lazarus

March 2007

Renee flashing a peace sign at Riko as she drives away with Jean just moved her up a slot on my favorite character rankings

I miss posting aftg memes on here (if u enjoy these there’s way more on my insta which is @allfortheexy btw)

neil josten

neil flirting with andrew

Neil Josten in one pic

Nathan at Neil

i fell to my knees in kmart

captive prince as shit i have on my phone

damen:

laurent:

lazar:

ancel:

erasmus:

literally everyone in the series:

Ancel: When I was young, I left a trail of broken hearts like a rockstar. I'm not proud of it.

Berenger: You're kind of proud of it. You work it into a lot of conversations.

Still really love this weirdo! Also a great excuse to draw octopus tentacles~

Most stupid and lovely, isn't he?

Trying new colours

james st clair & violet ballard

One thing I haven't seen much mention of so far is the dynamic between James and Cyprian throughout Dark Heir.

While, yes, there is a lot of sniping and distrust between them, more than once, James seeks Cyprian out, as if trying to connect with him. He finds Cyprian in the stable to say he understands how hard it is to adjust to the outside world, and later, after Cyprian kneels to Ettore, James seeks him out.

Of course, neither conversation goes well--James is James, and Cyprian has no interest in hearing anything he says after what happened with Marcus--but it's noteworthy that James is trying.

James also constantly calls him "little brother." And, on the surface, it's easy enough to read it as James mocking Cyprian, knowing Cyprian doesn't want to have any connection to him, a reminder of growing up in James's shadow after he fled the Hall.

But I think it's safe to say that James is lonely. His own father wanted to kill him when he was eleven years old for something he didn't understand and had no control over. (I keep thinking about the way James wonders if his father would be proud while he's holding the gate open, and my heart aches.) He ended up with Sinclair, who took him in not because he was a child with nowhere to go but because he would be useful.

Over and over, we see James held apart from everyone else because of who he is--and who his master is. People are either afraid of him, objectifying him, or trying to use him. Cyprian is the closest thing he has left to family.

(Does James feel like his father replaced him with Marcus and Cyprian? Does he resent them for having a relationship with his father? Was he cruel to Marcus out of that hurt? Is my heart breaking at the thought?)

Meanwhile, Cyprian doesn't like having to pretend to be James's servant, of course, but when a servant comes to summon them to breakfast in Sloane's tent, the man calls James "Anharion" and Cyprian "had a strange expression on his face" as he stares at James and says, "They really call you that?" That's not the only time we see him react to James's treatment, as though on the verge of realizing the ugliness of James's life.

The way he keeps pushing back on James, I think, is not just his anger at James's actions but also not wanting to feel empathy for him. Cyprian was raised in the black and white (light and dark) thinking of the Stewards, and he's only just now learning about the gray areas of life--where it's becoming increasingly clear the Light and Dark, Dark King and Sun King, Sarcean and Anharion and the Lady, Lion and Champion dynamics are all falling.

(Will he recognize that drinking from the Cup and taking on a shadow of his own puts him squarely in the gray alongside Will and James? I hope so.)