Azriel honestly just stood there throughout the entire first half of ACOSF going “I shall offer to chaperone, I shall let them fuck like bunnies, I shall cockblock at certain times so they’re desperate for each other, and then let them go on sprees for days. This is how I win the Snowball War.”
Once upon a time there was a prince with golden hair and dark green eyes. He was happy, until a prince from a neighboring kingdom told him that his mother the Queen had been unfaithful to his father the King.
In despair, the prince purchased from a faerie woman a potion that would force his mother to tell the truth. But when he gave it to her, she swooned away, near to death. The royal physicians came, and in their silence, they cured the Queen, but they could not save the child who would have been the next prince or princess of the realm. And worse, the truth was soon revealed: the Queen had never been unfaithful to the King.
It was then that the prince learned that innocence lost cannot be regained. There are stains that cannot be washed away. Not after years of repentance. Not in a whole lifetime of regret.
A while back Cassie posted this unidentified snippet:
with this illustration by Cassandra Jean:
I have come to the conclusion these are probably Alastair and Thomas. Alastair dies in Thomas’ arms. Thomas devastated enrolls in the Scholomance, but while in there he regrets it. Long ago, Cassandra added this to her “TLH” pinterest board, with the caption “Thomas”:
In the Ghosts of the Shadowmarket short story called “The Lost World” Livvy finds a carving on Ty’s bedroom: “I did not choose this life” with a date: 1904 (remember Chain of Gold takes place in 1903)