idea of that," Nesta said, eyes on the tunnel ahead. "That time is so ... vast. The day-to-day versus the sprawl of centuries." She slid her attention to Azriel. "How do you deal with it?"

He was quiet for a moment before saying, "Find people you love-they make the time pass quickly." He caught Nesta's eye. and said a shade apologetically, "Especially if they'll forgive your occasional snapping at them over things that aren't their fault."

Something seemed to soften in Nesta's eyes-relief, perhaps, ar the extended olive branch. She said quietly, tentatively, "Nothing to forgive, Az."

I love this part so much!! Az and Nesta have such a special bond. Him including her among the people he loves 🥹 he's at least aware about his own faults.

But his words had lightened some of the remaining tension.

And his next ones finished the job entirely as he winked at Nesta. "And I've been told having children makes the time fly, too."

Nesta rolled her eyes, but Bryce didn't miss the gleam in them.

Nesta was willing to play-to get back to their normal dynamic.

She admitted, "I wouldn't know the first thing about how to raise a child." She pointed to herself. "Raised by a terrible mother, remember?"

"Doesn't mean you'll be one." Azriel said gently.

Azriel said I want Nessian babies 🤣

I just know Nesta would be a wonderful mother and it kind of reflects the reality of how a lot of people who've had toxic parents feel about having a family.

My mother was even worse to Feyre-and my sister has turned out to be..." She searched for the word. "A perfect mother."

This makes me happy 🥹 I miss Feyre

"What do you want to hear?" Bryce asked, opening her music library.

Nesta and Azriel swapped glances, and the male answered a bit sheepishly, "The music you play at your pleasure halls."

Bryce laughed. "Are you a club rat, Azriel?"

He glowered at her, earning a smirk from Nesta, but Bryce played one of her favorite dance tunes-a zippy blend of thumping bass and saxophones, of all things.

And as the three of them walked into the endless dark, she could have sworn she caught Azriel nodding along to the beat.

Az you're proving her point about being a club rat 🤣 I love that SJM emphasized not only Nesta's but Az's fondness for music.

She hid her smile and played song after song, until the battery on her phone drained to the dregs. Until tha ast, beauiful link to Midgard went dark and died.

No more music. No more pictures of Hunt.

This part hurts.

And with each mile onward, she could hear Azriel humming softly to himself. The rolling, wild melody of "Stone Mother" flowed off his lips, and she could have sworn even the shadows danced at the sound.

His shadows dancing to HIS SOUND 😭❤️ and there is only one other person who the shadows ever danced around.

I mentioned it before but one of my headcanons was about when Az is spying or on a mission and he's waiting somewhere, he sings and his shadows dance around him 🥹

#hofas spoilers #yaz reads hofas