WEBVTT

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Welcome to your safe space. The podcast, your

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partner, friends, parents, whoever thinks it's

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dirty. Don't have time to read books? Want to

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understand all the jokes and the TikToks? We

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got you fam. We're the spice traders and we deal

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in spicy books. I'm Katie and I need it to make

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sense. I'm Liz and I'm hypercritical. Before

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we get to today's episode, we want to encourage

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you to check out our Patreon, where we publish

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extra episodes every other week, as well as ad

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-free versions of our regular feed episodes.

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Also, any series we read past the first book,

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all that coverage is Patreon only, so think series

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like Akatar, Fourthwing, Guild. Anyway, we really

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appreciate the support and encouragement to continue

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doing something we love and sharing it with you.

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Thanks in advance for checking that out. As always,

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we start this episode with three things. First

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is a generic trigger warning. You can find specific

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triggers for this book in our show notes, so

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please check those out. We also use foul language

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and talk a lot about sex. If you have sensitivity

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to either of those things, our podcast probably

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isn't for you. Second, our episodes talk about

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books, the whole book, nothing but the book,

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so help me goddess. If you don't want something

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spoiled, don't listen to this episode. And finally,

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we acknowledge that a good book can hit you at

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the wrong time. Our views discussed in our episodes

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are our opinion, and we don't want to diminish

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the work or the talents of the authors in our

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community. That said, we have some notes. What

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are we talking about today? Today we are talking

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about part two of two of amid cloud and cloud

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clouds amid plural amid clouds and bones by Ella

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Fields. Not quite a blank. I wish it was cloud

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and bones. Yeah, I think cloud and bone. It's

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not a blank, a blank, a blank, which I'm so mad

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we didn't call it out on a queen of myth and

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monsters. We're so. Out of touch. We've lost

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it. I don't know what we were thinking. It didn't

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even occur to me. And I think you said this,

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I think, when we were texting, you were like,

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I think maybe we're just desensitized to it.

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I think that's it. I think that's it, too, because

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it only occurred to me when I was making TikTok

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posts and I had to like type it out. And I was

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like, God damn it. Well, I'm disappointed. Yeah.

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Well, I'm disappointed. I'm sure that book three

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will be similarly named a blank, a blank, a blank.

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So. Hopefully, if book three exists, I message

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Scarlett Sinclair. She's super active on Instagram.

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She hasn't answered yet. I messaged her and I

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tried to message her through her website, but

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I kept getting an error message and I'm saying

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that that it was super dumb because there was

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like a. It's one of those like prove you're not

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a robot things and it literally says five plus

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three. So I put in the correct number, and then

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it gives you an error. It's like must be one.

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I'm like, but that's not one. That's not the

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answer. It's eight. Like, can I put eight ones?

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It's eight. But it would only let me put in one.

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And then I would get an error. It was like system

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error. And I was like, what? Yeah, because that's

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not the answer, damn it. Yeah. But I wouldn't

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accept eight. It was very strange. Well, I'm

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looking forward to see if she comes back. But

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anyway, back to this part. Back to amid clouds

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and bones. Amid clouds and bones. Plural clouds.

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Plural bones. Blones. Wow. Blones. Kind of a

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rough day for my mouth today. Sorry about that.

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Mouth sounds. So yeah, this is part two of two.

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We're going to be covering chapters 19 plus.

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And then at the end of this, we'll do our ratings

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of the book. We talked about this in our debrief,

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but like it's been a minute since I finished

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this book and I've already started the next book,

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which is wildly different. So like I'm I'm desperately

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like trying to crawl my way back into the headspace

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that this book had me in. I know I've already

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finished the next book, which has never happened

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before, and it's only because we're recording

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tomorrow. I got to tell you, I don't know. Yeah,

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the middle chunk here, it's. It'll come back

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to us. It'll come back. It'll come back. So when

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we last left our heroine, Mildred, which I know

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is your favorite name, she was in, she was essentially

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in enemy territory, right? And so this whole

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prophecy thing is like this king of the the bonelands,

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Vane. wants her to fall in love with him because

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that will break this spell that's on his land.

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So the spell being the kind of physical witchy

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barrier that's like entrapping people in their

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homeland. She has decided to finally give this

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a shot and so she said you're going to take me

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on a picnic and so they go. We get this like

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pre -departure scene of Dahlia and Mildred in

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the kitchen and it's like Dahlia's never been

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in a kitchen before because she's putting together

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a sandwich in a way that makes negative amounts

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of sense. This scene made Dahlia feel very Manic

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Pixie Dream Girl. Yeah. There's just like chunks

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of cheese and like the sandwiches make sense

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but there's like too much focus on her like cutting

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cheese. Right well and like I don't, maybe this

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is a me problem, but the way that Mildred was

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like watching Dahlia and she was commenting,

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she's like, there's too much cheese and there's

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too much butter. I'm like, I've never met a sandwich

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that has too much of either of those things.

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I know. And the only thing that I was trying

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to think about is like, what kind of sandwich

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is this? Because if it's like a cold ham sandwich,

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I don't really want a lot of butter on that.

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But if it's like a grilled cheese. Yeah, I mean,

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unless it's like the the French kind where it's

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like soft butter and like really good ham, like

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I'll take that as a sandwich. Yeah, but that

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sounds great. The only way that I could picture

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this being like bad is if it's literally like

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a chunk of cheese with like squash in bread,

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like not good. Yeah, or like cubes of cheese

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and cubes of cold butter. Right. Oh, God, that's

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terrible. But it also doesn't make sense to me

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because it's like. Dahlia is trying to do this.

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There are literally people who work in the kitchen.

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I don't know why Dahlia is doing it. I also don't

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know if she's never seen a sandwich before in

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her life, but it's not that hard to figure out.

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So like this was just a weird scene. It is a

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weird scene. And I also, I just want to call

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out, you mentioned as a part one, there's some

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things that just, I mean, my ratings are pretty

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good for this book, but there's some things that

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just like don't quite make sense. And this scene

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is one of them. Like Dahlia is doing this nice

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thing, but she's also kind of being like abrasive

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to Mildred. There's, like, this weird tension

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there that doesn't make sense to me. Yeah, well,

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it's very clear that, like, Dahlia and, like,

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other people are, like, really hoping this love

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blossoms, right, so that they can get out of

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the situation. And so, like, Dahlia is trying

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to encourage her to do that in, like, a high

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-stakes way, which I think is where that tone

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comes from, right? Like, it makes sense for the

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characters, but it's uncomfortable. Yeah, it's

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almost like she's threatening Mildred, and I'm

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like, okay. Okay. Interestingly in this conversation,

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Delia gives some more context on Marona, who

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is the woman who is sitting next to Vane at dinner.

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Apparently they've known each other for decades.

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Marona is enamored of Vane, but he quote, believes

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it a waste to invest all of his heart in someone

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when he might one day be forced to sever ties.

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essentially like he's waiting for somebody to

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be gifted to him as a mate, which is like, when

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you put it like that, gross. It's super gross,

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especially because I thought, I thought mates

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are pretty rare. So the way that he phrases this

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is pretty gross. Right, exactly. She phrases

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it, I mean. It's also a weird thing to say to

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Mildred who's like supposedly supposed to fall

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in love with this person who's also holding like

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saving himself for a mate that the gods haven't

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delivered yet. Like what, which is it? Do we

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think that you guys are supposed to be mated?

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Like what is happening here actually? Yeah. I

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don't know. So Dahlia does. So going back to

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Dahlia's weird tone, she says flat out quote,

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some think you don't care to even try to break

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this curse. And Mildred admits it. She's like,

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I don't. Like, why would I care? It's not my

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problem. It's not my problem. Yeah. Which I appreciated

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that you said. And Daley is almost offended by

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this. I was like, girl, I just met all of you.

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I'm not invested in this. Also, your problems

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are not my problems. Sorry. No. I fully have

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a fiance that I'm actually pretty into. Right.

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So the picnic itself is. Probably the most charming

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and disarming that Vane's been, like, he... He

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definitely presents as much more of a person,

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whereas before he's been kind of like this brooding,

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bureaucratic person. Like, it's very clear that

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he's a ruler when they've been interacting before,

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but this gets closer to him being a person. Which

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I think was really masterfully done because I...

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Even in the moment, I was like, not sure if this

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is a manipulation or not. I know, it was really

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well executed. As they go to the picnic spot

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and as they're in the picnic spot, this is an

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opportunity for Mildred to see the bonelands

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firsthand ever. And she realizes that rather

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than being dry and dusty like its name might

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imply, it's actually lush and very green inverted

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here. It's almost described as being jungle -like,

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which I thought was an interesting like. place

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to call the bonelands. I know. It was very interesting.

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And I like that they have the vibe of what the

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bonelands are supposed to be to everyone else.

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Like there's a blood river and it's dark and

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spooky. And it's like, no, it's actually really

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nice. It's a nice place. It's really fine. Like

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it's, you know, a jungle. That's it. Yeah. As

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they're picnicking, they talk about the mountains

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that surround this land. That's part of the reason

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why Vane has never been super concerned about

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being invaded because the mountains are really

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hard to cross, despite the fact, like, in addition

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to that magical barrier. But he also shares that

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Pytherions... Pyth... Pyth... Pytherions? What

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did you say? I read it as Pytherians. Pytherians?

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Okay. I don't know if that's right, but that's

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how I read it. Pytherians? English is stupid.

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Py... Say it again? Pytherians? Pytherians, okay.

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Pytherions? I'm psyching myself up. Pytherians.

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Pythons. Pytherians. Yeah, there you go. So,

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Pytherians are basically dragons with like a

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snake body, and there's a lot of them. They're

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bonded to the ashbone bloodline, which is Vane's

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bloodline, and his wings are kind of the evidence

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for that, because his family line even once shifted

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into Pytharions as a part of their magic. Mildred

00:11:21.830 --> 00:11:23.730
is intrigued by these, and so she asks to go

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see the Pytharions. And Vane surprisingly is

00:11:26.210 --> 00:11:28.309
like, sure, great. When do you want to go? And

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she's like, tomorrow? And he's like, OK, great,

00:11:30.690 --> 00:11:34.250
let's go. I was also surprised by him being like,

00:11:34.529 --> 00:11:38.250
sure. Yeah, sure. He does kind of hesitate because

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he has plans that he can move, and he says that.

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But this prompts Mildred to think about like,

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all of the ways that she's kind of being shoehorned

00:11:45.929 --> 00:11:49.409
into Vane's life. And she thinks about, specifically,

00:11:49.629 --> 00:11:54.629
Morona and asks if Vane fucked her when she visited

00:11:54.629 --> 00:11:58.830
last. Like, she literally says, quote, Fair question.

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Did you intend to fuck your friend during her

00:12:01.509 --> 00:12:06.110
visit? Because, like, we're on a date and I just

00:12:06.110 --> 00:12:11.269
want to know. Right. So Vane kind of circumvents

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this question altogether. He doesn't answer it

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specifically. He just gives her more information

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about Marona. He says that she's more than like

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a special friend. She's a spy who shapeshifts

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into insects and they're preparing for war. And

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so she's got a lot of good information to give

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him. And so that's why he spends time with her.

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And I'm like, that's not that is unanswered.

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That's not it's an answer to a different question.

00:12:35.629 --> 00:12:37.610
Yeah, that's an answer to a question I didn't

00:12:37.610 --> 00:12:42.960
ask. Correct. They go on to talk about Vane's

00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:45.879
mother, Calista. So Calista remembers the queen

00:12:45.879 --> 00:12:47.639
that started this whole war. She's the Helen

00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:50.899
of Troy. Well, I mean, that's victim blaming

00:12:50.899 --> 00:12:53.179
a little bit. It's the Menses in the story who

00:12:53.179 --> 00:12:58.600
can't like reign it in. Yeah. Anyway. But listen.

00:12:59.580 --> 00:13:03.080
Vane says that his father loved Calista, quote,

00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:06.059
instantly and madly. And he uses that to kind

00:13:06.059 --> 00:13:08.480
of justify why his father did what he did. And

00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:11.120
he also shares that when Vorks, his father, was

00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:14.100
killed, his corpse turned up with his heart missing,

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and the cavity packed with someone else's innards,

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which is really gross. Yeah, that seemed unnecessary

00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:23.940
to be that gross. Right. So then they've been

00:13:23.940 --> 00:13:27.059
having a nice time on this picnic, and Vane asks

00:13:27.059 --> 00:13:29.960
to kiss Mildred. And Mildred's like, sure. And

00:13:29.960 --> 00:13:31.820
he's taking his time about it and being really

00:13:31.820 --> 00:13:35.450
sweet, and she's not really into that. And she

00:13:35.450 --> 00:13:39.129
can't really decide if it's because she doesn't

00:13:39.129 --> 00:13:41.149
like it and she prefers the way that Attican

00:13:41.149 --> 00:13:44.870
treats her or if she's just unfamiliar with,

00:13:44.870 --> 00:13:47.710
like, tender affection. And so she climbs into

00:13:47.710 --> 00:13:49.230
his lap and is like, are you going to kiss me

00:13:49.230 --> 00:13:54.190
properly or not? And because of that, Vane correctly

00:13:54.190 --> 00:13:57.669
surmises that Attican did not treat her kindly.

00:13:57.789 --> 00:14:01.389
That's his words. And Mildred doesn't deny it.

00:14:01.389 --> 00:14:05.460
She also doesn't, like, defend Attican, and Vane

00:14:05.460 --> 00:14:09.720
surmises that Mildred liked that treatment. I

00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:16.379
mean, yeah, she did. Right. So he does end up

00:14:16.379 --> 00:14:19.460
kissing her and kisses her harder, draws blood,

00:14:20.139 --> 00:14:21.980
which Mildred describes as, quote, sweetness

00:14:21.980 --> 00:14:24.500
veiled in brutality, which is exactly what she

00:14:24.500 --> 00:14:27.200
likes. But she can't help but admit even inwardly

00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:30.879
that it feels. different, right? She's still

00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:32.639
thinking about Attican when she's with Vane.

00:14:32.840 --> 00:14:36.200
I wonder why that is. I wonder why that is, huh?

00:14:36.580 --> 00:14:38.220
So the next day, they go to the Skeleton Mountains,

00:14:38.299 --> 00:14:42.860
and they visit the Pytharians. Pytharians. Pythagorean.

00:14:43.240 --> 00:14:47.700
Pythagorean. Pythagorean theorems. They do sexy

00:14:47.700 --> 00:14:50.059
math. They do sexy math. They do Pytharians,

00:14:50.080 --> 00:14:51.860
and they do it naked. No, I wish that was what

00:14:51.860 --> 00:14:55.320
they were doing. I know, right? So they go. They

00:14:55.320 --> 00:14:57.299
go to the mountains. There's this military base

00:14:57.299 --> 00:14:59.200
up there. And Mildred's kind of like, why are

00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:01.220
you showing me the military base? And she realizes

00:15:01.220 --> 00:15:03.639
it's because Vane is fully convinced that he's

00:15:03.639 --> 00:15:05.080
going to make her fall in love, and she's not

00:15:05.080 --> 00:15:06.860
going to be a threat. And she's like, OK. That's

00:15:06.860 --> 00:15:09.940
a little cocky. Which is a wild choice, my guy.

00:15:10.299 --> 00:15:14.240
Such a wild choice. And also, like, Everybody

00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:17.159
around him sees it as a wild choice. They show

00:15:17.159 --> 00:15:19.820
up and a commander is like, what the fuck is

00:15:19.820 --> 00:15:23.000
happening? Why would you bring her here and tell

00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:26.320
her our whole plan? She's literally betrothed

00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:32.720
to your enemy's son. Idiot. So they go through

00:15:32.720 --> 00:15:35.659
this facility and we get to see the Patherians,

00:15:36.200 --> 00:15:42.789
specifically the Alpha. I was like, what is the

00:15:42.789 --> 00:15:46.389
opposite of male? The alpha male, no. It's a

00:15:46.389 --> 00:15:48.830
woman, but it's not a human. Anyway, they see

00:15:48.830 --> 00:15:53.029
the alpha female, Sorella, who is apparently

00:15:53.029 --> 00:15:56.610
like bonded to Vane. She's huge. She comes right

00:15:56.610 --> 00:15:58.629
up close to both of them. Mildred is fucking

00:15:58.629 --> 00:16:02.870
terrified and also in awe. And she realizes that

00:16:02.870 --> 00:16:06.710
like, if this barrier falls and these things

00:16:06.710 --> 00:16:10.509
invade, the Sealy Court, like they're fucked.

00:16:12.250 --> 00:16:14.370
Yeah, so it's not so much that we need the barrier

00:16:14.370 --> 00:16:16.129
to fall, that way we can be free, but we need

00:16:16.129 --> 00:16:18.789
the barrier to fall to fuck up the Sealy Court.

00:16:19.210 --> 00:16:23.809
Right, exactly. And she tells, so this prompts

00:16:23.809 --> 00:16:26.450
Miltred to tell him flat out, she's like... Look,

00:16:26.450 --> 00:16:28.870
you're breeding this army for no reason. And

00:16:28.870 --> 00:16:31.070
the reason that she says that is because Attican

00:16:31.070 --> 00:16:32.850
doesn't have a heart. She's like, he's not in

00:16:32.850 --> 00:16:35.149
love with me. There's no heart to steal. Even

00:16:35.149 --> 00:16:36.870
if I fall in love with you, I'm not going to

00:16:36.870 --> 00:16:41.889
be able to give you what you want. But interestingly,

00:16:42.350 --> 00:16:45.610
Vane says, quote, my sources have told a very

00:16:45.610 --> 00:16:50.129
different story. It does make me wonder what

00:16:50.129 --> 00:16:52.190
Attican is doing this whole time she's missing,

00:16:52.250 --> 00:16:55.159
because I just. I mean, we learn later. But he's

00:16:55.159 --> 00:16:56.899
not just sitting at home being like, well, that

00:16:56.899 --> 00:16:58.860
was fun for a while. Yeah, that was fun while

00:16:58.860 --> 00:17:00.539
it lasted. I guess I'll go back to being my fuck

00:17:00.539 --> 00:17:03.159
-boy self. That's not what's happening. And I

00:17:03.159 --> 00:17:06.400
feel like this book delivered the what he was

00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:09.000
doing while this was happening really subtly.

00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:11.000
And I wanted it to be a little bit more of a

00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:14.180
hard landing. Yeah, it was almost too subtle.

00:17:14.359 --> 00:17:17.099
And I think that leads to this book ends. And

00:17:17.099 --> 00:17:19.859
I just felt like it was kind of anticlimactic.

00:17:20.220 --> 00:17:23.420
Like stuff happens. But then it's like, it's

00:17:23.420 --> 00:17:26.660
over and it's fine. Right. We don't really get

00:17:26.660 --> 00:17:30.539
like a big, I mean, they talk about it a lot,

00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:33.140
but I just, the reunion between the two of them

00:17:33.140 --> 00:17:35.880
just feels like it's a little bit understated.

00:17:36.779 --> 00:17:39.940
Yes. Anyway, before Meldred can process that

00:17:39.940 --> 00:17:43.559
information, Sirwin arrives and he clearly has

00:17:43.559 --> 00:17:45.559
bad news, but Vane ends up delivering the news

00:17:45.559 --> 00:17:47.839
himself and tells her, quote, your father and

00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:51.980
stepmother have been murdered. He goes on to

00:17:51.980 --> 00:17:54.700
say that a sword bearing Ethermore's crest has

00:17:54.700 --> 00:17:57.700
been left in the carriage roof, like a statement,

00:17:57.799 --> 00:18:00.220
a very clear statement to make it look like Garen's

00:18:00.220 --> 00:18:04.539
doing, Garen being Attican's father. And Miltred

00:18:04.539 --> 00:18:06.259
just kind of takes this at face value, but this

00:18:06.259 --> 00:18:09.700
felt to me like, uh, in the, um, the Anastasia

00:18:09.700 --> 00:18:11.559
book when they were like, you definitely killed

00:18:11.559 --> 00:18:14.519
this person. So live with that. That's absolutely

00:18:14.519 --> 00:18:16.099
a fact. Don't ask a question of it or a follow

00:18:16.099 --> 00:18:19.079
up. I was like, whoa. I was like, I feel like

00:18:19.079 --> 00:18:21.599
we should ask a follow -up personally. I personally

00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:23.240
feel like we should ask a follow -up question.

00:18:24.339 --> 00:18:28.720
Yeah. But they don't. Not yet. Mildred is obviously

00:18:28.720 --> 00:18:32.259
wrecked. I mean, there's no love lost for her

00:18:32.259 --> 00:18:34.099
stepmother, but her father and her were really

00:18:34.099 --> 00:18:36.440
close. And she realizes now that she's never

00:18:36.440 --> 00:18:38.359
going to get to interact with him ever again.

00:18:38.420 --> 00:18:43.779
So three days of numbness follow. It's a good

00:18:43.779 --> 00:18:45.660
depiction of grief. It's just a little bit like.

00:18:46.259 --> 00:18:49.279
I don't know how her grief was different from

00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:53.279
her days before the grief. Because she just still

00:18:53.279 --> 00:18:56.619
sits around alone. Right. She just doesn't read

00:18:56.619 --> 00:19:00.000
books. She's like catatonic almost. She's like

00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:03.019
staring out the window. I know. And it's like,

00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:05.500
I don't know. Everybody deals with grief differently.

00:19:05.720 --> 00:19:08.259
But like, this is not materially different from

00:19:08.259 --> 00:19:11.180
who you are outside of grief. So I'd like, no.

00:19:11.779 --> 00:19:13.900
OK. The only thing that I thought was kind of

00:19:13.900 --> 00:19:17.990
cute is that. Vane brings her dinner every day

00:19:17.990 --> 00:19:20.170
and sits with her, even though she doesn't eat

00:19:20.170 --> 00:19:22.289
and doesn't make her talk or anything. So you

00:19:22.289 --> 00:19:25.289
kind of see those, oh, relationship forming.

00:19:27.190 --> 00:19:29.710
Yeah, it's very clear that Vane, and then Dahlia,

00:19:29.750 --> 00:19:31.250
is also described as bringing her breakfast,

00:19:31.349 --> 00:19:34.609
I think. But there is definitely care being performed

00:19:34.609 --> 00:19:37.430
here, which is something that she has not experienced

00:19:37.430 --> 00:19:44.259
before, really. Yeah, well, oof. Yeah, oof. So

00:19:44.259 --> 00:19:46.319
after a couple of days veins like okay, you've

00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:47.559
been grieving enough we need to get out of the

00:19:47.559 --> 00:19:50.839
house So come with me to Lord stones hideout

00:19:50.839 --> 00:19:53.400
and this is like in the capital city. So they

00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:57.319
go there ostensibly for dinner and to like Meet

00:19:57.319 --> 00:19:58.920
up. I'm like, why didn't he just come to you

00:19:58.920 --> 00:20:00.920
girl? Like this isn't I don't know why they went

00:20:00.920 --> 00:20:03.430
there I don't know why they went there either,

00:20:03.650 --> 00:20:06.210
just to change the scenery, which I appreciate

00:20:06.210 --> 00:20:08.970
that we're not in a black box, but there's no

00:20:08.970 --> 00:20:11.289
reason to go there. Yeah, there's no reason to

00:20:11.289 --> 00:20:13.230
go there. Vane, you're the king. May people come

00:20:13.230 --> 00:20:18.009
to you. Right. If there was something that they

00:20:18.009 --> 00:20:22.410
had a. A mood board or like there was something

00:20:22.410 --> 00:20:24.329
they were building here that like Vane had to

00:20:24.329 --> 00:20:26.289
see but there's it's literally just an empty

00:20:26.289 --> 00:20:29.589
Like apartment shabby apartment that's spelled.

00:20:29.589 --> 00:20:32.430
I guess so nobody can like listen in it was very

00:20:32.430 --> 00:20:36.730
strange Yeah So they go on to have a conversation

00:20:36.730 --> 00:20:39.369
about their plans for eventually invading the

00:20:39.369 --> 00:20:42.609
seely realm and they have no problem Discussing

00:20:42.609 --> 00:20:44.789
this in front of Mildred and Mildred correctly

00:20:44.789 --> 00:20:47.210
reads that as them assuming she'll never leave

00:20:47.210 --> 00:20:50.990
the realm, which she's just like Awesome. I love

00:20:50.990 --> 00:20:53.710
that for me. Cool. Which, I mean, I guess that's

00:20:53.710 --> 00:20:55.809
kind of fair, because she used her Featherbone.

00:20:55.890 --> 00:20:57.970
Like, how would she leave unless Vayne took her

00:20:57.970 --> 00:21:02.170
out? Yeah. I mean, so they kind of bury the lead

00:21:02.170 --> 00:21:04.769
here a little bit. And we'll get to it pretty

00:21:04.769 --> 00:21:08.089
quickly. But Lord Stone, because he's nobility,

00:21:08.490 --> 00:21:13.750
can actually, I guess, teleport. I forget what

00:21:13.750 --> 00:21:15.509
they call it here. But he can teleport in and

00:21:15.509 --> 00:21:20.319
out of the woods. Yeah. So like he's an option

00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:22.440
for her to get to get out vein can technically

00:21:22.440 --> 00:21:24.779
teleport out of the words because she asks Like

00:21:24.779 --> 00:21:27.079
if she can go to the funeral like for her parents

00:21:27.079 --> 00:21:29.180
and he's like, I can't do that. I'm sorry, you

00:21:29.180 --> 00:21:31.960
know, I can't let you do that. I Can't let you

00:21:31.960 --> 00:21:34.299
leave. Sorry. Sorry about that. You're my war

00:21:34.299 --> 00:21:40.259
prisoner, right? I Don't remember. Oh It's remained

00:21:40.259 --> 00:21:42.819
to her never leaving. I think it's I think it's

00:21:42.819 --> 00:21:45.740
also interesting that like because Vayne is so

00:21:45.740 --> 00:21:47.880
convinced that she'll fall in love with him that

00:21:47.880 --> 00:21:50.119
everybody else is like, yeah, she's halfway there.

00:21:50.180 --> 00:21:53.700
You're good. Which they've been on one date and

00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:55.980
they kissed once. Everyone needs to calm down,

00:21:56.200 --> 00:21:58.339
Vayne included. But it is interesting in this

00:21:58.339 --> 00:22:00.259
because they talk about how the wards have started

00:22:00.259 --> 00:22:04.500
to crack. So it is implied that her softening

00:22:04.500 --> 00:22:06.859
towards Vayne and the kiss and things like that

00:22:06.859 --> 00:22:12.940
are working. Yeah, one again. I wish we landed

00:22:12.940 --> 00:22:15.180
more about like what Attican was doing because

00:22:15.180 --> 00:22:18.099
if he did love her her going missing is enough

00:22:18.099 --> 00:22:21.380
to break his heart right like uh -huh the rules

00:22:21.380 --> 00:22:25.119
of that magic are a little Vague and like we

00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:29.799
get more answers kind of but it's it is working

00:22:29.799 --> 00:22:33.990
From what it appears right exactly And she definitely

00:22:33.990 --> 00:22:37.089
likes Vane. She's not opposed to him. She does.

00:22:37.470 --> 00:22:41.569
And we'll see soon how much she was almost in

00:22:41.569 --> 00:22:43.069
like with him. So they're at dinner. They're

00:22:43.069 --> 00:22:45.789
talking about their plans. And they divulge in

00:22:45.789 --> 00:22:48.730
front of Mildred that part of their plan has

00:22:48.730 --> 00:22:52.509
had them place Pithirian eggs around Cloud Castle

00:22:52.509 --> 00:22:56.140
and the capital city. They do this because quote,

00:22:56.160 --> 00:22:58.720
Pytharions breathe fire when enraged. And so

00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:00.480
they're essentially using these eggs as bait

00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:02.619
so that when the walls come down, the Pytharions

00:23:02.619 --> 00:23:05.039
will storm the city, set it on fire, trying to

00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:07.240
find their young, which have been effectively

00:23:07.240 --> 00:23:09.420
stolen. Then the conversation takes a really

00:23:09.420 --> 00:23:12.680
weird turn because Morona brings up Attican and

00:23:12.680 --> 00:23:15.180
she says that she's heard rumors that he's a

00:23:15.180 --> 00:23:19.400
quote, positively beastly lover. And Mildred,

00:23:19.559 --> 00:23:21.140
I mean, good on her. She takes it in stride.

00:23:21.180 --> 00:23:23.480
She reveals that, yeah, I mean, he's kind of

00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:26.019
the worst, but so am I. Like, I poisoned him,

00:23:26.200 --> 00:23:33.119
so, like, there's that. I love how much she takes

00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:36.420
things in stride. But this comment now, knowing

00:23:36.420 --> 00:23:40.220
the end of the book, like, does everyone just

00:23:40.220 --> 00:23:42.920
know about Attican? What do you mean by beastly?

00:23:43.619 --> 00:23:46.319
Yeah. And I feel like that's just, like, her

00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:50.259
type, like, giving in to just baseless rumors,

00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:54.519
because when her parents died, they talked about

00:23:54.519 --> 00:23:56.539
how they were essentially butchered. And that

00:23:56.539 --> 00:23:59.700
was supposedly a signature calling card of Attican.

00:24:00.180 --> 00:24:03.480
So he has a reputation of being really upsetting.

00:24:04.980 --> 00:24:08.200
Horrendous. He has no heart. Right. So I feel

00:24:08.200 --> 00:24:11.079
like she's just, Morona's just being, trying

00:24:11.079 --> 00:24:15.140
to embarrass Mildred, because Mildred and Vane

00:24:15.140 --> 00:24:18.069
are like, basically on top of each other at this

00:24:18.069 --> 00:24:24.769
dinner. Seriously. She's almost in his lap. But

00:24:24.769 --> 00:24:26.789
when she reveals this thing about like poisoning

00:24:26.789 --> 00:24:28.410
Attican, everybody around the table is just like,

00:24:28.549 --> 00:24:31.730
get it girl. And she's never had such open approval

00:24:31.730 --> 00:24:35.529
before. And she, she feels warm, right? Like

00:24:35.529 --> 00:24:37.269
she's starting to come out of her, her grief

00:24:37.269 --> 00:24:38.589
a little bit. And she's like looking around the

00:24:38.589 --> 00:24:41.829
table and starting to maybe picture herself in

00:24:41.829 --> 00:24:44.390
this life, in this group, like as one of them.

00:24:44.589 --> 00:24:47.069
But we'll quickly find that that warmth is a

00:24:47.069 --> 00:24:51.410
trap. So after this conversation, Vayne takes

00:24:51.410 --> 00:24:53.650
her downstairs to the first floor of the apartment.

00:24:54.069 --> 00:24:59.529
They dance to no music a la Harry Potter when

00:24:59.529 --> 00:25:02.769
they're dancing in the tent, kind of oddly, awkwardly.

00:25:03.789 --> 00:25:08.950
Yeah, it's a little weird. Yeah. And as they

00:25:08.950 --> 00:25:11.930
dance, Vayne tells her, quote, when you laugh,

00:25:11.930 --> 00:25:14.880
I remember what joy feels like. I want you. I

00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:18.220
didn't think I would, but I do. And they get

00:25:18.220 --> 00:25:19.640
a little bit hot and heavy. They start making

00:25:19.640 --> 00:25:22.880
out. But Vane realizes that they will be overheard

00:25:22.880 --> 00:25:25.240
and is like, OK, we should table this conversation

00:25:25.240 --> 00:25:28.099
until we have more privacy. And Mildred's like,

00:25:28.140 --> 00:25:30.339
cool. I'm going to take a nap. So she takes a

00:25:30.339 --> 00:25:32.440
nap downstairs. Which is also fucking weird.

00:25:33.380 --> 00:25:37.779
Go home. Go home, but also like, why are you

00:25:37.779 --> 00:25:41.720
still here? Like. Yeah, like the dinners over

00:25:41.720 --> 00:25:44.220
the dinners over go home. Like if she's tired

00:25:44.220 --> 00:25:47.240
send her home, you can you can literally like

00:25:47.240 --> 00:25:49.200
Teleport her home and then teleport her back.

00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:52.980
I don't know why This situation was allowed to

00:25:52.980 --> 00:25:55.740
happen It was weird and it didn't make sense.

00:25:55.740 --> 00:25:57.599
As soon as she goes to take a nap I had the same

00:25:57.599 --> 00:25:59.599
thought I was like, why are you even still here?

00:25:59.660 --> 00:26:01.880
Like you can leave now and have more privacy.

00:26:02.099 --> 00:26:07.269
Yeah, but anyway We have to hear this We're here

00:26:07.269 --> 00:26:09.089
because we have to overhear this conversation.

00:26:10.069 --> 00:26:12.930
So Mildred sleeps for some amount of time. She's

00:26:12.930 --> 00:26:15.230
not sure what. She wakes up and she hears the

00:26:15.230 --> 00:26:17.650
voices and she starts eavesdropping her eaves.

00:26:18.049 --> 00:26:19.670
They don't know that she's awake. She doesn't

00:26:19.670 --> 00:26:21.210
know what they're talking about, but it becomes

00:26:21.210 --> 00:26:26.950
super clear. It turns out that rather than Attican

00:26:26.950 --> 00:26:30.529
or Garen killing her parents, Vane killed her

00:26:30.529 --> 00:26:33.880
parents. Specifically, he killed her parents

00:26:33.880 --> 00:26:36.400
to make it look like Garen and or Attican did

00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:40.099
it so that the alliance would collapse that Mildred

00:26:40.099 --> 00:26:43.400
was sold to create, right? So that this military

00:26:43.400 --> 00:26:46.779
alliance between her kingdom and Attican's kingdom

00:26:46.779 --> 00:26:50.059
would no longer be. Oops. The coldest part about

00:26:50.059 --> 00:26:51.859
this conversation is that it's clear that everybody

00:26:51.859 --> 00:26:54.000
around the table is in on it, including Morona.

00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:58.019
She says, quote, I like her tenacity and unfitting

00:26:58.019 --> 00:27:01.670
innocence, but this has taken too long. And it's

00:27:01.670 --> 00:27:07.009
clear that Vane and her are still at least more

00:27:07.009 --> 00:27:10.009
in partnership than he and Mildred are, because

00:27:10.009 --> 00:27:11.710
he says something to the effect like, I told

00:27:11.710 --> 00:27:13.329
you I would take, I would do whatever it takes

00:27:13.329 --> 00:27:15.049
to like do this thing. And they're all like,

00:27:15.049 --> 00:27:19.690
yeah, go to, add a boy, essentially. Ew. Yeah.

00:27:20.230 --> 00:27:22.509
So she's freaking out. Mildred's freaking out.

00:27:22.529 --> 00:27:24.529
She's overhearing that this person that she was

00:27:24.529 --> 00:27:27.750
almost in love with, right? Like she was... starting

00:27:27.750 --> 00:27:30.950
to tip over to being in like, at least, if not

00:27:30.950 --> 00:27:34.289
in love with Vane, is really just playing her

00:27:34.289 --> 00:27:37.849
like a fiddle. I thought that this scene of betrayal

00:27:37.849 --> 00:27:40.470
was so well done. And I got to be honest, I did

00:27:40.470 --> 00:27:43.569
not see it coming. I didn't see it coming either.

00:27:43.750 --> 00:27:47.369
I felt like everything was set up like pretty

00:27:47.369 --> 00:27:49.049
like almost cookie cutter of like, OK, cool.

00:27:49.130 --> 00:27:50.869
I know where this is going. And then this happened.

00:27:51.170 --> 00:27:52.809
And honestly, the whole rest of the book really

00:27:52.809 --> 00:27:55.750
did take me by surprise. Yeah. Honestly, because

00:27:55.750 --> 00:27:59.250
I I mean, I liked it. It was way more intricate

00:27:59.250 --> 00:28:02.349
than I thought that it was going to be. But like,

00:28:02.829 --> 00:28:04.769
up until she overhears this conversation, I was

00:28:04.769 --> 00:28:06.109
still thinking, like, somehow we're going to

00:28:06.109 --> 00:28:09.950
get to a white shoes, right? Yes, that's what

00:28:09.950 --> 00:28:15.589
I thought, too. But no less. So the grief of

00:28:15.589 --> 00:28:18.509
being betrayed by somebody like Vane, who was

00:28:18.509 --> 00:28:20.549
honestly one of the first people who showed her

00:28:20.549 --> 00:28:23.619
warmth and tenderness. really hits Mildred hard

00:28:23.619 --> 00:28:26.220
and she starts freaking out. She starts almost

00:28:26.220 --> 00:28:29.440
wanting to escape right then and there. But Lord

00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:31.839
Stone comes downstairs, ostensibly to check on

00:28:31.839 --> 00:28:33.299
her. It's not like she's making noise or anything

00:28:33.299 --> 00:28:35.940
like that. And he sees that she's awake and that

00:28:35.940 --> 00:28:37.900
she's heard what they've been talking about.

00:28:38.099 --> 00:28:40.720
And he essentially says, quote, if you wish to

00:28:40.720 --> 00:28:42.940
survive, you need to never so much as think about

00:28:42.940 --> 00:28:46.849
what you've evidently heard. So he covers for

00:28:46.849 --> 00:28:49.029
her, tells her to calm down, goes back upstairs,

00:28:49.089 --> 00:28:51.589
says that she's still sleeping, and it's here

00:28:51.589 --> 00:28:55.509
that she, Mildred, and we realize that Lord Stone

00:28:55.509 --> 00:28:59.769
isn't Vayne's spy. He's a double spy still spying

00:28:59.769 --> 00:29:01.950
for either more, slash Attigan, slash Garen.

00:29:03.049 --> 00:29:05.630
Which was also a fun twist, because honestly,

00:29:06.710 --> 00:29:09.410
like, this isn't explicitly stated, but I wonder

00:29:09.410 --> 00:29:11.450
if this whole thing was orchestrated. It feels

00:29:11.450 --> 00:29:14.690
like this whole thing was orchestrated. for Mildred

00:29:14.690 --> 00:29:18.109
to overhear this. That way Stone could like kind

00:29:18.109 --> 00:29:23.230
of establish who he is. Because again, it's too

00:29:23.230 --> 00:29:24.890
convenient that they would even talk about this

00:29:24.890 --> 00:29:27.029
while she's like in the same small building with

00:29:27.029 --> 00:29:29.930
them. Right. Like, why would you do that? Why

00:29:29.930 --> 00:29:32.390
would you do that? Yeah, I mean, it does feel

00:29:32.390 --> 00:29:37.069
like Stone may have orchestrated that so that

00:29:37.069 --> 00:29:39.190
he's not the only one who has to potentially

00:29:39.190 --> 00:29:42.210
relay information to Attican about what might

00:29:42.210 --> 00:29:48.230
be happening. Yeah, I Do wish that Lord stone

00:29:48.230 --> 00:29:52.589
as like a turncoat or like a double double spy.

00:29:52.769 --> 00:29:55.509
What's it called? Double spy a double double

00:29:55.509 --> 00:30:01.829
agent double agent as thank you I feel like could

00:30:01.829 --> 00:30:04.670
have been used a little bit more sharply. But

00:30:04.670 --> 00:30:08.109
like this is this is about where his his trajectory

00:30:08.109 --> 00:30:11.089
ends Yeah, we really don't want to interact with

00:30:11.089 --> 00:30:13.170
him much at all after this. Yeah, we find out

00:30:13.170 --> 00:30:15.230
that he's a double agent, and then we're just

00:30:15.230 --> 00:30:19.130
like, OK, cool, moving on. Cool. Yeah. He served

00:30:19.130 --> 00:30:22.829
his purpose. He's just a foil. Right, yeah. So

00:30:22.829 --> 00:30:25.230
Mildred pretends to be asleep. At some point,

00:30:25.430 --> 00:30:27.549
Vane comes downstairs and pretends to not pretend.

00:30:27.869 --> 00:30:30.910
He does carry her. She pretends to still be asleep,

00:30:30.910 --> 00:30:35.539
and they go back to the palace. So she kind of

00:30:35.539 --> 00:30:37.880
lets him seduce her a little bit because she

00:30:37.880 --> 00:30:40.460
knows that if she like hard says no that he's

00:30:40.460 --> 00:30:43.380
gonna know that She knows something is off and

00:30:43.380 --> 00:30:45.099
she doesn't want to give up the game right like

00:30:45.099 --> 00:30:47.660
if she if that happens she knows that she's dead

00:30:47.660 --> 00:30:52.539
so instead she lets him herself feel the grief

00:30:52.539 --> 00:30:55.960
right the grief of Being betrayed by vain, but

00:30:55.960 --> 00:30:58.599
also the grief of her parents overcome her and

00:30:58.599 --> 00:31:01.059
she just falls to pieces in his arms and she

00:31:01.059 --> 00:31:03.039
blames it on the wine. She's like, I've just

00:31:03.039 --> 00:31:06.880
had too much to drink. I'm so sorry. We'll just

00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:08.940
go to bed. And Vane's like, clearly a little

00:31:08.940 --> 00:31:10.779
bit disappointed that he's not going to get noogie,

00:31:11.299 --> 00:31:15.319
but is like, yeah, you're right. We'll let you

00:31:15.319 --> 00:31:17.819
go to sleep. That's fine. He like tucks her in

00:31:17.819 --> 00:31:21.759
and leaves her. Right. What's interesting about

00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:27.250
this is that as Mildred goes to sleep, Vane is

00:31:27.250 --> 00:31:30.490
holding her, and as this is happening, as she's

00:31:30.490 --> 00:31:32.470
kind of in that spot between being awake and

00:31:32.470 --> 00:31:35.890
being asleep, she hears Attikin's voice clear

00:31:35.890 --> 00:31:38.470
as day in her head saying, quote, does that feel

00:31:38.470 --> 00:31:40.789
good, Dredd, or does it only feel good when you

00:31:40.789 --> 00:31:45.789
think of me? So I don't know if this was the

00:31:45.789 --> 00:31:48.359
first time he called her. Dread but this is the

00:31:48.359 --> 00:31:50.799
first time I clocked it and I was like, okay

00:31:50.799 --> 00:31:53.779
Mildred's a fine name. We're gonna use dread

00:31:53.779 --> 00:31:57.779
as a nickname That's really the only reason I

00:31:57.779 --> 00:32:01.559
didn't totally hate Mildred I mean a name is

00:32:01.559 --> 00:32:03.400
a name. It's just not one of my favorites, but

00:32:03.400 --> 00:32:07.339
I really like the dread nickname Me too. I was

00:32:07.339 --> 00:32:10.839
like, oh, okay. All right. I see what you did

00:32:10.839 --> 00:32:14.500
there so in the following days Mildred tries

00:32:14.500 --> 00:32:16.279
to get space from Vayne, which ends up not being

00:32:16.279 --> 00:32:18.279
too difficult because he ends up going to the

00:32:18.279 --> 00:32:20.180
border quite often to do some scouting trips.

00:32:20.380 --> 00:32:22.140
Because he's one of the only people who can cross

00:32:22.140 --> 00:32:24.740
the barrier, he needs to do that a lot for his

00:32:24.740 --> 00:32:29.700
people, which is great. She tries to weasel her

00:32:29.700 --> 00:32:32.079
way into one of these trips, but Vayne consistently

00:32:32.079 --> 00:32:34.279
is always like, no. She's trying to get there

00:32:34.279 --> 00:32:36.059
because she wants to get to one of the cracks

00:32:36.059 --> 00:32:39.960
and get the fuck out of here. Vayne, for whatever,

00:32:40.039 --> 00:32:41.599
he doesn't suspect that, but he's just like,

00:32:41.599 --> 00:32:42.839
no, there's no way you're getting close to the

00:32:42.839 --> 00:32:48.009
border, no way. No way. Too dangerous. Too dangerous.

00:32:49.230 --> 00:32:51.009
So while she's alone, Mildred goes looking for

00:32:51.009 --> 00:32:54.710
the feather bone. She's not convinced that what

00:32:54.710 --> 00:32:56.390
Vane said is true and that it's completely useless,

00:32:56.430 --> 00:32:59.410
but she still can't find it anywhere. One day,

00:32:59.450 --> 00:33:01.450
when she's in the library, she gets ambushed

00:33:01.450 --> 00:33:04.430
by Dahlia, who's fishing for information about

00:33:04.430 --> 00:33:07.869
Stone. It's clear to Mildred that Dahlia suspects

00:33:07.869 --> 00:33:10.210
that Stone isn't completely being forthright

00:33:10.210 --> 00:33:11.829
with her, but she doesn't have any proof, and

00:33:11.829 --> 00:33:14.410
so she's essentially trying to recruit Mildred

00:33:14.410 --> 00:33:16.809
into helping her figure out what Stone's deal

00:33:16.809 --> 00:33:20.549
is. And Mildred just plays the, oh, I'm just

00:33:20.549 --> 00:33:23.809
an empty -headed little wine -obsessed girl.

00:33:23.890 --> 00:33:28.170
I can't help you at all. I know nothing. He seems

00:33:28.170 --> 00:33:33.869
fine to me. Dahlia then says this weird thing

00:33:33.869 --> 00:33:36.809
where she says, quote, you're a survivor, Mildred,

00:33:37.269 --> 00:33:39.849
a wolf too accustomed to hunting alone to trust

00:33:39.849 --> 00:33:42.630
in any pack. And I thought this was a weird thing

00:33:42.630 --> 00:33:45.069
to say, because it's clear that, like, Dahlia

00:33:45.069 --> 00:33:47.849
knows, or I guess Dahlia wasn't technically in

00:33:47.849 --> 00:33:50.890
the apartment, but she has to know to some extent

00:33:50.890 --> 00:33:53.730
that, like, Vane's tricking her. Like, why would

00:33:53.730 --> 00:33:56.829
you say that? I know. It's weird. Well, what

00:33:56.829 --> 00:33:58.069
I thought was interesting, and this might have

00:33:58.069 --> 00:34:01.509
been me reading too closely, because I feel like

00:34:01.509 --> 00:34:03.150
now that I'm, like, writing again, I'm seeing

00:34:03.150 --> 00:34:07.380
more words. It's the trust in any pack. So it

00:34:07.380 --> 00:34:09.280
almost implies I might be reading too far into

00:34:09.280 --> 00:34:11.739
this but it almost implies like we can't trust

00:34:11.739 --> 00:34:15.079
you versus you can't trust any pack, like you

00:34:15.079 --> 00:34:17.300
won't trust us. Right. And it's like a really

00:34:17.300 --> 00:34:19.619
tiny word, but it does change the meaning a little

00:34:19.619 --> 00:34:21.460
bit. And I don't know. It's a weird thing to

00:34:21.460 --> 00:34:24.599
say either way. Yeah, I hadn't read it the way

00:34:24.599 --> 00:34:26.960
that you just said, but I really like that. Like

00:34:26.960 --> 00:34:29.179
it's right. It could be interpreted. And like

00:34:29.179 --> 00:34:31.480
I did, like she's saying that Mildred has trust

00:34:31.480 --> 00:34:34.099
issues. But yeah, I like it better where she's

00:34:34.099 --> 00:34:38.460
saying, like, I can't trust you. Yeah, yeah.

00:34:38.599 --> 00:34:41.360
You're. Why would you not want to help me figure

00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:46.360
this out if you were one of us? Yeah. So a couple

00:34:46.360 --> 00:34:48.719
of days go by, and then Mildred follows Meadow

00:34:48.719 --> 00:34:52.219
into the woods near the castle. And they're essentially

00:34:52.219 --> 00:34:54.380
playing hide and go seek. Like, Meadow is trying

00:34:54.380 --> 00:34:58.239
to, like, find a dead hare or something and,

00:34:58.239 --> 00:35:00.860
like, runs off from Mildred. And so Mildred goes

00:35:00.860 --> 00:35:04.500
after her. She doesn't find Meadow immediately,

00:35:05.219 --> 00:35:08.619
but Attican finds Meadow and then finds Mildred.

00:35:08.889 --> 00:35:11.769
And so Attican is holding Muddo by the scruff

00:35:11.769 --> 00:35:14.909
of the neck and says, quote, hello, Dread, time

00:35:14.909 --> 00:35:20.670
to go. It gave me the same vibes as when Rhysand

00:35:20.670 --> 00:35:24.690
shows up to take Feyre away from the wedding

00:35:24.690 --> 00:35:28.989
or whatever it is. Honestly, it hit really hard

00:35:28.989 --> 00:35:34.170
for me. Yeah, I got to say. This is why I wish

00:35:34.170 --> 00:35:37.070
like the what what was he doing like while she

00:35:37.070 --> 00:35:38.969
was gone hit a little bit harder because it's

00:35:38.969 --> 00:35:45.789
it's very clear that Like he is he is actively

00:35:45.789 --> 00:35:47.929
so he didn't just end up near the palace right

00:35:47.929 --> 00:35:51.190
like this was not by chance that this happened

00:35:51.190 --> 00:35:53.309
Why he would even like assume she was there.

00:35:53.309 --> 00:35:57.559
Yeah, like and that he cares, right? I don't

00:35:57.559 --> 00:35:59.159
know if this will come up in the notes, so I

00:35:59.159 --> 00:36:00.619
do want to flag it here, because it was something

00:36:00.619 --> 00:36:02.800
that bothered me. And maybe it'll come up. I

00:36:02.800 --> 00:36:04.980
haven't read the notes. But there's this weird

00:36:04.980 --> 00:36:07.320
thing. He's holding Meadow. There's this weird

00:36:07.320 --> 00:36:10.619
thing where she's not allowed to be with Meadow,

00:36:11.099 --> 00:36:13.079
and no one will tell her where Meadow is for

00:36:13.079 --> 00:36:15.619
a while. And I didn't understand that. Yeah,

00:36:15.699 --> 00:36:17.440
I didn't understand that either. And I didn't

00:36:17.440 --> 00:36:19.420
understand it from Meadow's perspective. It was

00:36:19.420 --> 00:36:23.599
like Meadow didn't want to be with Mildred. But

00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:25.679
I thought they were bonded and that's like a

00:36:25.679 --> 00:36:27.340
thing but then she'd even ask like where Meadow

00:36:27.340 --> 00:36:29.559
is and like everyone like deflects the question

00:36:29.559 --> 00:36:31.760
So like what is the deal with Meadow unless I

00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:33.280
think Meadow was a spy, but I'm like, but I was

00:36:33.280 --> 00:36:36.280
like a cat. Okay Yeah, last I checked you can't

00:36:36.280 --> 00:36:38.400
actually speak. Yeah, I thought that was weird,

00:36:38.539 --> 00:36:40.440
too I don't think I put it in my notes, but like

00:36:40.440 --> 00:36:42.840
it's it's immediately after she goes back and

00:36:42.840 --> 00:36:45.900
everybody's just like It's like keep away with

00:36:45.900 --> 00:36:47.840
Meadow and then Meadow only shows up like a handful

00:36:47.840 --> 00:36:50.500
of other times. I'm like That was just weird

00:36:51.440 --> 00:36:53.199
Yeah, I was like, then why did you even introduce

00:36:53.199 --> 00:36:57.860
this thing? Right. So Mildred, so we catch back

00:36:57.860 --> 00:37:00.059
up with Mildred in the Cloud Castle dungeon,

00:37:00.380 --> 00:37:03.079
which I thought was an interesting take. It makes

00:37:03.079 --> 00:37:05.739
sense. Why is she in the dungeon? We do get a

00:37:05.739 --> 00:37:08.420
good reason for it, but it was like, in the moment,

00:37:08.500 --> 00:37:10.300
I was like, really? You think that she wanted

00:37:10.300 --> 00:37:12.719
to be there? God damn it. This girl can't catch

00:37:12.719 --> 00:37:15.829
a break. I know well it was also really and I

00:37:15.829 --> 00:37:17.050
thought this was a nice parallel it was really

00:37:17.050 --> 00:37:19.190
reminiscent of the first chapter right when she's

00:37:19.190 --> 00:37:21.130
in a dungeon for like who the fuck knows why

00:37:21.130 --> 00:37:25.750
right just hiding out yeah so Attican comes to

00:37:25.750 --> 00:37:27.130
visit her and through the bars they have this

00:37:27.130 --> 00:37:29.230
conversation which is basically a long exposition

00:37:29.230 --> 00:37:31.130
dump disguised as foreplay which I'm not mad

00:37:31.130 --> 00:37:34.349
about no it was good it wasn't it wasn't a terrible

00:37:34.349 --> 00:37:37.090
info dump because We learned some wild things

00:37:37.090 --> 00:37:39.090
here. We learned some truly wild things and I'm

00:37:39.090 --> 00:37:40.849
not even sure I got all of them because it was

00:37:40.849 --> 00:37:42.730
like kind of a bop bop bop bop bop bop but like

00:37:42.730 --> 00:37:45.349
I'll do my best. Yeah I'm still a little there's

00:37:45.349 --> 00:37:46.929
some things that I'm still trying to link together.

00:37:47.050 --> 00:37:49.869
Right so the first thing that we learn is about

00:37:49.869 --> 00:37:53.070
the featherbone. It's an unseelie heirloom that

00:37:53.070 --> 00:37:55.750
collects quote morsels of soul from each generation

00:37:55.750 --> 00:37:58.250
and can only be used by someone with unseelie

00:37:58.250 --> 00:38:02.150
blood which means that Mildred's mother was unseelie

00:38:02.150 --> 00:38:07.900
not seelie her father had lied. I For five seconds.

00:38:07.920 --> 00:38:12.039
I was like god damn it. They're all related I

00:38:12.039 --> 00:38:17.940
know because because I Worried that I worried

00:38:17.940 --> 00:38:20.059
about that later too when it kind of seems like

00:38:20.059 --> 00:38:23.340
they're all related again, right? But we don't

00:38:23.340 --> 00:38:25.260
we don't she's like the only unsealed in the

00:38:25.260 --> 00:38:29.099
room. It just feels like We don't we don't get

00:38:29.099 --> 00:38:33.440
a reason why her mother was unsealy No, or like

00:38:33.530 --> 00:38:38.050
Why her father lied or like why this matters,

00:38:38.050 --> 00:38:44.289
right? like I just it feels like a bit of a I'm

00:38:44.289 --> 00:38:47.909
not gonna say loose but like Not fully closed

00:38:47.909 --> 00:38:50.550
thread because like honestly, I was like, oh

00:38:50.550 --> 00:38:53.969
my god Her mother is Kalista and then we don't

00:38:53.969 --> 00:38:56.289
really get I thought more exposition about her

00:38:56.289 --> 00:38:58.210
mother and then Kalista comes up again as somebody

00:38:58.210 --> 00:39:00.289
else's mother I'm just gonna say Attikin's mother

00:39:00.289 --> 00:39:04.460
and I'm like Shit, they're siblings. The three

00:39:04.460 --> 00:39:06.460
of them are related. Three of them, all three

00:39:06.460 --> 00:39:09.159
of them. No, that's not what happens. This is

00:39:09.159 --> 00:39:14.539
just another random unseely woman. Cool. Weird.

00:39:15.019 --> 00:39:19.110
Right. So. This thing was supposed to take the

00:39:19.110 --> 00:39:21.349
user home home being the bone lands because they

00:39:21.349 --> 00:39:23.769
are in Sealy But because of the wards and the

00:39:23.769 --> 00:39:26.590
magic around it Rather than taking her to like

00:39:26.590 --> 00:39:29.269
a designated place that was specific to her mother's

00:39:29.269 --> 00:39:31.710
like heritage in the bone lands It rerouted her

00:39:31.710 --> 00:39:36.369
directly to the king So straight to veins chambers,

00:39:36.409 --> 00:39:39.389
that's why she ended up where she was Which I

00:39:39.389 --> 00:39:42.469
did like that explanation, but again for a second.

00:39:42.469 --> 00:39:45.429
I was like Is that because he's related to her

00:39:45.429 --> 00:39:49.250
and now that's home? Right. Exactly. I had that

00:39:49.250 --> 00:39:50.929
same thought. I was like, maybe that's why you

00:39:50.929 --> 00:39:53.309
always felt more brotherly than anything else.

00:39:53.750 --> 00:39:55.389
Yeah, because they didn't really have great chemistry.

00:39:56.610 --> 00:40:01.110
Yeah. So then Attican says, quote, you fractured

00:40:01.110 --> 00:40:04.809
the wardstread, which means that she started

00:40:04.809 --> 00:40:09.010
breaking the curse, just not all the way. And

00:40:09.010 --> 00:40:13.019
like, Mildred Has so many different feelings

00:40:13.019 --> 00:40:15.099
about this and I do too because he's basically

00:40:15.099 --> 00:40:16.960
confirming to her that like you are my heart

00:40:16.960 --> 00:40:18.659
and you Started falling for somebody else like

00:40:18.659 --> 00:40:23.639
I'm I feel some type of way about that Yeah Which

00:40:23.639 --> 00:40:29.000
okay, right and I'm honestly I'm a little surprised

00:40:29.000 --> 00:40:33.219
that Attikins not more mad for who we are told

00:40:33.219 --> 00:40:37.460
that he is in the first couple chapters I'm surprised.

00:40:37.460 --> 00:40:41.000
He doesn't have a more aggressive reaction to

00:40:41.150 --> 00:40:44.070
to her starting to fall for someone else, his

00:40:44.070 --> 00:40:48.150
enemy also. Yeah. He's still presented as being

00:40:48.150 --> 00:40:51.449
this very possessive kind of alpha male, and

00:40:51.449 --> 00:40:54.389
that's fine. But the way that he's possessive

00:40:54.389 --> 00:40:57.250
in the second half of the book feels a lot more

00:40:57.250 --> 00:40:59.869
understated than he was in the first part of

00:40:59.869 --> 00:41:03.750
the book. Yeah, I agree. And this is one of the

00:41:03.750 --> 00:41:05.409
ways that it feels understated, right? He says

00:41:05.409 --> 00:41:07.369
this thing, and then he just leaves her there.

00:41:07.369 --> 00:41:11.019
He just walks away. And I'm like, There's no,

00:41:11.019 --> 00:41:12.900
like, seething. There's no, like, raised voices.

00:41:13.039 --> 00:41:17.219
There's no, like, physical reaction. Yeah. Like,

00:41:17.780 --> 00:41:19.579
you put me in the dungeon, so we're not going

00:41:19.579 --> 00:41:25.619
to talk about this? Right. Exactly. So then her

00:41:25.619 --> 00:41:28.260
next visitor is Folly. So Phineas's sister, twin

00:41:28.260 --> 00:41:30.559
sister. They have a brief conversation. Folly,

00:41:30.559 --> 00:41:33.320
like, briefly admits that she loved a mortal

00:41:33.320 --> 00:41:35.360
man who's now dead, implying that she killed

00:41:35.360 --> 00:41:38.630
her or she killed him because he was awful. like

00:41:38.630 --> 00:41:40.610
betrayed her in some way this never comes back

00:41:40.610 --> 00:41:43.230
i thought it was a wild thing to drop in here

00:41:43.230 --> 00:41:45.429
and like for now it's like i'm gonna break you

00:41:45.429 --> 00:41:48.110
out of this dungeon and also drop my own personal

00:41:48.110 --> 00:41:51.469
like lore on you for no reason this man doesn't

00:41:51.469 --> 00:41:53.829
matter right so like this guy doesn't matter

00:41:53.829 --> 00:41:56.809
and it's basically just folly like trying to

00:41:56.809 --> 00:42:00.269
commiserate with mildred but it's like it's like

00:42:00.269 --> 00:42:04.329
not the same thing No, not at all. Mildred didn't

00:42:04.329 --> 00:42:06.889
kill anybody. And no one's been awful to her.

00:42:07.010 --> 00:42:09.469
I mean, OK, Vane is a problem, but not in the

00:42:09.469 --> 00:42:13.030
same way. Yeah, not really in the same way. So

00:42:13.030 --> 00:42:16.170
that was just weird. It was so strange. It's

00:42:16.170 --> 00:42:18.489
clear that Folly wants more information about

00:42:18.489 --> 00:42:21.590
the bonelands. And so Mildred is like, OK, I'll

00:42:21.590 --> 00:42:24.030
throw you a bone. She just starts describing

00:42:24.030 --> 00:42:28.730
the castle and the landscape in very specific

00:42:28.730 --> 00:42:32.159
detail so that Folly can draw it. Folly is perfectly

00:42:32.159 --> 00:42:34.579
happy to just sit there and draw based on what

00:42:34.579 --> 00:42:39.780
Mildred is saying. And so in return, Mildred

00:42:39.780 --> 00:42:43.000
asks if Folly will let her out. And Folly does.

00:42:43.000 --> 00:42:44.659
She's like, you didn't need to bribe me to do

00:42:44.659 --> 00:42:45.980
that. I was going to come down here to let you

00:42:45.980 --> 00:42:48.679
out anyway. Which I don't know why she's there

00:42:48.679 --> 00:42:50.239
in the first place, because we'll get to it.

00:42:50.320 --> 00:42:52.420
But even later, Attican never intended to leave

00:42:52.420 --> 00:43:00.019
her in there. Right. So weird. Also like. Just

00:43:00.019 --> 00:43:03.900
real quick, from Mildred's perspective, this

00:43:03.900 --> 00:43:05.619
woman has come to free her from the dungeon that

00:43:05.619 --> 00:43:07.599
she's put into. Where does she go when she's

00:43:07.599 --> 00:43:11.059
free? To Anakin's fucking bathroom? The man who

00:43:11.059 --> 00:43:13.320
put you in the dungeon? Right, and that's why

00:43:13.320 --> 00:43:16.119
I'm saying her... Girl, what? Her respawn point

00:43:16.119 --> 00:43:19.559
is a fucking bedroom. I wish that she had more

00:43:19.559 --> 00:43:23.909
things that were... Like, properly hers. I know.

00:43:24.110 --> 00:43:27.150
It's so annoying. It's so annoying. That's why,

00:43:27.409 --> 00:43:29.690
like, the grief thing, I get it. Like, your dad

00:43:29.690 --> 00:43:31.809
was murdered, like, brutally. I get it. That's

00:43:31.809 --> 00:43:34.190
really tough. But, like, you act like this on

00:43:34.190 --> 00:43:36.389
a regular basis, girl. Like, you don't have a

00:43:36.389 --> 00:43:39.110
whole lot happening in your life. No, she doesn't

00:43:39.110 --> 00:43:43.059
do anything. Yeah. So like you said, she goes

00:43:43.059 --> 00:43:44.480
back to Attican's room and she decides to take

00:43:44.480 --> 00:43:46.519
a bath. She does some snooping for her. She grabs

00:43:46.519 --> 00:43:48.059
a dagger for whatever reason and like, yeah,

00:43:48.059 --> 00:43:50.019
how's that gonna work for you? And she finds

00:43:50.019 --> 00:43:52.539
that scarf that he had used to like clean up

00:43:52.539 --> 00:43:57.880
her virginity blood or whatever. And then she

00:43:57.880 --> 00:44:00.300
takes a bath and that's where Attican finds her.

00:44:00.300 --> 00:44:02.500
And he says, quote, I believe we've been here

00:44:02.500 --> 00:44:11.659
before, Dread. Yep. So. out of the bath, things

00:44:11.659 --> 00:44:13.880
get really hot and heavy almost immediately,

00:44:14.000 --> 00:44:17.340
which I loved because I'm glad that they're not

00:44:17.340 --> 00:44:19.280
doing the will -they -won't -they thing again.

00:44:20.139 --> 00:44:23.539
I know, but just to go back to earlier, why did

00:44:23.539 --> 00:44:25.159
you put her in the dungeon if you were just gonna

00:44:25.159 --> 00:44:28.380
fuck it out right here? Yeah, exactly. That's

00:44:28.380 --> 00:44:30.480
fine. I'm glad we get an answer to it, but it

00:44:30.480 --> 00:44:33.699
took a while for me to get there. Yeah, this

00:44:33.699 --> 00:44:40.289
whole time I was like, okay. Right, yeah. So

00:44:40.289 --> 00:44:44.010
she straddles him with a dagger, trying to show

00:44:44.010 --> 00:44:46.289
him that she's not gonna take no for an answer,

00:44:46.329 --> 00:44:48.570
and that she's got power too, and he disarms

00:44:48.570 --> 00:44:52.449
her with insulting ease and is like, what was

00:44:52.449 --> 00:44:55.329
your plan here, girl? What are you gonna do?

00:44:55.409 --> 00:44:59.650
What are you gonna do? And she's basically like,

00:44:59.670 --> 00:45:02.010
look, I have information, I heard a lot of things

00:45:02.010 --> 00:45:03.730
while I was over there, and I'll tell you everything

00:45:03.730 --> 00:45:06.289
if you give me safety. She says, quote, fix the

00:45:06.289 --> 00:45:08.809
alliance, Attican. Make me your wife. And Anakin

00:45:08.809 --> 00:45:10.849
surprisingly doesn't say, no, absolutely not.

00:45:10.949 --> 00:45:13.949
I'm not going to do that. He just starts asking

00:45:13.949 --> 00:45:17.829
about what she and Vayne did. So he can quote,

00:45:18.110 --> 00:45:20.570
know which part of him, Vayne, to mutilate first.

00:45:21.590 --> 00:45:24.110
Which I did like this touch her and die little

00:45:24.110 --> 00:45:26.329
through line. I did too. But I also thought it

00:45:26.329 --> 00:45:27.869
was a little bit understated, right? Because

00:45:27.869 --> 00:45:31.090
he's not even, he doesn't lead with that. He's

00:45:31.090 --> 00:45:34.230
like, what happened? Kind of coming in hot. He's

00:45:34.230 --> 00:45:38.369
very restrained almost. Yeah, super restrained.

00:45:38.449 --> 00:45:40.070
And I do wish we kind of got a little more payoff

00:45:40.070 --> 00:45:43.650
on that. Right. I mean, I liked it. I'm not going

00:45:43.650 --> 00:45:45.789
to lie. Oh, yeah. I have very little notes about

00:45:45.789 --> 00:45:50.969
the scene, but it's nice. Yeah. I wanted payoff

00:45:50.969 --> 00:45:57.510
later with Vane. I, yeah. I wanted kind of get

00:45:57.510 --> 00:46:00.110
I wanted more of a direct conflict between the

00:46:00.110 --> 00:46:03.289
two of them. And I wanted a little bit more of

00:46:03.289 --> 00:46:08.880
a like territorial marking kind of thing, I guess.

00:46:08.880 --> 00:46:11.420
Yeah, exactly. Which I guess we kind of get with

00:46:11.420 --> 00:46:15.179
the mating. Yeah, I just wanted Vayne to see

00:46:15.179 --> 00:46:18.059
it. I wanted Vayne to see it, not just smell

00:46:18.059 --> 00:46:20.099
it later. Right. So anyway, they get hot and

00:46:20.099 --> 00:46:22.159
heavy. Attikin's like, I will seal the deal.

00:46:22.239 --> 00:46:23.639
This is how we're going to seal the deal, right?

00:46:23.719 --> 00:46:25.960
We're going to get married in the fey way. And

00:46:25.960 --> 00:46:31.320
so he cuts his wrist and cuts her wrist and they

00:46:31.320 --> 00:46:34.599
exchange blood. Like, we get some full -on, like,

00:46:34.639 --> 00:46:38.480
almost vampire -adjacent, like, blood -kick stuff.

00:46:39.340 --> 00:46:41.840
I was really surprised by that, and I felt like

00:46:41.840 --> 00:46:46.099
it was so seamlessly woven in. The way they explain

00:46:46.099 --> 00:46:47.840
it and the way, like, Attican kind of goes about

00:46:47.840 --> 00:46:50.880
it is it's very fey, but we get the, like, kinky

00:46:50.880 --> 00:46:52.840
vampire thing without them being vampires, and

00:46:52.840 --> 00:46:55.460
I was here for it. I was so here for it, and

00:46:55.460 --> 00:46:57.699
it was, like, out of left field. Like, I knew,

00:46:57.699 --> 00:47:00.199
like, they were gonna get into a scene. I didn't

00:47:00.199 --> 00:47:02.699
know we were gonna get this scene. And it was

00:47:02.699 --> 00:47:07.980
so good. Yeah, I was very happy to be here. Yeah.

00:47:08.500 --> 00:47:11.519
So they do that thing. And it's ostensibly sealing

00:47:11.519 --> 00:47:13.320
the deal, like marrying them in the Fey way.

00:47:14.019 --> 00:47:19.780
And it acts like striking a match because Mildred

00:47:19.780 --> 00:47:25.079
is incredibly horny. She feels like hot all over.

00:47:25.360 --> 00:47:27.739
And she asks him, quote, what have you done to

00:47:27.739 --> 00:47:30.780
me? And Attikins doesn't give her an answer,

00:47:30.800 --> 00:47:33.079
but says, You know what, let's take a minute

00:47:33.079 --> 00:47:35.599
here, because you must be hungry from such a

00:47:35.599 --> 00:47:37.880
long journey and such a long time in the dungeons,

00:47:38.300 --> 00:47:40.920
and makes her go to dinner with everybody else

00:47:40.920 --> 00:47:48.179
in this state of mind. OK, like, consent is key.

00:47:48.440 --> 00:47:50.420
But I kind of liked this, that she didn't really

00:47:50.420 --> 00:47:53.780
understand what just happened. Yeah, I liked

00:47:53.780 --> 00:47:57.219
it too. And I also liked that, like, Attican

00:47:57.219 --> 00:47:59.380
calls her out on it later. He's like, oh, you

00:47:59.380 --> 00:48:01.880
didn't know what was happening? OK, yeah. Look,

00:48:01.900 --> 00:48:04.019
you're not an idiot. Like, you knew. Yeah, like,

00:48:04.019 --> 00:48:07.420
you felt something. That's not a wedding. That's

00:48:07.420 --> 00:48:09.719
not a wedding. Like, you're not. You're a smart

00:48:09.719 --> 00:48:11.820
girl. Come on. You knew what was happening. Get

00:48:11.820 --> 00:48:16.719
your shit together. Right. So the dinner scene

00:48:16.719 --> 00:48:23.139
is like a little bit of comedic relief. But like,

00:48:24.199 --> 00:48:28.619
it's also just foreplay. Honestly, like, yeah.

00:48:29.159 --> 00:48:30.659
They're both feeling the effects of this bargain

00:48:30.659 --> 00:48:32.320
that they just entered into. And they're both

00:48:32.320 --> 00:48:33.719
teasing each other and saying, which one will

00:48:33.719 --> 00:48:37.480
break first? There's this whole thing with the

00:48:37.480 --> 00:48:39.300
chicken and a cream sauce. And I'm like, this

00:48:39.300 --> 00:48:42.119
is just go have sex about it, please. Yeah. And

00:48:42.119 --> 00:48:44.300
everybody at the table is like, Jesus Christ,

00:48:44.380 --> 00:48:48.639
can you please? I want to eat. Because they all

00:48:48.639 --> 00:48:51.340
know what's going on, too. Exactly. But they're

00:48:51.340 --> 00:48:53.119
just trying to have a meal. And Anakin's like,

00:48:53.219 --> 00:48:55.690
nope, I'm having a great time. This is super

00:48:55.690 --> 00:49:02.429
fun. So Mildred makes good on her promise and

00:49:02.429 --> 00:49:04.570
she says, she says everything that she knows,

00:49:04.570 --> 00:49:07.610
right? She talks about the Pythorians, the warriors,

00:49:07.869 --> 00:49:11.110
like the baited eggs around the city. Everything

00:49:11.110 --> 00:49:13.949
that she heard talks about Lord Stone. And she

00:49:13.949 --> 00:49:18.010
says, quote, I felt not a shred of guilt. Which

00:49:18.010 --> 00:49:22.099
fuck yeah, girl. Love it. After dinner. They

00:49:22.099 --> 00:49:24.199
chase each other to the bedroom. And then we

00:49:24.199 --> 00:49:28.139
have the consummation scene that lasts for like

00:49:28.139 --> 00:49:32.340
two chapters. And it's - It goes on and on. Amazing.

00:49:32.780 --> 00:49:34.920
Like, it's - It's amazing. It's one of those

00:49:34.920 --> 00:49:38.659
ones where they just can't stop fucking. Yeah.

00:49:38.820 --> 00:49:41.159
And listen, that always makes the Fated Maid

00:49:41.159 --> 00:49:43.880
Bond thing like better for me. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

00:49:43.960 --> 00:49:47.099
Mm -hmm. Yeah. Because I like it. Especially

00:49:47.099 --> 00:49:49.599
when you've had the payoff of like, oh, it's

00:49:49.599 --> 00:49:53.210
not like - immediate, like, instant intimacy,

00:49:53.510 --> 00:49:55.710
right? They've known each other for, like, literal

00:49:55.710 --> 00:49:58.869
years. Mm -hmm. Yeah. Swan princess over here.

00:50:00.170 --> 00:50:04.650
So. Yeah. They're not fully sated, but they've

00:50:04.650 --> 00:50:06.530
done it a couple of rounds, and they get interrupted

00:50:06.530 --> 00:50:08.210
by a knock at the door, and Attican knows that

00:50:08.210 --> 00:50:12.949
he has to go. So as he's walking away, Mildred

00:50:12.949 --> 00:50:16.940
asks, quote, what really happened? And. Anakin

00:50:16.940 --> 00:50:19.179
tells her, without even really fully turning

00:50:19.179 --> 00:50:21.139
around, he's like at the door, he just kind of

00:50:21.139 --> 00:50:24.340
says over his shoulder, quote, we made it. And

00:50:24.340 --> 00:50:28.480
the scream I scrubbed. I know, it was so sassy

00:50:28.480 --> 00:50:34.119
and so hot. It was so hot, oh my god. It was

00:50:34.119 --> 00:50:36.599
so good. Yeah, and this is where it was confirmed

00:50:36.599 --> 00:50:38.639
for me that I was like, he fell first and fell

00:50:38.639 --> 00:50:41.000
hard. I know it. Oh, yeah. I just know it. He's

00:50:41.000 --> 00:50:42.719
been waiting for this moment for like 10 years.

00:50:42.860 --> 00:50:50.559
Yeah, exactly. And it made it so good. So now

00:50:50.559 --> 00:50:52.699
we have to do actual plot stuff, unfortunately.

00:50:53.239 --> 00:50:57.519
Yeah, I guess. We pivot to Mildred and a bunch

00:50:57.519 --> 00:50:59.639
of the other assholes going through Cloudfall

00:50:59.639 --> 00:51:02.219
City, hunting for eggs, right? So they're trying

00:51:02.219 --> 00:51:04.579
to prevent this future where a bunch of Pytherians

00:51:04.579 --> 00:51:07.039
descend upon the town. I rate that their babies

00:51:07.039 --> 00:51:10.039
have been stolen and setting it on fire. They

00:51:10.039 --> 00:51:12.659
essentially split up. Phineas and Ellian go together,

00:51:12.719 --> 00:51:14.800
and Folly and Mildred go together. And they search

00:51:14.800 --> 00:51:16.900
different places to kind of cover more ground.

00:51:18.559 --> 00:51:23.539
Before they do that, specifically Ellian calls

00:51:23.539 --> 00:51:28.000
out that Mildred smells different now. And is

00:51:28.000 --> 00:51:29.920
he the only one that notices that? And Phineas

00:51:29.920 --> 00:51:31.860
says something to the effect of, yeah, it doesn't

00:51:31.860 --> 00:51:33.800
take a genius to know that they made it. Everybody

00:51:33.800 --> 00:51:35.900
smells it, dude. Trying to ignore it over here.

00:51:35.900 --> 00:51:38.519
It's super distracting to all of us. Right. We

00:51:38.519 --> 00:51:40.559
don't have to talk about it, OK? We really don't

00:51:40.559 --> 00:51:43.920
have to talk about it. So as Folly and Mildred

00:51:43.920 --> 00:51:45.659
are searching we get a little bit more of her

00:51:45.659 --> 00:51:49.460
backstory. We learned that Phineas and Folly's

00:51:49.460 --> 00:51:52.679
father vanished 15 years ago on him like on his

00:51:52.679 --> 00:51:55.780
way to meet Garen. So after that happened Garen

00:51:55.780 --> 00:51:58.139
took them in his ward specifically to drain their

00:51:58.139 --> 00:52:01.900
fortune for his war. Folly says quote, Garen's

00:52:01.900 --> 00:52:04.039
coffers were nearly drained by a certain someone

00:52:04.039 --> 00:52:07.880
not long before our father's disappearance. So

00:52:07.880 --> 00:52:10.380
she's implying that Garen killed her father for

00:52:10.380 --> 00:52:12.900
money to fund his war and then has just been

00:52:12.900 --> 00:52:18.420
manipulating them At will basically ever since

00:52:18.420 --> 00:52:23.699
gross. Yeah So they're they're kind of striking

00:52:23.699 --> 00:52:26.519
out about the eggs but then Mildred like cuts

00:52:26.519 --> 00:52:30.219
herself on Something and realizes that rather

00:52:30.219 --> 00:52:31.980
than the blood like falling on the ground like

00:52:31.980 --> 00:52:33.579
it would for a normal person it actually beads

00:52:33.579 --> 00:52:37.539
up into the air and like leads her to one of

00:52:37.539 --> 00:52:42.199
the Pytharian eggs, which is weird. It was super

00:52:42.199 --> 00:52:45.019
weird. Mm -hmm. I had a thought here that maybe

00:52:45.019 --> 00:52:48.360
it was because she had exchanged blood with Attican

00:52:48.360 --> 00:52:50.039
because she doesn't have magic. I was like, where

00:52:50.039 --> 00:52:53.039
is this coming from? I know. It's made really

00:52:53.039 --> 00:52:54.739
clear that she has a halfling, but she has no

00:52:54.739 --> 00:52:58.800
magic. That's doubled down a lot. Mm -hmm. And

00:52:58.800 --> 00:53:03.460
we do get an answer for it, but it was... I feel

00:53:03.460 --> 00:53:05.440
like it would have landed a little bit more smoothly

00:53:05.440 --> 00:53:09.519
if she had a little bit of magic. Yeah, and it's

00:53:09.519 --> 00:53:14.139
implied in this book that the only people who

00:53:14.139 --> 00:53:16.539
have magic are nobles, but we don't know really

00:53:16.539 --> 00:53:18.360
anything about her mother, so I was a little

00:53:18.360 --> 00:53:20.159
bit surprised that she doesn't have any magic

00:53:20.159 --> 00:53:26.539
at all. I know. Anyway, she's like, that's weird,

00:53:26.840 --> 00:53:31.320
but we found an egg, so here's that. Like, it's

00:53:31.320 --> 00:53:34.099
helpful, I guess. Yeah. So she takes the egg

00:53:34.099 --> 00:53:37.019
back to their rooms, not really sure, like, what

00:53:37.019 --> 00:53:38.719
to do with it. She's going to give it to Attican.

00:53:38.760 --> 00:53:40.739
That's her plan. But when she gets to, I guess,

00:53:40.800 --> 00:53:43.960
their room, she doesn't find Attican. And instead,

00:53:43.960 --> 00:53:47.400
she finds Garen. And this is when it really becomes

00:53:47.400 --> 00:53:50.980
clear that Garen hasn't been at the castle, like,

00:53:50.980 --> 00:53:55.679
since she's been back. He was gone. Garen, right

00:53:55.679 --> 00:53:59.260
now, is holding that bloodstained scarf. And...

00:53:59.260 --> 00:54:02.340
Mildred knows immediately that this is bad news

00:54:02.340 --> 00:54:05.739
bears for her Yeah, Garen has clearly worked

00:54:05.739 --> 00:54:09.460
out that they are mated He says quote the scent

00:54:09.460 --> 00:54:13.559
of a freshly -forged mating bond Plus quote the

00:54:13.559 --> 00:54:16.440
reeky the fucking reek of it all over this chamber

00:54:16.440 --> 00:54:18.820
Well get out of my bedroom, bro. You don't have

00:54:18.820 --> 00:54:20.960
to smell it. Nobody invited you in here, buddy

00:54:20.960 --> 00:54:25.980
Yeah He reveals that he's there to kill her and

00:54:25.980 --> 00:54:30.460
return her body to her sister with a quote, sorrowful

00:54:30.460 --> 00:54:35.440
apology. Mildred's like, great, cool, awesome.

00:54:36.039 --> 00:54:38.280
We should talk about stuff. And she's trying

00:54:38.280 --> 00:54:40.739
to stall. She's actively trying to use whatever

00:54:40.739 --> 00:54:42.980
mind meld thing that she's got with Attican to

00:54:42.980 --> 00:54:45.860
let him know that his daddy's there. And it does

00:54:45.860 --> 00:54:47.800
work. And it's going to kill her? Right. Yeah.

00:54:47.800 --> 00:54:50.940
Attican hears her and asks what's wrong. And

00:54:50.940 --> 00:54:53.500
she. She says, your father's in the room. I need

00:54:53.500 --> 00:54:55.760
your help. And he's like, great. Just keep talking.

00:54:55.880 --> 00:55:00.579
I'm on my way. On the way. Great. So Mildred

00:55:00.579 --> 00:55:03.179
is trying to stall. Garen, at some point, realizes

00:55:03.179 --> 00:55:07.119
that. And he makes his move. He tries to put

00:55:07.119 --> 00:55:10.000
her on the bed and stab her, essentially. And

00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:17.000
it's very like. old, bad 80s movie choreographed

00:55:17.000 --> 00:55:19.059
because they're on the bed, they're off the bed,

00:55:19.079 --> 00:55:21.019
they're on the bed, they're off the bed in the

00:55:21.019 --> 00:55:22.920
same position. She hits him with the egg. It's

00:55:22.920 --> 00:55:27.480
very weird. Behind her, she's like yeet. Yeah,

00:55:27.480 --> 00:55:29.119
and they're fighting over the knife. I'm like,

00:55:29.219 --> 00:55:31.500
he's literally bigger than you and a fey. Why

00:55:31.500 --> 00:55:33.900
is this happening? It has magic. Yeah, I don't

00:55:33.900 --> 00:55:38.940
know. It was bad choreography. So we haven't

00:55:38.940 --> 00:55:41.719
really called it out since we talked about it,

00:55:41.719 --> 00:55:44.619
but this is when Meadow shows up again, because

00:55:44.619 --> 00:55:46.619
Meadow's been basically MIA since she's been

00:55:46.619 --> 00:55:48.579
back. And people have been cagey about where

00:55:48.579 --> 00:55:50.960
Meadow is. And Meadow's been kind of a turncoat,

00:55:51.000 --> 00:55:53.500
it seems like. But Meadow does show up and try

00:55:53.500 --> 00:55:57.519
to get Garen off of Mildred with very limited

00:55:57.519 --> 00:56:00.300
success, unfortunately. Well, she's just a little

00:56:00.300 --> 00:56:04.059
cat. She just does a little baby. She tries.

00:56:05.039 --> 00:56:07.360
Just when it looks very bleak for Mildred, Attican

00:56:07.360 --> 00:56:10.219
shows up. And he doesn't even have to physically

00:56:10.219 --> 00:56:13.019
assault his father. He's just like, You need

00:56:13.019 --> 00:56:15.460
to come talk with me in the hallway. And I think

00:56:15.460 --> 00:56:16.860
it's really interesting. Get the fuck out of

00:56:16.860 --> 00:56:18.059
my wife. Get the fuck out of my wife from me.

00:56:18.460 --> 00:56:20.420
I think it's interesting that Garen just does

00:56:20.420 --> 00:56:23.940
that. I know. I thought that was interesting

00:56:23.940 --> 00:56:29.500
too. But I liked it. I think this was a good

00:56:29.500 --> 00:56:32.699
show of Attikin's power over Garen and how much

00:56:32.699 --> 00:56:35.960
Garen is actually really afraid of his son. But

00:56:35.960 --> 00:56:39.360
like we've been saying, it does feel very understated

00:56:39.360 --> 00:56:43.679
for who we have been told Attikin. is. Yeah,

00:56:44.000 --> 00:56:46.780
and on one hand I do like how understated it

00:56:46.780 --> 00:56:49.019
is, I just feel like a lot of the things here

00:56:49.019 --> 00:56:52.539
at the end could hit a lot harder. Right. Yeah.

00:56:53.039 --> 00:56:56.199
Anyway, Garen follows him out. Mildred's in the

00:56:56.199 --> 00:56:57.539
bedroom, but she can still hear them talking

00:56:57.539 --> 00:57:01.260
outside. And she hears Garen ask Attican, quote,

00:57:01.320 --> 00:57:05.199
Why would you marry a halfling? And the only

00:57:05.199 --> 00:57:08.909
answer that Attican gives is quote, since I'm

00:57:08.909 --> 00:57:10.349
the new king, basically, I'm going to do what

00:57:10.349 --> 00:57:13.030
I fucking want. And then Mildred just hears a

00:57:13.030 --> 00:57:16.210
thud. And when she opens the door, she sees Attican

00:57:16.210 --> 00:57:19.929
has pulled Garen's heart out of his armored chest,

00:57:21.070 --> 00:57:24.530
killing him, killing him dead. Just like, I'm

00:57:24.530 --> 00:57:27.769
the new king. Yoink. So fucking metal. I did

00:57:27.769 --> 00:57:30.829
not see that coming, but I. Love that, and even

00:57:30.829 --> 00:57:32.250
Mildred asked the question in my mind. I'm like,

00:57:32.369 --> 00:57:33.949
how the fuck did you do that? And Mildred's like,

00:57:34.090 --> 00:57:36.250
how the fuck did you do that? What is happening?

00:57:37.130 --> 00:57:38.610
I know, and Attican's like, don't worry about

00:57:38.610 --> 00:57:42.369
it. He literally draws a bloody finger over her

00:57:42.369 --> 00:57:44.489
mouth, and it's just like, shh. It's like, it'll

00:57:44.489 --> 00:57:50.690
be our secret. It'll be our secret. OK. OK. Cool.

00:57:51.309 --> 00:57:56.409
So in the midst of this, Attican shares that.

00:57:58.139 --> 00:58:01.659
Kalista is his mother, and that Garen didn't

00:58:01.659 --> 00:58:04.059
actually kill her, he faked her death and then

00:58:04.059 --> 00:58:06.099
helped her flee the continent. Quote, in return

00:58:06.099 --> 00:58:08.579
for her freedom, she had agreed to leave me behind.

00:58:09.460 --> 00:58:12.440
So Kalista left and never looked back. Which

00:58:12.440 --> 00:58:15.699
is - So Atticus is also unseelie. Yes, so everybody

00:58:15.699 --> 00:58:17.559
in this fucking book is unseelie, and this is

00:58:17.559 --> 00:58:19.400
where I thought, oh fuck, they're siblings. They're

00:58:19.400 --> 00:58:21.940
not siblings, but it was still a little bit like

00:58:21.940 --> 00:58:24.179
Scooby -Doo, okay, everybody has a secret unseelie

00:58:24.179 --> 00:58:27.119
mother. I know. Well, and also like this whole

00:58:27.119 --> 00:58:29.000
seely court is just being run by the unseely

00:58:29.000 --> 00:58:33.019
and it just fine. But the only way that immediately

00:58:33.019 --> 00:58:34.780
made sense in my mind is if they were all related.

00:58:34.780 --> 00:58:36.579
And I'm very glad they're not. But I don't know

00:58:36.579 --> 00:58:39.400
why they all have to be unseely. Right. And the

00:58:39.400 --> 00:58:42.800
other thing that I kind of like only realize

00:58:42.800 --> 00:58:46.260
in retrospect is like, yeah, of course he's like

00:58:46.260 --> 00:58:49.360
Calista's son because Garen wasn't didn't have

00:58:49.360 --> 00:58:54.159
like a paramour outside of that. And like Yeah.

00:58:54.159 --> 00:58:56.980
What's her face? Corden or whatever. Cordenia.

00:58:57.219 --> 00:59:00.320
Yeah, Cordenia was after, right? So if there

00:59:00.320 --> 00:59:03.679
was nobody before, who else would it be? I know.

00:59:04.599 --> 00:59:08.199
And this was a big reveal to me. I didn't see

00:59:08.199 --> 00:59:11.119
this coming. Same. But in retrospect, it was

00:59:11.119 --> 00:59:13.800
really obvious. He didn't exist before Calista,

00:59:13.940 --> 00:59:17.360
and no other mother existed after Calista. Yeah.

00:59:17.530 --> 00:59:20.829
Yeah. So if there's only one mother, if it looks

00:59:20.829 --> 00:59:22.750
like a Calista, talks like a Calista, it's probably

00:59:22.750 --> 00:59:26.730
a Calista. It's probably a Calista. Yeah. So

00:59:26.730 --> 00:59:29.150
yeah, that was a lot happening. There was also

00:59:29.150 --> 00:59:34.349
this thing that, like, we don't get, like, we

00:59:34.349 --> 00:59:37.610
don't spend a lot of time on it, but because

00:59:37.610 --> 00:59:40.610
Vane's dad was killed the same way that Garen

00:59:40.610 --> 00:59:43.429
was killed, it's implied that Attican killed

00:59:43.429 --> 00:59:48.909
them both. Yeah, which that is so subtle in here

00:59:48.909 --> 00:59:50.710
that like, I don't even think we get confirmation,

00:59:50.769 --> 00:59:53.489
but that's what I think happened. I think so

00:59:53.489 --> 00:59:56.730
too. And I think the reason that he killed the

00:59:56.730 --> 00:59:59.170
other king is because of the way he treated his

00:59:59.170 --> 01:00:01.610
mother. And I think that's partially why he killed

01:00:01.610 --> 01:00:04.949
Garen along with the fact that he was being a

01:00:04.949 --> 01:00:08.389
royal dick to everybody on the planet. Yeah,

01:00:08.409 --> 01:00:14.670
and just a generally bad king. Right. So. Basically,

01:00:14.889 --> 01:00:17.250
Attican's like, you get some sleep, I gotta hide

01:00:17.250 --> 01:00:18.530
this and figure out how we're gonna make this

01:00:18.530 --> 01:00:21.610
look like I didn't just kill my father, so. Don't

01:00:21.610 --> 01:00:23.650
tell anyone. Don't tell anyone. Good night. And

01:00:23.650 --> 01:00:26.530
this is where we kind of get a little, it gets

01:00:26.530 --> 01:00:28.530
implied that the reason that she was in the dungeon

01:00:28.530 --> 01:00:32.250
when she first came back was so that Garen didn't

01:00:32.250 --> 01:00:34.650
find out that she was back at all until he left.

01:00:35.429 --> 01:00:37.570
Yeah, which, cool, and I'm glad that we got an

01:00:37.570 --> 01:00:40.219
explanation of that. Yeah, but also you're just

01:00:40.219 --> 01:00:42.119
kicking it down the you're kicking the can down

01:00:42.119 --> 01:00:47.480
the road very clearly Yeah Anyway, so then we

01:00:47.480 --> 01:00:50.699
get a brief break from the politics and the war

01:00:50.699 --> 01:00:54.440
of it all for a wedding Attican is actually marrying

01:00:54.440 --> 01:00:57.139
Mildred and it's like Within the next couple

01:00:57.139 --> 01:01:00.539
of days. It's so soon. In fact that there wasn't

01:01:00.539 --> 01:01:03.880
a whole lot of time for her sister, Bernie, to

01:01:03.880 --> 01:01:06.019
attend because Bernie's super fucking pregnant.

01:01:06.360 --> 01:01:08.280
So the only person from her side of the family

01:01:08.280 --> 01:01:11.159
that does attend is Royce, Bernie's husband.

01:01:11.440 --> 01:01:15.539
He's there to witness the essentially the the

01:01:15.539 --> 01:01:17.980
alliance that they all agreed to being fulfilled.

01:01:19.340 --> 01:01:22.239
Which is cute. I like Royce. He's such like a

01:01:22.239 --> 01:01:29.039
nothing burger. I like him. I like it, too. So

01:01:29.039 --> 01:01:34.440
they do the wedding. It's. Fine. But Mildred

01:01:34.440 --> 01:01:37.219
feels some type of way about it. She asks Attican

01:01:37.219 --> 01:01:39.880
afterwards how he feels, and he says, quote,

01:01:39.980 --> 01:01:44.039
victorious is what I feel. And she, like, essentially

01:01:44.039 --> 01:01:47.579
runs away from that comment. Yeah, she didn't

01:01:47.579 --> 01:01:50.219
like that at all. And I don't know why. Like,

01:01:50.340 --> 01:01:52.760
I don't know if it's because she is too stuck

01:01:52.760 --> 01:01:56.579
on, like, the game and, like, that she doesn't

01:01:56.579 --> 01:01:58.260
like that he won. But I'm like, girl, you got

01:01:58.260 --> 01:02:00.400
exactly what you wanted. You both won, I guess.

01:02:01.219 --> 01:02:05.019
Yeah, like you demanded that he marry you. He's

01:02:05.019 --> 01:02:07.840
also your mate. I don't know what else you expected.

01:02:09.039 --> 01:02:14.199
Right. Regardless, her miffing, or miffery, mifery?

01:02:15.260 --> 01:02:20.400
Mifery. Her being miffed. Her miffed attitude

01:02:20.400 --> 01:02:22.519
doesn't last very long because they go on another

01:02:22.519 --> 01:02:24.380
egg hunt. And this one is around the palace in

01:02:24.380 --> 01:02:26.260
the palace grounds trying to look for those eggs.

01:02:27.159 --> 01:02:30.079
And. She goes with Folly. They get separated.

01:02:30.699 --> 01:02:34.960
And Attican finds her in the woods. And they

01:02:34.960 --> 01:02:36.780
have a cute little scene in the woods, which

01:02:36.780 --> 01:02:41.059
is amazing. It is amazing. She even, like, calls

01:02:41.059 --> 01:02:43.159
it out. This book is very self -aware in a way

01:02:43.159 --> 01:02:45.599
I really appreciate. Because Mildred even says,

01:02:45.679 --> 01:02:47.320
like, I don't think we should consummate our

01:02:47.320 --> 01:02:51.260
marriage in the forest. And he's like, why? Who

01:02:51.260 --> 01:02:53.579
cares? Why not? Give me a good reason. We can

01:02:53.579 --> 01:02:56.699
do it anyway. We've already had sex, so. Right.

01:02:58.099 --> 01:03:01.119
So this scene is great. I mean, despite the fact

01:03:01.119 --> 01:03:03.639
that I'm not like a dude on the forest floor

01:03:03.639 --> 01:03:09.679
kind of girly. No notes. No, it's really nice.

01:03:10.260 --> 01:03:12.360
We also get some interesting information in it.

01:03:12.400 --> 01:03:16.210
So we get a reveal about why. Her blood leads

01:03:16.210 --> 01:03:18.070
her to Pytharians because she shares that information

01:03:18.070 --> 01:03:20.010
with Attikin and it's because she has Unseelie

01:03:20.010 --> 01:03:23.449
blood. Blood, he says, quote, blood binds all.

01:03:23.849 --> 01:03:26.289
And so he kind of implies that any Unseelie can

01:03:26.289 --> 01:03:29.630
do this magic trick, which makes it feel less

01:03:29.630 --> 01:03:31.050
special, but also I've never seen anybody else

01:03:31.050 --> 01:03:34.150
do it. So. Well, and also why wasn't he doing

01:03:34.150 --> 01:03:38.170
it to find the eggs? Right. Because I guess maybe

01:03:38.170 --> 01:03:39.949
no one can know he's Unseelie because he's said

01:03:39.949 --> 01:03:43.570
at the Seelie court. Yeah. Politics. I mean,

01:03:43.570 --> 01:03:45.889
I think it's probably more to do with the fact

01:03:45.889 --> 01:03:48.989
that Attican is who he is and she's his mate.

01:03:49.449 --> 01:03:52.869
But the way that he said it was like, oh, it's

01:03:52.869 --> 01:03:55.449
just an unseely thing. I'm like, OK. Like, just

01:03:55.449 --> 01:03:57.530
don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Yeah.

01:04:00.289 --> 01:04:03.090
During the scene, Attican tells her that she's

01:04:03.090 --> 01:04:06.070
beautiful for the first time ever, which is sounds

01:04:06.070 --> 01:04:09.670
bad on the surface. But for me, it's the revealing

01:04:09.670 --> 01:04:13.739
that he loves her. Yeah, that they're not enemies

01:04:13.739 --> 01:04:19.260
and they never were right was all an act He also

01:04:19.260 --> 01:04:21.500
reveals that he's a little nervous because he

01:04:21.500 --> 01:04:23.679
says quote you cannot love him like he's still

01:04:23.679 --> 01:04:25.820
thinking about her potentially pining after vein

01:04:25.820 --> 01:04:33.460
His brother Yeah Right. Yeah brother half brother

01:04:33.460 --> 01:04:36.099
at least Half brother just like add that little

01:04:36.099 --> 01:04:38.019
twist to it. Uh -huh. Yeah, which they never

01:04:38.019 --> 01:04:42.039
really talk about at length. No No, honestly,

01:04:42.059 --> 01:04:44.780
a couple of times I had to be like, right? Yeah.

01:04:45.219 --> 01:04:51.420
Guys? Right? And then we get the - It's sweet.

01:04:51.880 --> 01:04:53.840
I know, because he also goes on to say, quote,

01:04:54.019 --> 01:04:56.199
I want you, Mildred, always and incessantly.

01:04:56.360 --> 01:05:02.880
I fucking wanted you. Unfortunately, this scene

01:05:02.880 --> 01:05:05.619
ends on a bit of a bittersweet note because it's

01:05:05.619 --> 01:05:08.119
clear that Attican knows that something's going

01:05:08.119 --> 01:05:10.789
to happen. And so he tells her that - when they

01:05:10.789 --> 01:05:13.269
come that she needs to get to the dungeons. Everybody

01:05:13.269 --> 01:05:14.949
needs to get to the dungeons, like, underground.

01:05:15.530 --> 01:05:19.449
And she's like, OK, cool, like, in the future.

01:05:19.530 --> 01:05:21.849
And it's clear that he means, like, right now.

01:05:22.489 --> 01:05:25.170
Like, no, I need you to go immediately. Right.

01:05:25.889 --> 01:05:29.269
And so Mildred reluctantly goes back to the castle

01:05:29.269 --> 01:05:31.449
to gather everybody else and go into the dungeons

01:05:31.449 --> 01:05:36.510
while Attican does something else. King stuff.

01:05:36.690 --> 01:05:40.460
King stuff. So she meets Folly and Folly is like,

01:05:40.519 --> 01:05:41.659
yeah, I know we have to get to the dungeons,

01:05:41.699 --> 01:05:43.380
but you need to see something first. Like come

01:05:43.380 --> 01:05:46.480
with me. I need you to, you just need to see

01:05:46.480 --> 01:05:48.860
this. So they get to a balcony where they can

01:05:48.860 --> 01:05:52.079
see essentially like the courtyard of the castle.

01:05:52.360 --> 01:05:55.320
And in that courtyard, they see Attican walking

01:05:55.320 --> 01:05:59.380
down the driveway, stark naked, and he stops

01:05:59.380 --> 01:06:04.139
and turns into a motherfucking Pythrion. I did

01:06:04.139 --> 01:06:07.139
not see this coming at all. Never in my life.

01:06:07.639 --> 01:06:09.960
Like if this was nowhere near my bingo card.

01:06:11.079 --> 01:06:12.760
No, well, because like the vein has the wings

01:06:12.760 --> 01:06:14.679
and he's like, I would think of anyone, which

01:06:14.679 --> 01:06:16.480
if it would be vain and like I get the bloodline,

01:06:16.559 --> 01:06:19.079
but then I didn't connect the bloodline. And

01:06:19.079 --> 01:06:24.280
this book does like. These reveals are all so

01:06:24.280 --> 01:06:26.980
well done, so I was like, excuse me, he's a what?

01:06:27.139 --> 01:06:30.039
He's a what now? Yeah, no, totally. I didn't

01:06:30.039 --> 01:06:34.449
see it coming. I loved every minute of it. I

01:06:34.449 --> 01:06:36.650
have questions at the end of this book, but there

01:06:36.650 --> 01:06:39.110
are no questions around the big plot point things.

01:06:39.730 --> 01:06:41.710
Very well handled. Which is impressive, because

01:06:41.710 --> 01:06:45.670
there are some crazy twists in here. Crazy. So

01:06:45.670 --> 01:06:47.489
Folly goes on to say quote his mother was the

01:06:47.489 --> 01:06:50.349
unseelie Queen and her grandfather the last Pytharian

01:06:50.349 --> 01:06:53.949
King so essentially Attakin is the true unseelie

01:06:53.949 --> 01:06:56.349
heir who has spent his entire life masquerading

01:06:56.349 --> 01:06:59.670
as a seelie prince and Because a noble who can

01:06:59.670 --> 01:07:02.730
shift is the alpha of that species He can simply

01:07:02.730 --> 01:07:05.570
just take the army that vain has spent decades

01:07:05.570 --> 01:07:08.690
breeding and like use them against vain which

01:07:08.690 --> 01:07:12.949
is so fucking metal it's so metal and it's so

01:07:12.949 --> 01:07:16.489
fun because It's not said explicitly, but I can

01:07:16.489 --> 01:07:18.210
only imagine how satisfying that would be to

01:07:18.210 --> 01:07:21.690
watch your half -brother make this army thinking

01:07:21.690 --> 01:07:24.010
that he is going to destroy you. And you're just

01:07:24.010 --> 01:07:26.190
like, no, that's my army, but you can raise it.

01:07:26.210 --> 01:07:28.250
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Yeah, go for it. No problem.

01:07:28.550 --> 01:07:31.110
Not concerned about it at all. Which goes back

01:07:31.110 --> 01:07:34.150
to like, Mildred was raising the alarm bell and

01:07:34.150 --> 01:07:35.989
like, this is going to happen. We don't stand

01:07:35.989 --> 01:07:39.829
a chance. And Attican was so nonchalant. And

01:07:39.829 --> 01:07:41.369
she's like, I need you to be a lot more chalant

01:07:41.369 --> 01:07:43.920
about this, my guy. And he's like, don't worry.

01:07:44.239 --> 01:07:48.980
It's fine. I got it. I promise you don't have

01:07:48.980 --> 01:07:55.519
to worry about the Pytharians. Right. So Attican

01:07:55.519 --> 01:07:57.800
is essentially summoning the Pytharians. Like,

01:07:57.920 --> 01:08:00.800
yes, Vane has started his assault. But what he

01:08:00.800 --> 01:08:03.519
doesn't know is that the guys riding these Pytharians

01:08:03.519 --> 01:08:06.260
are now totally fucked, right? As they start

01:08:06.260 --> 01:08:08.559
showing up in the courtyard, the Pytharians start

01:08:08.559 --> 01:08:11.159
eviscerating the writers that are from Vane's

01:08:11.159 --> 01:08:15.539
army. Which has to be so shocking to be like,

01:08:15.599 --> 01:08:19.760
what the fuck is happening? Exactly. So Folly,

01:08:20.460 --> 01:08:22.479
in conversation with Folly, we come to learn

01:08:22.479 --> 01:08:27.539
that Cordania, who is Garen's consort, knew because

01:08:27.539 --> 01:08:29.739
she practically raised Attican, right? She was

01:08:29.739 --> 01:08:32.119
his de facto mother, which I didn't realize when

01:08:32.119 --> 01:08:35.579
we first met her. I didn't either. It seemed

01:08:35.579 --> 01:08:37.140
like, and I didn't give it any thoughts, but

01:08:37.140 --> 01:08:41.930
it seemed like. Cordania came once Attican was

01:08:41.930 --> 01:08:44.130
already an adult, or they never really had any

01:08:44.130 --> 01:08:46.909
interaction. Yeah, but it sounds like she showed

01:08:46.909 --> 01:08:49.810
up pretty soon after he was born, at least. Yeah,

01:08:49.810 --> 01:08:51.630
and then they did have a close relationship.

01:08:53.210 --> 01:08:55.310
That wasn't really well -seated. Yeah, because

01:08:55.310 --> 01:08:58.789
they barely interact. But that's being a pity.

01:09:00.310 --> 01:09:03.130
So Cordania knew, and then Folly also knew, because

01:09:03.130 --> 01:09:05.649
she caught Attican once when he was younger naked,

01:09:05.869 --> 01:09:09.130
bloody, and hunting for his clothes. Which I

01:09:09.130 --> 01:09:11.710
think is really interesting. It's so interesting.

01:09:13.569 --> 01:09:15.350
So Phineas is one of the only ones that doesn't

01:09:15.350 --> 01:09:17.149
know in their small inner circle. And he's about

01:09:17.149 --> 01:09:21.109
to find out with everybody else. So what's interesting

01:09:21.109 --> 01:09:24.670
about this is Mildred has had this inferiority

01:09:24.670 --> 01:09:26.289
complex because she's a half -breed, right? She's

01:09:26.289 --> 01:09:29.170
half mortal, half fae. But she realizes in this

01:09:29.170 --> 01:09:31.710
moment that Anakin is also a half -breed. He's

01:09:31.710 --> 01:09:35.600
part seely, part unseely. She says, quote, he

01:09:35.600 --> 01:09:37.760
didn't have mortal blood, but he was still just

01:09:37.760 --> 01:09:44.560
a halfling, just like me. Oh. Oh, it's cute.

01:09:45.779 --> 01:09:48.020
So Attican is dealing with the Pytharian invasion,

01:09:48.399 --> 01:09:50.180
right? But Vayne is making a different play.

01:09:50.699 --> 01:09:53.619
He comes to the back of the courtyard, and for

01:09:53.619 --> 01:09:58.260
some reason, Mildred is there. She sees him.

01:09:58.359 --> 01:10:01.220
She also sees that, unfortunately, he has Meadow

01:10:01.220 --> 01:10:06.020
and is using Meadow as bait again. So she goes

01:10:06.020 --> 01:10:07.659
out to the courtyard. They have a conversation.

01:10:08.159 --> 01:10:10.579
He says, quote, I just need your husband to die

01:10:10.579 --> 01:10:13.859
and threatens her friends who were coming after

01:10:13.859 --> 01:10:15.800
her. Right. So Folly and Phineas are kind of

01:10:15.800 --> 01:10:17.899
calling after Mildred, not understanding why

01:10:17.899 --> 01:10:19.239
she's not getting to the dungeons with everybody

01:10:19.239 --> 01:10:22.739
else. And he's like, you want them to die? Totally

01:10:22.739 --> 01:10:24.560
fine. Or you could just come with me. And so

01:10:24.560 --> 01:10:32.829
Mildred just goes with Bane. Awesome. This was

01:10:32.829 --> 01:10:35.010
a little weak for me. I feel like Mildred did

01:10:35.010 --> 01:10:38.689
it a little bit for the plot. I also think she

01:10:38.689 --> 01:10:42.149
did it for the plot because the threat wasn't

01:10:42.149 --> 01:10:45.010
strong enough. Her friends would have been fine.

01:10:46.050 --> 01:10:49.529
Everyone would have been fine. Right. And she's

01:10:49.529 --> 01:10:51.510
kind of like, let's see where this goes. She's

01:10:51.510 --> 01:10:52.770
a little bit like, let's see where this goes.

01:10:52.810 --> 01:10:54.489
But she's also kind of justifying it to herself.

01:10:54.550 --> 01:10:56.449
She's like, maybe I can convince him to pull

01:10:56.449 --> 01:10:58.550
back and stop the fighting. And I'm like, sure,

01:10:58.670 --> 01:11:02.659
girl. But like. Don't tell me it's not a little

01:11:02.659 --> 01:11:05.800
bit to stir the pot. It's totally to stir the

01:11:05.800 --> 01:11:09.800
pot. And, like, the fight's basically over. There's

01:11:09.800 --> 01:11:13.619
really not any fight now that you know who your

01:11:13.619 --> 01:11:15.359
husband is. Now that you know who her husband

01:11:15.359 --> 01:11:17.960
is. And, like, Vayne is, like, the only one who

01:11:17.960 --> 01:11:20.319
doesn't see that. And I don't get it. He turns

01:11:20.319 --> 01:11:24.119
immediately into an idiot. I know, which was

01:11:24.119 --> 01:11:25.760
a little frustrating. And this is where I felt

01:11:25.760 --> 01:11:27.300
like, I mean, we're getting to the end. But this

01:11:27.300 --> 01:11:28.859
is where I felt like it was a little anticlimactic

01:11:28.859 --> 01:11:31.779
because Vayne just ceases to have a thought in

01:11:31.779 --> 01:11:34.699
his brain. Right. Beyond like, I have to win.

01:11:34.779 --> 01:11:37.039
And this is like, that's my only point. I just

01:11:37.039 --> 01:11:40.340
need your husband to die. Right. OK. And then

01:11:40.340 --> 01:11:46.239
what, bro? So evidence of the fact that this

01:11:46.239 --> 01:11:48.680
fight is basically over, he takes her to a village

01:11:48.680 --> 01:11:50.880
where the rest of his forces are essentially

01:11:50.880 --> 01:11:53.579
hiding out. It's clear that Vane knows about

01:11:53.579 --> 01:11:55.539
the mating bond. He says, quote, you reek of

01:11:55.539 --> 01:11:57.960
him, not just in the usual post -coital way.

01:11:59.280 --> 01:12:01.260
He threatens her pressing a knife to her throat

01:12:01.260 --> 01:12:03.880
draws blood but can't make himself finish her

01:12:03.880 --> 01:12:07.399
off because I think his Thought process is like

01:12:07.399 --> 01:12:11.220
kill her kill Attican that wasn't very clear

01:12:11.220 --> 01:12:14.680
to me though That wasn't clear to me either and

01:12:14.680 --> 01:12:18.439
I also don't really understand why he can't Why

01:12:18.439 --> 01:12:20.680
he can't finish her off. Like does he have feelings?

01:12:20.819 --> 01:12:23.520
I don't think he did not really. Yeah, I didn't

01:12:23.520 --> 01:12:25.319
think so I mean, it's certainly not for her right

01:12:25.319 --> 01:12:28.119
so like Yeah, not enough to, like, not be able

01:12:28.119 --> 01:12:30.239
to kill her if that, in his mind, is the only

01:12:30.239 --> 01:12:34.060
thing that'll work. Right. The thing that he

01:12:34.060 --> 01:12:36.539
says to Mildred, though, to try to get, like,

01:12:36.739 --> 01:12:39.500
her on his side is that he essentially says that

01:12:39.500 --> 01:12:43.159
Attikin is becoming untouchable because he is

01:12:43.159 --> 01:12:45.539
the king of the Seelie and he is now the Alpha

01:12:45.539 --> 01:12:48.060
of the Pytherians, and technically he could take

01:12:48.060 --> 01:12:51.020
the Unseelie throne, too, if he kills Vayne.

01:12:51.159 --> 01:12:53.600
He tells her, quote, you need to help us end

01:12:53.600 --> 01:12:56.550
him or we all lose this war. But I don't understand

01:12:56.550 --> 01:12:59.069
why that's a problem for her. I don't either,

01:12:59.069 --> 01:13:01.149
because she's on the winning side. She's mated

01:13:01.149 --> 01:13:05.069
to the guy that's going to win. Right. So you

01:13:05.069 --> 01:13:07.569
say we will all lose the war. I'm not losing

01:13:07.569 --> 01:13:13.390
anything. I'm fine. I get two kingdoms. There's

01:13:13.390 --> 01:13:17.329
also a little bit of undercurrent in this conversation

01:13:17.329 --> 01:13:20.350
where Vane is asking forgiveness. But he just

01:13:20.350 --> 01:13:24.720
doesn't want to like. and it's clear that he's

01:13:24.720 --> 01:13:26.500
still not bought in on actually wanting Mildred.

01:13:26.840 --> 01:13:28.859
He's almost acting in ways that he doesn't quite

01:13:28.859 --> 01:13:31.880
understand himself, and Mildred's just like,

01:13:32.100 --> 01:13:36.819
girl, it's way too late. Yeah, you betrayed me

01:13:36.819 --> 01:13:38.920
in so many ways, and also, what are you trying

01:13:38.920 --> 01:13:41.619
to apologize for? Which part? brutally murdering

01:13:41.619 --> 01:13:46.020
my father or manipulating me or kidnapping me.

01:13:46.279 --> 01:13:48.239
Like, what are we really talking about? Yeah.

01:13:48.500 --> 01:13:51.699
And trying to kill me 20 seconds ago. She effectively

01:13:51.699 --> 01:13:54.119
says something like that. She's like, you're

01:13:54.119 --> 01:13:55.960
not doing yourself any favors, right? Like you're

01:13:55.960 --> 01:13:57.899
making it you're actively making it worse. You

01:13:57.899 --> 01:14:01.800
need to let me go. Yeah. You're not helping anything.

01:14:01.880 --> 01:14:05.140
Right. So Mildred reaches out to Attican through

01:14:05.140 --> 01:14:08.840
the bond, tells him where she is, warns him that

01:14:08.840 --> 01:14:12.359
they're armed with iron bolts, and is basically

01:14:12.359 --> 01:14:16.060
like, see you soon, honey, right? I like that

01:14:16.060 --> 01:14:17.579
we have this love triangle and we're sold on

01:14:17.579 --> 01:14:20.899
it, but really, Vane was never a problem. She's

01:14:20.899 --> 01:14:25.199
like, I had feelings, they're gone now. I had

01:14:25.199 --> 01:14:27.119
feelings, they're gone now. Yeah, I wish, I mean,

01:14:27.159 --> 01:14:30.340
I think. It's interesting in how this book is

01:14:30.340 --> 01:14:34.319
ended because it is implied that maybe Vane's

01:14:34.319 --> 01:14:35.939
affection for Mildred is a little bit more of

01:14:35.939 --> 01:14:37.960
a slower burn. Like he was already committed

01:14:37.960 --> 01:14:39.800
to the path of manipulating her and like getting

01:14:39.800 --> 01:14:42.500
what he wanted and then is realizing, oh shit,

01:14:42.500 --> 01:14:45.760
I might actually love this person. Like I can't

01:14:45.760 --> 01:14:48.300
kill her for some reason. Right. And I think

01:14:48.300 --> 01:14:50.659
it's interesting, like the line that we said

01:14:50.659 --> 01:14:54.729
earlier about him waiting for... Like a fated

01:14:54.729 --> 01:14:57.090
mate that hasn't shown up yet It would be like

01:14:57.090 --> 01:14:59.090
if this was not a standalone if there was a book,

01:14:59.189 --> 01:15:01.489
too It would be interesting to explore like is

01:15:01.489 --> 01:15:06.529
she fated mates to both of them. Oh And like

01:15:06.529 --> 01:15:09.189
I mean that vain is slowly realizing that he

01:15:09.189 --> 01:15:10.909
the thing that he's been waiting for he was too

01:15:10.909 --> 01:15:15.350
blinded by his own like Machinations and machinations

01:15:15.350 --> 01:15:20.510
and like ambition to see yes And now it's too

01:15:20.510 --> 01:15:22.670
late because I can you made it to two people

01:15:23.419 --> 01:15:29.439
Why choose? Anyway. So Mildred and everybody

01:15:29.439 --> 01:15:32.239
else knows when Attican has arrived because he

01:15:32.239 --> 01:15:34.300
lands in his dragon form and it feels like there's

01:15:34.300 --> 01:15:36.619
an earthquake, which is unfortunate because they're

01:15:36.619 --> 01:15:41.159
in tunnels underground. Oops, right. So he's

01:15:41.159 --> 01:15:42.760
essentially trying to collapse the tunnels in

01:15:42.760 --> 01:15:44.659
a way that forces them out in a very specific

01:15:44.659 --> 01:15:48.100
place. They end up going... out of the tunnels

01:15:48.100 --> 01:15:50.920
into this field where Attican is, and it's ringed

01:15:50.920 --> 01:15:53.960
in fire. There are dismembered warriors everywhere.

01:15:54.239 --> 01:15:56.560
There are iron bolts the size of Mildred being

01:15:56.560 --> 01:16:01.739
fired by, like, flying warrior things. And all

01:16:01.739 --> 01:16:03.659
of these things are just essentially, like, bouncing

01:16:03.659 --> 01:16:05.739
off of Attican's scales. And he's just, like,

01:16:05.939 --> 01:16:08.399
standing in the middle of the field waiting for

01:16:08.399 --> 01:16:11.359
Mildred. Just, like, chilling. Like, I would

01:16:11.359 --> 01:16:13.500
like my wife, please. Like, your Uber's here,

01:16:13.520 --> 01:16:20.770
girl. It's time to go. So Attican hasn't shown

01:16:20.770 --> 01:16:24.489
up empty -handed. He throws Garen's severed head

01:16:24.489 --> 01:16:28.569
toward Vayne. And there's a note attached to

01:16:28.569 --> 01:16:30.409
it that says, quote, claim your victory and retreat.

01:16:30.770 --> 01:16:33.649
And Mildred realizes that she's just become queen,

01:16:33.770 --> 01:16:37.689
one. And two, this is an opportunity for Vayne

01:16:37.689 --> 01:16:40.069
to claim a victory and retreat with dignity,

01:16:40.189 --> 01:16:42.649
right? And not totally lose face with his people.

01:16:43.980 --> 01:16:46.880
Yeah, which I forgot about that bargain. Right.

01:16:46.960 --> 01:16:48.640
Well, I forgot about that bargain, too. And she

01:16:48.640 --> 01:16:50.880
did, too, until just this moment. But Vane promised

01:16:50.880 --> 01:16:54.039
to give her something when he invaded the Seelie

01:16:54.039 --> 01:16:57.840
Realm. Anything. Right. And what she wants is

01:16:57.840 --> 01:16:59.779
for him to take his people home and live a life.

01:16:59.939 --> 01:17:01.960
Leave them the fuck alone. Like, lose my number.

01:17:02.359 --> 01:17:05.180
Stop being so obsessed with me. Why are you so

01:17:05.180 --> 01:17:07.340
obsessed with me? Why are you so obsessed with

01:17:07.340 --> 01:17:11.010
me? No, really. They have this conversation.

01:17:11.149 --> 01:17:13.750
It's clear that Vane doesn't want her to ask

01:17:13.750 --> 01:17:15.670
this thing of her She's trying to convince him

01:17:15.670 --> 01:17:18.029
to like take that take the win and leave right

01:17:18.029 --> 01:17:21.930
take Garen's head home on a pike and Like leave

01:17:21.930 --> 01:17:23.210
it at that. You're not gonna win this war like

01:17:23.210 --> 01:17:25.609
you're not gonna kill out of your life, right?

01:17:26.989 --> 01:17:29.329
In the process of this she gets hit by what sounds

01:17:29.329 --> 01:17:31.989
like friendly fire like she gets hit by an arrow

01:17:31.989 --> 01:17:35.510
in the side made argument Yeah, that was crazy.

01:17:35.529 --> 01:17:40.619
That was crazy. It serves to like It's an interesting

01:17:40.619 --> 01:17:42.239
choice because it serves to end the conversation

01:17:42.239 --> 01:17:43.720
and like force the conversation forward because

01:17:43.720 --> 01:17:45.319
it was clear to me that Vane and her were at

01:17:45.319 --> 01:17:47.239
an impasse. He wasn't gonna say yes and she wasn't

01:17:47.239 --> 01:17:50.859
gonna outright like ask for the thing yet. Yeah,

01:17:50.960 --> 01:17:53.840
so that was fine. Vane catches her. He tries

01:17:53.840 --> 01:17:55.899
to vanish them both to safety, but she pushes

01:17:55.899 --> 01:17:57.640
free of his arms at the last minute and rolls

01:17:57.640 --> 01:18:01.760
back toward Attican. It's a clear choice and

01:18:01.760 --> 01:18:04.760
the book like lets us sit with this clear choice.

01:18:06.200 --> 01:18:08.720
Mildred was kind of entertaining. I did have

01:18:08.720 --> 01:18:12.479
feelings for you at one time. You're trying to

01:18:12.479 --> 01:18:14.119
apologize for me, but you're still being kind

01:18:14.119 --> 01:18:16.899
of a dick. And in the moment when it matters

01:18:16.899 --> 01:18:19.300
she's not torn, she's decided with her full chest,

01:18:19.359 --> 01:18:22.100
which I liked. I liked that too. And I liked

01:18:22.100 --> 01:18:23.560
that, especially with this being a standalone,

01:18:23.739 --> 01:18:25.920
that it doesn't leave those threads open. I mean,

01:18:25.939 --> 01:18:28.220
it would be fun. But that it's like, nope, the

01:18:28.220 --> 01:18:30.760
love triangle's over. This is. This is where

01:18:30.760 --> 01:18:32.859
we are. We're done. Yeah. I also thought it was

01:18:32.859 --> 01:18:35.159
kind of a dick move for Vane to vanish or like

01:18:35.159 --> 01:18:37.180
teleport and just leave all of his people there

01:18:37.180 --> 01:18:42.119
like, bye. Right? Like, way to pull a Kyla. What

01:18:42.119 --> 01:18:44.760
was her name? Yeah, Kyla. Yeah, Kyla. Jesus.

01:18:44.760 --> 01:18:49.199
Bitch. Bitch. Speaking of pulling a Kyla, everything's

01:18:49.199 --> 01:18:51.619
fine. The war is over. They're not at odds anymore.

01:18:54.180 --> 01:18:57.600
OK. And that's where I was like, it was barely

01:18:57.600 --> 01:19:00.079
even a battle. You've been at war for. who knows

01:19:00.079 --> 01:19:03.399
how long. Yeah. And you had like, Heath chose

01:19:03.399 --> 01:19:04.939
him as a dragon and it's like the war's over,

01:19:05.000 --> 01:19:08.819
which fair, but what? Yep. Not even like a peace

01:19:08.819 --> 01:19:11.619
treaty conversation, like anything. Is he just

01:19:11.619 --> 01:19:15.159
still gonna plot? We do get one line of a fixer

01:19:15.159 --> 01:19:17.159
that like Attican had a treaty like ready to

01:19:17.159 --> 01:19:19.039
go and like Vane did eventually sign it, but

01:19:19.039 --> 01:19:22.539
like that's it. Like that's just, that's it.

01:19:22.640 --> 01:19:24.319
That way everything's fine. Everybody's at peace.

01:19:24.420 --> 01:19:26.140
Nobody has any more ambition that's gonna like

01:19:26.140 --> 01:19:30.909
fuck shit up. Okay, cool. Yeah. OK, sure. OK.

01:19:32.149 --> 01:19:35.130
We get this interaction between Attakin and Mildred,

01:19:35.229 --> 01:19:37.390
because they've got some stuff to say on their

01:19:37.390 --> 01:19:40.189
chest. And so they're alone in the throne room,

01:19:40.189 --> 01:19:43.029
and they're talking. Attakin essentially says

01:19:43.029 --> 01:19:44.689
that he acted the way that he did for survival.

01:19:45.010 --> 01:19:46.909
He never wanted to rule both kingdoms. He wanted

01:19:46.909 --> 01:19:49.529
to be free. And freedom meant that his birthright,

01:19:49.869 --> 01:19:52.449
the throne and the army, under his own control.

01:19:52.510 --> 01:19:54.789
So he could be free from being his father's pawn.

01:19:56.000 --> 01:19:58.699
He says quote I loathed you while I loved you

01:19:58.699 --> 01:20:02.300
as it was the only way to get what I needed he

01:20:02.300 --> 01:20:04.439
confesses that he felt the bond the night that

01:20:04.439 --> 01:20:08.760
she poisoned him and Despite knowing that he

01:20:08.760 --> 01:20:10.619
was supposed to let her run to Bain so that she'd

01:20:10.619 --> 01:20:13.720
break the wards the moment that Was supposed

01:20:13.720 --> 01:20:15.800
to happen when she was first in the woods. He

01:20:15.800 --> 01:20:17.680
realized that he couldn't go through with it

01:20:17.680 --> 01:20:19.859
He says quote I knew then that I would rather

01:20:19.859 --> 01:20:22.439
remain trapped for eternity than let anyone think

01:20:22.439 --> 01:20:27.369
you're theirs He goes on to say quote, you're

01:20:27.369 --> 01:20:30.229
still mine Dred, now you will forever be just

01:20:30.229 --> 01:20:35.850
mine. Privately, Mildred admits that she's been

01:20:35.850 --> 01:20:38.670
in love with him probably always and then she

01:20:38.670 --> 01:20:41.250
leaves him with his crown anyway and says quote,

01:20:41.390 --> 01:20:45.130
congratulations King. I didn't fully understand

01:20:45.130 --> 01:20:48.029
this move and I had to have it explained to me

01:20:48.029 --> 01:20:50.569
by like the next epilogue chapters but she's

01:20:50.569 --> 01:20:53.510
just not quite ready to put her armor down and

01:20:53.510 --> 01:20:56.130
stop living this like survival life that she's

01:20:56.130 --> 01:20:59.250
known her entire life i didn't understand that

01:20:59.250 --> 01:21:01.689
either and it makes sense and i appreciate that

01:21:01.689 --> 01:21:03.010
it was explained because at first i was like

01:21:03.010 --> 01:21:06.050
why are you being such a bitch right but i i

01:21:06.050 --> 01:21:08.170
also get it like in hindsight and having reflected

01:21:08.170 --> 01:21:12.470
on the book after finishing it like it would

01:21:12.470 --> 01:21:14.989
be hard for me to take that confession at face

01:21:14.989 --> 01:21:17.609
value too like you've been this person that i

01:21:17.609 --> 01:21:19.609
know you to be and now you're saying that that's

01:21:19.609 --> 01:21:21.390
all an act and you can just be like a loving

01:21:21.390 --> 01:21:25.170
husband to me What are you talking about? And

01:21:25.170 --> 01:21:28.350
again, don't forget, we've known each other mostly

01:21:28.350 --> 01:21:31.170
our whole lives. I know who you are, or I thought

01:21:31.170 --> 01:21:36.270
I knew who you were. So that's fair. And they've

01:21:36.270 --> 01:21:37.630
been playing the game for so long, so I don't

01:21:37.630 --> 01:21:40.569
want to let the game up either. Right. And as

01:21:40.569 --> 01:21:43.649
she confessed to Vane, she kind of likes the

01:21:43.649 --> 01:21:47.829
game. Yeah. So I think there's some of that in

01:21:47.829 --> 01:21:54.029
there too to work through. So in the next couple

01:21:54.029 --> 01:21:58.090
of chapters, we get kind of a hard exit. Mildred

01:21:58.090 --> 01:22:02.930
has like fled. I hated this. Mildred has fled

01:22:02.930 --> 01:22:06.010
the kingdom and gone to be with her sister and

01:22:06.010 --> 01:22:10.630
her new niece, I think. It's like, OK, again,

01:22:10.829 --> 01:22:11.930
going back to what we were talking about, I get

01:22:11.930 --> 01:22:14.130
that you have to reconcile that confession, but

01:22:14.130 --> 01:22:18.239
this seems like so dramatic. It's a little bit

01:22:18.239 --> 01:22:21.100
dramatic and it is she even admits like at the

01:22:21.100 --> 01:22:23.560
end of the chapter that it is a test to see if

01:22:23.560 --> 01:22:25.720
he really is that person and I'm like I kind

01:22:25.720 --> 01:22:30.659
of get it but I'm like I just I didn't really

01:22:30.659 --> 01:22:33.579
want to see it like I could have I could have

01:22:33.579 --> 01:22:36.420
skipped to the epilogue personally I could have

01:22:36.420 --> 01:22:38.159
yeah I didn't need it because it was also weird

01:22:38.159 --> 01:22:40.640
being I think it's like the lash the last two

01:22:40.640 --> 01:22:43.260
chapters of the book and I'm like I'm already

01:22:43.260 --> 01:22:46.960
bought in on their love story I I didn't I don't

01:22:46.960 --> 01:22:48.840
need this, like, I'm going to flee at the last

01:22:48.840 --> 01:22:51.119
moments. You could prove yourself to me. OK,

01:22:51.260 --> 01:22:55.420
girl. Right. Exactly. All right. So crucially

01:22:55.420 --> 01:22:59.260
in this time, Mildred's drinking basically a

01:22:59.260 --> 01:23:01.399
specific type of tea that will block their mental

01:23:01.399 --> 01:23:03.899
connection. And it's something that is a known

01:23:03.899 --> 01:23:08.140
thing because mates who are in or fated mates

01:23:08.140 --> 01:23:10.239
who don't want to be with each other want privacy

01:23:10.239 --> 01:23:13.399
from that person that they are bound to. Awkward.

01:23:13.420 --> 01:23:15.979
Which I like that little one liner that Because

01:23:15.979 --> 01:23:18.979
we get that in Akatar, but just because you're

01:23:18.979 --> 01:23:20.600
fated mates doesn't mean you like each other.

01:23:20.680 --> 01:23:25.659
Right, exactly. So they spend time. When the

01:23:25.659 --> 01:23:27.720
tea is worn off, they do spend time kind of communicating

01:23:27.720 --> 01:23:30.380
mentally with each other. And at some point,

01:23:30.600 --> 01:23:33.720
Attikin does show up to retrieve his wife, which

01:23:33.720 --> 01:23:36.439
I love. I love the I'm here for my wife thing.

01:23:38.420 --> 01:23:41.199
I love that, too. And again, we see Royce again

01:23:41.199 --> 01:23:44.340
as just like, is this OK? Should I be concerned?

01:23:45.020 --> 01:23:49.420
or go with him, I don't know. There's also this

01:23:49.420 --> 01:23:51.800
adorable scene with Attican and the newborn,

01:23:51.960 --> 01:23:53.399
and Attican doesn't know what to do with the

01:23:53.399 --> 01:23:56.380
newborn, especially because the newborn shits

01:23:56.380 --> 01:24:03.199
while Attican's holding them. Anyway, when Attican

01:24:03.199 --> 01:24:07.979
finds Mildred, Mildred's under a tree, and basically

01:24:07.979 --> 01:24:10.119
they confess their love for each other in those

01:24:10.119 --> 01:24:12.909
explicit words. Attikin says that he's been a

01:24:12.909 --> 01:24:14.989
villain for so long, but quote, that doesn't

01:24:14.989 --> 01:24:17.350
mean I cannot love you. That doesn't mean I don't

01:24:17.350 --> 01:24:19.609
need you to be as obsessively in love with me

01:24:19.609 --> 01:24:23.489
as I am with you. And then they say, I love yous

01:24:23.489 --> 01:24:27.590
to each other. But Attikin realizes that Mildred

01:24:27.590 --> 01:24:30.590
needs some of this game. And so at the end, he

01:24:30.590 --> 01:24:34.529
says, quote, disappointed. Basically, re -initiating

01:24:34.529 --> 01:24:36.649
that, like, ta -da -tet that they had going on.

01:24:37.490 --> 01:24:39.449
Which I appreciate it, too, because that can't

01:24:39.449 --> 01:24:42.050
just totally change. I know. It's like how they

01:24:42.050 --> 01:24:46.329
interact with each other. And that was part of

01:24:46.329 --> 01:24:50.609
what Mildred was afraid of, right? She's not

01:24:50.609 --> 01:24:54.270
afraid of Attican. She's not afraid of being

01:24:54.270 --> 01:24:58.689
loved. She just doesn't know how and still wants

01:24:58.689 --> 01:25:00.470
to retain the parts of that life that excited

01:25:00.470 --> 01:25:03.329
her. Well, and to be fair, that's the person

01:25:03.329 --> 01:25:04.689
you fell in love with. So you can't just now

01:25:04.689 --> 01:25:07.579
be a new person and think that we can have a

01:25:07.579 --> 01:25:09.399
healthy relationship. Right, that's going to

01:25:09.399 --> 01:25:14.779
take some getting used to. So we do get a bit

01:25:14.779 --> 01:25:16.659
of an epilogue and that jumps 20 years into the

01:25:16.659 --> 01:25:19.539
future. Um, the Pytherians that are now under

01:25:19.539 --> 01:25:21.340
Attikin's reign live in the sky mountains, which

01:25:21.340 --> 01:25:23.539
are part of the cloud kingdom, the unsealy kingdom.

01:25:24.180 --> 01:25:26.520
Cool. Attikin is in his dragon form and Mildred

01:25:26.520 --> 01:25:29.359
and their daughter are up there with the Pytherians.

01:25:29.560 --> 01:25:31.520
And this is really cute because their daughter

01:25:31.520 --> 01:25:33.659
Lumina is four years old and is feeding wild

01:25:33.659 --> 01:25:36.220
flowers to Attikin and Pytherian form, despite

01:25:36.220 --> 01:25:39.779
the fact that these give him like a heinously

01:25:39.779 --> 01:25:41.899
upset stomach when he shifts back into a person.

01:25:42.600 --> 01:25:48.500
It was so cute. Yeah. We learned that Dahlia

01:25:48.500 --> 01:25:51.279
has extended an olive branch at some point, too.

01:25:51.720 --> 01:25:55.699
She's sent Mildred books. They've been exchanging

01:25:55.699 --> 01:25:57.680
books back and forth, essentially doing a book

01:25:57.680 --> 01:26:01.279
club. And Mildred recognized the book for what

01:26:01.279 --> 01:26:04.500
it was. She sees this as trying to build a bridge

01:26:04.500 --> 01:26:06.579
between the two kingdoms, and she accepted it

01:26:06.579 --> 01:26:09.989
and is letting it happen. Also, as they're sitting

01:26:09.989 --> 01:26:14.409
there, she sees a shadow, like implied that it's

01:26:14.409 --> 01:26:18.170
one of Vane's shadows, just like saying hi. And

01:26:18.170 --> 01:26:21.770
she waves back, essentially. Which I also thought

01:26:21.770 --> 01:26:25.390
was kind of cute. Yeah. Which I think opens the

01:26:25.390 --> 01:26:28.789
door to like, could there be just a little bit

01:26:28.789 --> 01:26:32.170
of romance there? I think so. I mean, there's

01:26:32.170 --> 01:26:34.569
definitely affection there. Yes. That didn't

01:26:34.569 --> 01:26:39.689
end. Yes. So that's where the book ends. And

01:26:39.689 --> 01:26:41.869
so like, I had a really good time in this book

01:26:41.869 --> 01:26:44.630
and I did not see the end coming. There were

01:26:44.630 --> 01:26:46.510
just a couple of things where I was like, like

01:26:46.510 --> 01:26:48.210
the Lordstone at the double agent thing like

01:26:48.210 --> 01:26:51.770
that literally never came back. I know. And that

01:26:51.770 --> 01:26:53.430
was kind of a bummer because like, where was

01:26:53.430 --> 01:26:56.329
he in the end? Even a one liner of like, he delivered

01:26:56.329 --> 01:26:59.229
the peace treaty or whatever. Right. And, and

01:26:59.229 --> 01:27:02.010
the whole like Callista's still alive thing,

01:27:02.470 --> 01:27:05.560
like. Where is she? Do you care? Is she going

01:27:05.560 --> 01:27:07.800
to come back now that both of these assholes

01:27:07.800 --> 01:27:11.760
are dead? Can she just be with her sons? Right.

01:27:11.920 --> 01:27:14.520
And does she want to? Because Anakin makes it

01:27:14.520 --> 01:27:16.760
sound like she left and never looked back, but

01:27:16.760 --> 01:27:19.779
she wasn't really given a choice. Right. She

01:27:19.779 --> 01:27:28.579
literally didn't have any other choice. So. Anyway,

01:27:29.100 --> 01:27:33.130
let's get into our ratings. Oh, yes. Maybe one

01:27:33.130 --> 01:27:35.590
day we'll disagree. Whatever. We did disagree

01:27:35.590 --> 01:27:38.710
once. But the thing about when we disagree is

01:27:38.710 --> 01:27:41.449
that, I mean, I think the most recent time last

01:27:41.449 --> 01:27:43.350
is that you convinced me to change my score,

01:27:43.789 --> 01:27:49.130
or vice versa. We really stay at odds. That's

01:27:49.130 --> 01:27:51.250
true. Which, I mean, that's why we're here. I

01:27:51.250 --> 01:27:53.550
think that's why we're truly friends. Anyway.

01:27:53.569 --> 01:27:58.130
Yeah. So girl, how do we rate the spice? We rated

01:27:58.130 --> 01:28:00.750
it at A4. The spice is really good in this book.

01:28:00.750 --> 01:28:03.869
It starts off. Pretty early, it's super believable.

01:28:04.069 --> 01:28:07.609
We get the intimacy. We get the surprising vampire

01:28:07.609 --> 01:28:09.729
-esque blood play that neither of us saw coming.

01:28:09.789 --> 01:28:13.729
Yeah, girl. This might sound bad. But what would

01:28:13.729 --> 01:28:17.250
have made it a five for me is one, more diversity,

01:28:17.369 --> 01:28:19.310
because it's still pretty vanilla. But also if

01:28:19.310 --> 01:28:22.470
she had an actual scene with Vane, even if it

01:28:22.470 --> 01:28:24.810
wasn't fully penetration, I wanted more with

01:28:24.810 --> 01:28:31.550
Vane. Yeah, or like, yeah. I was going to yes

01:28:31.550 --> 01:28:33.590
and you and then say the exact same thing. I

01:28:33.590 --> 01:28:37.229
totally agree. I think I do that to you all the

01:28:37.229 --> 01:28:39.229
time. I'm like, yeah, for sure. Let me reiterate

01:28:39.229 --> 01:28:40.949
what you just said as if it's an entirely new

01:28:40.949 --> 01:28:42.949
idea. We're she -he -peating each other. We're

01:28:42.949 --> 01:28:44.550
she -peating, she -peating. There we go. That's

01:28:44.550 --> 01:28:51.149
fine. She -he -peating. She -he -peating. Yeah,

01:28:51.149 --> 01:28:53.149
so that brings us to writing style. We both rated

01:28:53.149 --> 01:28:56.829
it a three. There were just, despite the fact

01:28:56.829 --> 01:28:59.399
that I had a great time, there were s - some

01:28:59.399 --> 01:29:01.819
ways in which this book was written that made

01:29:01.819 --> 01:29:03.760
it difficult to read. Sometimes like I would

01:29:03.760 --> 01:29:07.300
just trip over the sentence or like, yeah, the

01:29:07.300 --> 01:29:09.960
participles were in places that I wasn't expecting.

01:29:09.960 --> 01:29:13.420
And so like I would have to go. Wait, what? Let

01:29:13.420 --> 01:29:15.260
me just run that back one more time. And even

01:29:15.260 --> 01:29:17.039
you probably heard it when I was saying some

01:29:17.039 --> 01:29:18.779
of the quotes, like just the way that they're

01:29:18.779 --> 01:29:22.920
written is a little clunky. Yeah, they're a little

01:29:22.920 --> 01:29:25.600
strange. And I pulled one out that I didn't say,

01:29:25.600 --> 01:29:29.250
but one that tripped me up. and maybe it was

01:29:29.250 --> 01:29:30.689
just me, but it's like when they're preparing

01:29:30.689 --> 01:29:34.510
for the picnic, she grabs the basket and her

01:29:34.510 --> 01:29:37.090
internal monologue is to darkness with it, which

01:29:37.090 --> 01:29:39.090
is not, and I know it's like to hell with it,

01:29:39.109 --> 01:29:40.930
but like no one's referred to a quote unquote

01:29:40.930 --> 01:29:43.050
like hell or darkness. I was like, what the fuck

01:29:43.050 --> 01:29:45.670
are you talking about? And that, it was like

01:29:45.670 --> 01:29:49.770
little things like that, just strange wording

01:29:49.770 --> 01:29:54.909
and quotes. Yeah, and it was like it. I've raced

01:29:54.909 --> 01:29:57.090
through this book, I really enjoyed it, but there

01:29:57.090 --> 01:29:59.670
were times when I would be going on a good path

01:29:59.670 --> 01:30:01.789
and then I would get stuck on this one sentence

01:30:01.789 --> 01:30:05.069
for five minutes and be like, okay, I have to

01:30:05.069 --> 01:30:07.489
move on. Because I don't know what it's trying

01:30:07.489 --> 01:30:09.729
to say to me, so I gotta let it go. And it doesn't

01:30:09.729 --> 01:30:12.770
matter. So that's why we rated it a three. Everything

01:30:12.770 --> 01:30:18.640
else, it's clear when we change. perspectives,

01:30:18.640 --> 01:30:21.680
even in like one character's perspective, like

01:30:21.680 --> 01:30:24.399
when she would dream and be like seeing what

01:30:24.399 --> 01:30:26.800
Attican is seeing, for example. That was clear.

01:30:26.960 --> 01:30:28.779
That was all super clear. I really appreciated

01:30:28.779 --> 01:30:31.600
that. The formatting of the book on Kindle is

01:30:31.600 --> 01:30:33.300
good. It wasn't like the blocks of text that

01:30:33.300 --> 01:30:39.119
you hate. I hate that so much. I can't stand

01:30:39.119 --> 01:30:42.199
it. So that all was fine. Moving into quality

01:30:42.199 --> 01:30:45.859
of storytelling, how did we read that? We also

01:30:45.859 --> 01:30:48.319
rated it a four, and I almost want to give it

01:30:48.319 --> 01:30:51.520
a 4 .5, just because it has a lot of really surprising

01:30:51.520 --> 01:30:54.340
twists and reveals. OK, but that was going to

01:30:54.340 --> 01:30:56.600
be a lie. I was going to say, I'm rarely surprised

01:30:56.600 --> 01:30:58.739
by twists, because that's not true. I often don't

01:30:58.739 --> 01:31:01.140
know until I'm told. But this one just boop,

01:31:01.140 --> 01:31:03.220
boop. I was like, I don't know who I'm pretending

01:31:03.220 --> 01:31:05.880
to be. I never know. It's not even a twist, and

01:31:05.880 --> 01:31:11.140
I'm like, wow. Wow. It's crazy. But this book

01:31:11.140 --> 01:31:14.560
handled Like, four or five twists that all made

01:31:14.560 --> 01:31:16.140
sense. They all fit in the plot. They didn't

01:31:16.140 --> 01:31:19.300
create plot holes. I think the only thing that

01:31:19.300 --> 01:31:21.760
made it not a five is it gets a little scooby

01:31:21.760 --> 01:31:23.800
-doo at the end, like, I'm over here, and then

01:31:23.800 --> 01:31:25.180
I'm back over here, and then I'm back over here,

01:31:25.199 --> 01:31:26.359
and then I'm going to go to my sister's house

01:31:26.359 --> 01:31:27.640
for some fucking reason, and then I'm going to

01:31:27.640 --> 01:31:29.739
come back. Like, I didn't need that. There were

01:31:29.739 --> 01:31:31.819
a couple scenes that just I didn't need. The

01:31:31.819 --> 01:31:33.899
weird, like, cheese -making scene, I didn't need

01:31:33.899 --> 01:31:37.960
that. The sandwich -making, I mean. and there

01:31:37.960 --> 01:31:40.439
were some things that i think i wish were explored

01:31:40.439 --> 01:31:43.060
a little bit more like we we called out the like

01:31:43.060 --> 01:31:46.539
lord stone thing um i think it's interesting

01:31:46.539 --> 01:31:49.279
like the the way that vain betrayed her and then

01:31:49.279 --> 01:31:52.399
felt like seems to feel like differently at the

01:31:52.399 --> 01:31:55.520
end of the book like i couldn't tell if that

01:31:55.520 --> 01:31:58.260
was because he just didn't want to lose or if

01:31:58.260 --> 01:31:59.979
he was actually trying to feel something so like

01:31:59.979 --> 01:32:02.920
that was i we could have dived into that a little

01:32:02.920 --> 01:32:04.739
bit more dove into that a little bit more but

01:32:04.739 --> 01:32:09.079
um Yeah, I mean, the twists, what a twist. Those

01:32:09.079 --> 01:32:12.520
were all really good. Oh, the other thing that

01:32:12.520 --> 01:32:15.840
I wanted to call out was she's basically a cardboard

01:32:15.840 --> 01:32:18.779
box. Like, she is a character. Doesn't have a

01:32:18.779 --> 01:32:22.310
lot going on. No, she doesn't do anything. You

01:32:22.310 --> 01:32:24.270
pointed out her respawn point is just a bedroom.

01:32:24.430 --> 01:32:26.649
She just reads and looks out the window. And

01:32:26.649 --> 01:32:28.869
she has a pet that also kind of ceases to exist.

01:32:29.350 --> 01:32:31.569
Right, which is so interesting because I would

01:32:31.569 --> 01:32:33.970
say that she has a good personality. She's sharp

01:32:33.970 --> 01:32:36.550
and she's witty, and I enjoy reading about her.

01:32:36.590 --> 01:32:41.449
I just wish that she also did other things. Like

01:32:41.449 --> 01:32:45.689
anything else. Right. Agreed. So that brings

01:32:45.689 --> 01:32:49.090
us to do we recommend it? Yes, we do. Yes. It

01:32:49.090 --> 01:32:51.310
was such a pleasant surprise. It really was.

01:32:51.329 --> 01:32:55.550
I really enjoyed this. And look, for right or

01:32:55.550 --> 01:32:57.050
for wrong, I'm always going to probably grade

01:32:57.050 --> 01:32:59.390
up when it's a standalone, because I'm just so

01:32:59.390 --> 01:33:01.310
grateful that there's not 1 ,000 pages of this

01:33:01.310 --> 01:33:02.590
that we have to read to get to the end of the

01:33:02.590 --> 01:33:05.550
book. Yeah. I know we can make it a tupada. It's

01:33:05.550 --> 01:33:07.350
not. Right. I mean, we got Silver Flame coming

01:33:07.350 --> 01:33:09.689
up, which I think is a four -parter, maybe. Yeah,

01:33:09.689 --> 01:33:11.590
it is. It is. Yeah, we've been reading Akatar

01:33:11.590 --> 01:33:15.529
for a year at this point, so. Yeah. Also, just

01:33:15.529 --> 01:33:19.979
this is. The eighth Akatar book, not the next

01:33:19.979 --> 01:33:22.239
one that comes up after that, is like 900 pages

01:33:22.239 --> 01:33:27.560
long. Jesus Christ. Yeah. Well, anyway. We did

01:33:27.560 --> 01:33:29.720
it. Those are our thoughts on Amid Clouds and

01:33:29.720 --> 01:33:31.720
Bones by Ella Fields. Thank you as always for

01:33:31.720 --> 01:33:33.180
joining us on this journey. Let us know what

01:33:33.180 --> 01:33:34.699
you thought on the socials. You can find us on

01:33:34.699 --> 01:33:36.579
TikTok, YouTube, and Goodreads at Spice Tutors

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Pod. And if you like our podcast and want more,

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consider becoming a patron where we release Patreon

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exclusive episodes on our off weeks. And if you

01:33:43.579 --> 01:33:45.579
really, really like us, drop us a review wherever

01:33:45.579 --> 01:33:49.079
you listen. Until next time, we'll see ya. Bye.

01:33:49.520 --> 01:33:49.920
Bye.