So I'm re-reading the bonus chapter and apparently Azriel thought of 'A thing of secret, lovely beauty' twice. First time with Elain and the second time after handing the necklace to Clotho.
All along I've been seen Gwynriels floating with this quote, saying Gwyn is the secret, lovely beauty...but on rereading, I'm understanding it is the necklace.
What do we think this is? A thing of secret, lovely beauty?
So, I only came across this on X today (some of you might have seen it), and while it could very well be just a rumour, I thought it was worth discussing.
I actually like the idea of two bonds and a blood duel. What I don't like is Azriel potentially losing a part of himself only for Elain to choose Lucien.
I've seen comments saying this rejection will be the ultimate door opener for Gwynriel and I just don't like it.
Who else thinks we might get Lucien’s POV mainly to see what’s happening with Vassa and therefore, eventually lead to Vassien?
Because when you look at ToG, a lot of the couples ended up developing feelings mainly because they were constantly around each other (Proximity played the matchmaker). So let’s look at how much proximity each of the expected ACOTAR 6/7/8 ships might actually have:
GWYNRIEL
Minimal interaction. They’ll probably only interact during training and even that depends on Azriel helping Cassian. We already know Azriel’s main role in the NC is spying, so with another upcoming war, I can’t see him having a huge amount of time to dedicate to training with the valkyries (Gwyn)
VASSIEN
This one is pretty self explanatory. Lucien sets out to track Vassa, spends more time in the human lands and eventually becomes close to her. Their friendship could naturally develop into something more. It even reached a point where Lucien chose to distance himself from Elain and stay in the human lands with Vassa. Obviously, I could be completely wrong about where SJM takes it, but the setup for proximity is definitely there.
ELUCIEN
Medium interaction. They could obviously spend more time together, but a lot of their interactions would probably be complicated by the whole mating bond situation and the discomfort surrounding it.
ELRIEL
Maximum proximity, even if they aren’t constantly interacting physically. Nuan and Cerridwen are constantly around Elain, and they can give Azriel feedback about what’s happening with he while he's away. So even if Azriel and Elain themselves aren’t together all the time, there’s still a connection keeping him informed about her. Let's not forget Elain could make a good spy (end up working with Az) and is also a seer. She keeps secrets
So looking at expected proximities, Vassien & Elriel has a LOT more potential than the others
Sidenote: Btw, if Sjm disappoints us, are we open to Elucien?