All righty, cross-posting from AO3 and with some additions:

Beautiful prose per usual, Kenaz, and as always is the case with your fic, I become immersed in the storybecause of it. The imagery is fabulous, very atmospheric. In particular, I thought the way Tar-Míriel perceives the temptation to power, to be the ruling queen she thinks she would have been, as well as Sauron's exploiting her desire to have a child was really well-executed. You've done a great job of taking the reader (me!) into her headspace in this tight third person narrative, and that's no small achievement.

And this bit: "The bayberry scent became brighter, more prominent. A homely smell, like the woods at dawn." Heh. Dark Muse Approved™. You know, Maiarin scent and all that. :^)

So yes, all of the above.  And replying a bit, too:

"OMG, is the bayberry actually Dark Muse Approved™?! I feel like I want to put that on a giant banner!! Did you use it somewhere and I missed it?"

Heh.  Oh, yes, approved.  The idea of a bayberry (as symbolic of illusions) fragrance is very cool, but it's a more general concept of scent associated with the Maiar that tickles me (and something I've exploited quite a bit in my fic).  Tolkien wrote this wonderful oddity in Parma Eldalamberon 17:

In QUENYA, owing to close relations of the Eldar in Valinor with the Valar and other lesser spirits of their order, fana developed a special sense. It was applied to the visible bodily forms adopted by these spirits, when they took up their abode on Earth, as the normal "raiment" of their otherwise invisible being. In these fanar they were seen and known by the Eldar, to whom glimpses of other and more awe-inspiring manifestations were seldom given. But the Elves of Valinor asserted that unclad and unveiled the Valar were perceived by some among them as lights (of different hues) which their eyes could not tolerate; whereas the Maiar were usually invisible unclad, but their presence was revealed by their fragrance.

I've run with it, so it's a lot of fun to find another "smelly" Annatar!

"Also makes one wonder in general why Sauron didn't try that method to consolidate his power (though this is a concept central to Spiced Wine's work!"

Similar, but not quite the same, to a concept that's central to my work, too. :^)

At any rate, quite a good read, and major hat's off to you for writing this - I know that this was not in your comfort zone but you carried it off with aplomb. Well done!