Nesta said this:

"And what do you deserve?"

"certainly more than a bastard-born nobody"

“I told you to stay the hell away from me, and if you—”

"Move." "Hello, Nes." "Move." "Gladly."

“I will not accept it.” She placed the orb back in its box and handed it to him. “Return it.”

“I am not with you,” she snapped. “I am fucking you.”

His eyes shuttered. “It’s a gift, not a fucking wedding ring.”

She stiffened. “No, I’ll look to Eris for that.”

But meant this:

Nesta said hoarsely, “You are good, Cassian. And you are brave, and brilliant, and kind. I could kill anyone who has ever made you feel less than that—less than what you are. And I know I’m a part of that group, and I hate it.” Her eyes burned, but she fought past it. “You are everything I have never been, and will never be good enough for. Your friends know it, and I have carried it around with me all this time—that I do not deserve you.”

But people still wonder why we don't believe the way Elain responds to Lucien is to be taken at face value?

I have never seen a SJM endgame couple have an easy start to their relationship. I'm not saying she can't break trend but I'd love to see an example of any couple that she's written who haven't had a questionable beginning to the point that it looked like both characters were uncomfortable or uncertain around one another. If anything, I'd be more nervous about the fact that E/riels interactions were sweet and calm based on SJM's pattern.