"The cauldron chose three sisters. Tell me how it's possible that my two brothers are with two of those sisters, yet the third was given to another"
"He hadn't gotten that far with his planning, certainly not beyond the fantasies he pleasured himself to"
Them: "yes, this is peek romance! How dare you think he only lusts after her? He clearly loves her, why else would he want to be only her mate?"
You’re saying the thoughts in my brain!
I’ve seen a counterargument to Az calling Elain “the third”. That he’s simply speaking in prophecy. So I’ll avoid focusing on that as an issue because who knows, maybe that’s all it was.
But.....
Let’s not forget this, shall we?
“Wouldn’t the mating bond have snapped into place for them if it exists?”
Rhys’s eyes shuttered. “I think that is a question Azriel has been asking himself every day since he met Mor.”
Prophecy or not, Az has a history of wondering why females he’s fixated on are not his mate. First we have the female he pined over for 500+ years. The male who probably knows Az better than anyone acknowledges that he’s had this exact same question for someone else for centuries.
To top off that insult to Az’s self esteem, his two brothers were matched perfectly with two of the three sisters. Not only couldn’t he get the female he wanted as his mate but now he’s left out of the sisters being with the brothers situation. That right there is a problem. Because if Elain wanted him and he wanted Elain and they were in love, then should the mating bond really be his concern? If what he says is true, that Elain doesn’t want anything to do with Lucien and he’s in the free and clear to be with her because of it, then why does anything else matter? Why is the mating bond the focus of his conversation with Rhys? He should be talking to his brother about having fallen for her, that he doesn’t care that they aren’t mated because he just wants her, that he realizes whatever he thought he felt for Mor doesn’t compare to what he’s feeling for Elain. Maybe saying anything at all about Mor to reassure everyone that he’s over her.
I really don’t know why it’s confusing as to how that conversation could and should have gone if it involved actual feelings on Azriel’s part.
And seriously, hadn’t thought beyond the fantasies he pleasured himself too? That’s literally him announcing that Elain is spank bank material but not much beyond that. It does not matter that he stares at her gift. It doesn’t matter that he avoids her. None of that matters when after all of that, he’s come right out to tell us that his thoughts of her have not gone further than sex and wondering how he got the short end of the stick in mating bonds once again. There wasn’t mention of how he longed to share a life with her, how he envisioned her with his own children some day, how he’s been trying to figure out ways to tell his family how he wants a chance to be with her. These are ROMANCE books, not erotica. Romance can have smut but it’s also supposed to have an emotionally satisfying love story and nothing about what Az said to Rhys satisfied my romance loving little heart.
I definitely want any male love interest to be highly attracted to the female. I love it and the more graphic the better. But there’s a big difference between a male love interest having those thoughts along with wanting to do right by her in other ways and a male love interest who is acting like she’s good for only one thing and is unable to reassure his friend that there's more to it than that.