Welcome to your safe space. The podcast, your
partner, friends, parents, whoever thinks it's
dirty. Don't have time to read books? Want to
understand all the jokes and the TikToks? We
got you fam. We're the spice traders and we deal
in spicy books. I'm Katie and I need it to make
sense. I'm Liz and I'm hypercritical. Before
we get to today's episode, we want to encourage
you to check out our Patreon, where we publish
extra episodes every other week, as well as ad
-free versions of our regular feed episodes.
Also, any series we read past the first book,
all that coverage is Patreon only, so think series
like Akatar, Fourthwing, Guild. Anyway, we really
appreciate the support and encouragement to continue
doing something we love and sharing it with you.
Thanks in advance for checking that out. As always,
we start this episode with three things. First
is a generic trigger warning. You can find specific
triggers for this book in our show notes, so
please check those out. We also use foul language
and talk a lot about sex. If you have sensitivity
to either of those things, our podcast probably
isn't for you. Second, our episodes talk about
books, the whole book, nothing but the book,
so help me goddess. If you don't want something
spoiled, don't listen to this episode. And finally,
we acknowledge that a good book can hit you at
the wrong time. Our views discussed in our episodes
are our opinion, and we don't want to diminish
the work or the talents of the authors in our
community. That said, we have some notes. What
are we talking about today? Today we are talking
about part two of two of amid cloud and cloud
clouds amid plural amid clouds and bones by Ella
Fields. Not quite a blank. I wish it was cloud
and bones. Yeah, I think cloud and bone. It's
not a blank, a blank, a blank, which I'm so mad
we didn't call it out on a queen of myth and
monsters. We're so. Out of touch. We've lost
it. I don't know what we were thinking. It didn't
even occur to me. And I think you said this,
I think, when we were texting, you were like,
I think maybe we're just desensitized to it.
I think that's it. I think that's it, too, because
it only occurred to me when I was making TikTok
posts and I had to like type it out. And I was
like, God damn it. Well, I'm disappointed. Yeah.
Well, I'm disappointed. I'm sure that book three
will be similarly named a blank, a blank, a blank.
So. Hopefully, if book three exists, I message
Scarlett Sinclair. She's super active on Instagram.
She hasn't answered yet. I messaged her and I
tried to message her through her website, but
I kept getting an error message and I'm saying
that that it was super dumb because there was
like a. It's one of those like prove you're not
a robot things and it literally says five plus
three. So I put in the correct number, and then
it gives you an error. It's like must be one.
I'm like, but that's not one. That's not the
answer. It's eight. Like, can I put eight ones?
It's eight. But it would only let me put in one.
And then I would get an error. It was like system
error. And I was like, what? Yeah, because that's
not the answer, damn it. Yeah. But I wouldn't
accept eight. It was very strange. Well, I'm
looking forward to see if she comes back. But
anyway, back to this part. Back to amid clouds
and bones. Amid clouds and bones. Plural clouds.
Plural bones. Blones. Wow. Blones. Kind of a
rough day for my mouth today. Sorry about that.
Mouth sounds. So yeah, this is part two of two.
We're going to be covering chapters 19 plus.
And then at the end of this, we'll do our ratings
of the book. We talked about this in our debrief,
but like it's been a minute since I finished
this book and I've already started the next book,
which is wildly different. So like I'm I'm desperately
like trying to crawl my way back into the headspace
that this book had me in. I know I've already
finished the next book, which has never happened
before, and it's only because we're recording
tomorrow. I got to tell you, I don't know. Yeah,
the middle chunk here, it's. It'll come back
to us. It'll come back. It'll come back. So when
we last left our heroine, Mildred, which I know
is your favorite name, she was in, she was essentially
in enemy territory, right? And so this whole
prophecy thing is like this king of the the bonelands,
Vane. wants her to fall in love with him because
that will break this spell that's on his land.
So the spell being the kind of physical witchy
barrier that's like entrapping people in their
homeland. She has decided to finally give this
a shot and so she said you're going to take me
on a picnic and so they go. We get this like
pre -departure scene of Dahlia and Mildred in
the kitchen and it's like Dahlia's never been
in a kitchen before because she's putting together
a sandwich in a way that makes negative amounts
of sense. This scene made Dahlia feel very Manic
Pixie Dream Girl. Yeah. There's just like chunks
of cheese and like the sandwiches make sense
but there's like too much focus on her like cutting
cheese. Right well and like I don't, maybe this
is a me problem, but the way that Mildred was
like watching Dahlia and she was commenting,
she's like, there's too much cheese and there's
too much butter. I'm like, I've never met a sandwich
that has too much of either of those things.
I know. And the only thing that I was trying
to think about is like, what kind of sandwich
is this? Because if it's like a cold ham sandwich,
I don't really want a lot of butter on that.
But if it's like a grilled cheese. Yeah, I mean,
unless it's like the the French kind where it's
like soft butter and like really good ham, like
I'll take that as a sandwich. Yeah, but that
sounds great. The only way that I could picture
this being like bad is if it's literally like
a chunk of cheese with like squash in bread,
like not good. Yeah, or like cubes of cheese
and cubes of cold butter. Right. Oh, God, that's
terrible. But it also doesn't make sense to me
because it's like. Dahlia is trying to do this.
There are literally people who work in the kitchen.
I don't know why Dahlia is doing it. I also don't
know if she's never seen a sandwich before in
her life, but it's not that hard to figure out.
So like this was just a weird scene. It is a
weird scene. And I also, I just want to call
out, you mentioned as a part one, there's some
things that just, I mean, my ratings are pretty
good for this book, but there's some things that
just like don't quite make sense. And this scene
is one of them. Like Dahlia is doing this nice
thing, but she's also kind of being like abrasive
to Mildred. There's, like, this weird tension
there that doesn't make sense to me. Yeah, well,
it's very clear that, like, Dahlia and, like,
other people are, like, really hoping this love
blossoms, right, so that they can get out of
the situation. And so, like, Dahlia is trying
to encourage her to do that in, like, a high
-stakes way, which I think is where that tone
comes from, right? Like, it makes sense for the
characters, but it's uncomfortable. Yeah, it's
almost like she's threatening Mildred, and I'm
like, okay. Okay. Interestingly in this conversation,
Delia gives some more context on Marona, who
is the woman who is sitting next to Vane at dinner.
Apparently they've known each other for decades.
Marona is enamored of Vane, but he quote, believes
it a waste to invest all of his heart in someone
when he might one day be forced to sever ties.
essentially like he's waiting for somebody to
be gifted to him as a mate, which is like, when
you put it like that, gross. It's super gross,
especially because I thought, I thought mates
are pretty rare. So the way that he phrases this
is pretty gross. Right, exactly. She phrases
it, I mean. It's also a weird thing to say to
Mildred who's like supposedly supposed to fall
in love with this person who's also holding like
saving himself for a mate that the gods haven't
delivered yet. Like what, which is it? Do we
think that you guys are supposed to be mated?
Like what is happening here actually? Yeah. I
don't know. So Dahlia does. So going back to
Dahlia's weird tone, she says flat out quote,
some think you don't care to even try to break
this curse. And Mildred admits it. She's like,
I don't. Like, why would I care? It's not my
problem. It's not my problem. Yeah. Which I appreciated
that you said. And Daley is almost offended by
this. I was like, girl, I just met all of you.
I'm not invested in this. Also, your problems
are not my problems. Sorry. No. I fully have
a fiance that I'm actually pretty into. Right.
So the picnic itself is. Probably the most charming
and disarming that Vane's been, like, he... He
definitely presents as much more of a person,
whereas before he's been kind of like this brooding,
bureaucratic person. Like, it's very clear that
he's a ruler when they've been interacting before,
but this gets closer to him being a person. Which
I think was really masterfully done because I...
Even in the moment, I was like, not sure if this
is a manipulation or not. I know, it was really
well executed. As they go to the picnic spot
and as they're in the picnic spot, this is an
opportunity for Mildred to see the bonelands
firsthand ever. And she realizes that rather
than being dry and dusty like its name might
imply, it's actually lush and very green inverted
here. It's almost described as being jungle -like,
which I thought was an interesting like. place
to call the bonelands. I know. It was very interesting.
And I like that they have the vibe of what the
bonelands are supposed to be to everyone else.
Like there's a blood river and it's dark and
spooky. And it's like, no, it's actually really
nice. It's a nice place. It's really fine. Like
it's, you know, a jungle. That's it. Yeah. As
they're picnicking, they talk about the mountains
that surround this land. That's part of the reason
why Vane has never been super concerned about
being invaded because the mountains are really
hard to cross, despite the fact, like, in addition
to that magical barrier. But he also shares that
Pytherions... Pyth... Pyth... Pytherions? What
did you say? I read it as Pytherians. Pytherians?
Okay. I don't know if that's right, but that's
how I read it. Pytherians? English is stupid.
Py... Say it again? Pytherians? Pytherians, okay.
Pytherions? I'm psyching myself up. Pytherians.
Pythons. Pytherians. Yeah, there you go. So,
Pytherians are basically dragons with like a
snake body, and there's a lot of them. They're
bonded to the ashbone bloodline, which is Vane's
bloodline, and his wings are kind of the evidence
for that, because his family line even once shifted
into Pytharions as a part of their magic. Mildred
is intrigued by these, and so she asks to go
see the Pytharions. And Vane surprisingly is
like, sure, great. When do you want to go? And
she's like, tomorrow? And he's like, OK, great,
let's go. I was also surprised by him being like,
sure. Yeah, sure. He does kind of hesitate because
he has plans that he can move, and he says that.
But this prompts Mildred to think about like,
all of the ways that she's kind of being shoehorned
into Vane's life. And she thinks about, specifically,
Morona and asks if Vane fucked her when she visited
last. Like, she literally says, quote, Fair question.
Did you intend to fuck your friend during her
visit? Because, like, we're on a date and I just
want to know. Right. So Vane kind of circumvents
this question altogether. He doesn't answer it
specifically. He just gives her more information
about Marona. He says that she's more than like
a special friend. She's a spy who shapeshifts
into insects and they're preparing for war. And
so she's got a lot of good information to give
him. And so that's why he spends time with her.
And I'm like, that's not that is unanswered.
That's not it's an answer to a different question.
Yeah, that's an answer to a question I didn't
ask. Correct. They go on to talk about Vane's
mother, Calista. So Calista remembers the queen
that started this whole war. She's the Helen
of Troy. Well, I mean, that's victim blaming
a little bit. It's the Menses in the story who
can't like reign it in. Yeah. Anyway. But listen.
Vane says that his father loved Calista, quote,
instantly and madly. And he uses that to kind
of justify why his father did what he did. And
he also shares that when Vorks, his father, was
killed, his corpse turned up with his heart missing,
and the cavity packed with someone else's innards,
which is really gross. Yeah, that seemed unnecessary
to be that gross. Right. So then they've been
having a nice time on this picnic, and Vane asks
to kiss Mildred. And Mildred's like, sure. And
he's taking his time about it and being really
sweet, and she's not really into that. And she
can't really decide if it's because she doesn't
like it and she prefers the way that Attican
treats her or if she's just unfamiliar with,
like, tender affection. And so she climbs into
his lap and is like, are you going to kiss me
properly or not? And because of that, Vane correctly
surmises that Attican did not treat her kindly.
That's his words. And Mildred doesn't deny it.
She also doesn't, like, defend Attican, and Vane
surmises that Mildred liked that treatment. I
mean, yeah, she did. Right. So he does end up
kissing her and kisses her harder, draws blood,
which Mildred describes as, quote, sweetness
veiled in brutality, which is exactly what she
likes. But she can't help but admit even inwardly
that it feels. different, right? She's still
thinking about Attican when she's with Vane.
I wonder why that is. I wonder why that is, huh?
So the next day, they go to the Skeleton Mountains,
and they visit the Pytharians. Pytharians. Pythagorean.
Pythagorean. Pythagorean theorems. They do sexy
math. They do sexy math. They do Pytharians,
and they do it naked. No, I wish that was what
they were doing. I know, right? So they go. They
go to the mountains. There's this military base
up there. And Mildred's kind of like, why are
you showing me the military base? And she realizes
it's because Vane is fully convinced that he's
going to make her fall in love, and she's not
going to be a threat. And she's like, OK. That's
a little cocky. Which is a wild choice, my guy.
Such a wild choice. And also, like, Everybody
around him sees it as a wild choice. They show
up and a commander is like, what the fuck is
happening? Why would you bring her here and tell
her our whole plan? She's literally betrothed
to your enemy's son. Idiot. So they go through
this facility and we get to see the Patherians,
specifically the Alpha. I was like, what is the
opposite of male? The alpha male, no. It's a
woman, but it's not a human. Anyway, they see
the alpha female, Sorella, who is apparently
like bonded to Vane. She's huge. She comes right
up close to both of them. Mildred is fucking
terrified and also in awe. And she realizes that
like, if this barrier falls and these things
invade, the Sealy Court, like they're fucked.
Yeah, so it's not so much that we need the barrier
to fall, that way we can be free, but we need
the barrier to fall to fuck up the Sealy Court.
Right, exactly. And she tells, so this prompts
Miltred to tell him flat out, she's like... Look,
you're breeding this army for no reason. And
the reason that she says that is because Attican
doesn't have a heart. She's like, he's not in
love with me. There's no heart to steal. Even
if I fall in love with you, I'm not going to
be able to give you what you want. But interestingly,
Vane says, quote, my sources have told a very
different story. It does make me wonder what
Attican is doing this whole time she's missing,
because I just. I mean, we learn later. But he's
not just sitting at home being like, well, that
was fun for a while. Yeah, that was fun while
it lasted. I guess I'll go back to being my fuck
-boy self. That's not what's happening. And I
feel like this book delivered the what he was
doing while this was happening really subtly.
And I wanted it to be a little bit more of a
hard landing. Yeah, it was almost too subtle.
And I think that leads to this book ends. And
I just felt like it was kind of anticlimactic.
Like stuff happens. But then it's like, it's
over and it's fine. Right. We don't really get
like a big, I mean, they talk about it a lot,
but I just, the reunion between the two of them
just feels like it's a little bit understated.
Yes. Anyway, before Meldred can process that
information, Sirwin arrives and he clearly has
bad news, but Vane ends up delivering the news
himself and tells her, quote, your father and
stepmother have been murdered. He goes on to
say that a sword bearing Ethermore's crest has
been left in the carriage roof, like a statement,
a very clear statement to make it look like Garen's
doing, Garen being Attican's father. And Miltred
just kind of takes this at face value, but this
felt to me like, uh, in the, um, the Anastasia
book when they were like, you definitely killed
this person. So live with that. That's absolutely
a fact. Don't ask a question of it or a follow
up. I was like, whoa. I was like, I feel like
we should ask a follow -up personally. I personally
feel like we should ask a follow -up question.
Yeah. But they don't. Not yet. Mildred is obviously
wrecked. I mean, there's no love lost for her
stepmother, but her father and her were really
close. And she realizes now that she's never
going to get to interact with him ever again.
So three days of numbness follow. It's a good
depiction of grief. It's just a little bit like.
I don't know how her grief was different from
her days before the grief. Because she just still
sits around alone. Right. She just doesn't read
books. She's like catatonic almost. She's like
staring out the window. I know. And it's like,
I don't know. Everybody deals with grief differently.
But like, this is not materially different from
who you are outside of grief. So I'd like, no.
OK. The only thing that I thought was kind of
cute is that. Vane brings her dinner every day
and sits with her, even though she doesn't eat
and doesn't make her talk or anything. So you
kind of see those, oh, relationship forming.
Yeah, it's very clear that Vane, and then Dahlia,
is also described as bringing her breakfast,
I think. But there is definitely care being performed
here, which is something that she has not experienced
before, really. Yeah, well, oof. Yeah, oof. So
after a couple of days veins like okay, you've
been grieving enough we need to get out of the
house So come with me to Lord stones hideout
and this is like in the capital city. So they
go there ostensibly for dinner and to like Meet
up. I'm like, why didn't he just come to you
girl? Like this isn't I don't know why they went
there I don't know why they went there either,
just to change the scenery, which I appreciate
that we're not in a black box, but there's no
reason to go there. Yeah, there's no reason to
go there. Vane, you're the king. May people come
to you. Right. If there was something that they
had a. A mood board or like there was something
they were building here that like Vane had to
see but there's it's literally just an empty
Like apartment shabby apartment that's spelled.
I guess so nobody can like listen in it was very
strange Yeah So they go on to have a conversation
about their plans for eventually invading the
seely realm and they have no problem Discussing
this in front of Mildred and Mildred correctly
reads that as them assuming she'll never leave
the realm, which she's just like Awesome. I love
that for me. Cool. Which, I mean, I guess that's
kind of fair, because she used her Featherbone.
Like, how would she leave unless Vayne took her
out? Yeah. I mean, so they kind of bury the lead
here a little bit. And we'll get to it pretty
quickly. But Lord Stone, because he's nobility,
can actually, I guess, teleport. I forget what
they call it here. But he can teleport in and
out of the woods. Yeah. So like he's an option
for her to get to get out vein can technically
teleport out of the words because she asks Like
if she can go to the funeral like for her parents
and he's like, I can't do that. I'm sorry, you
know, I can't let you do that. I Can't let you
leave. Sorry. Sorry about that. You're my war
prisoner, right? I Don't remember. Oh It's remained
to her never leaving. I think it's I think it's
also interesting that like because Vayne is so
convinced that she'll fall in love with him that
everybody else is like, yeah, she's halfway there.
You're good. Which they've been on one date and
they kissed once. Everyone needs to calm down,
Vayne included. But it is interesting in this
because they talk about how the wards have started
to crack. So it is implied that her softening
towards Vayne and the kiss and things like that
are working. Yeah, one again. I wish we landed
more about like what Attican was doing because
if he did love her her going missing is enough
to break his heart right like uh -huh the rules
of that magic are a little Vague and like we
get more answers kind of but it's it is working
From what it appears right exactly And she definitely
likes Vane. She's not opposed to him. She does.
And we'll see soon how much she was almost in
like with him. So they're at dinner. They're
talking about their plans. And they divulge in
front of Mildred that part of their plan has
had them place Pithirian eggs around Cloud Castle
and the capital city. They do this because quote,
Pytharions breathe fire when enraged. And so
they're essentially using these eggs as bait
so that when the walls come down, the Pytharions
will storm the city, set it on fire, trying to
find their young, which have been effectively
stolen. Then the conversation takes a really
weird turn because Morona brings up Attican and
she says that she's heard rumors that he's a
quote, positively beastly lover. And Mildred,
I mean, good on her. She takes it in stride.
She reveals that, yeah, I mean, he's kind of
the worst, but so am I. Like, I poisoned him,
so, like, there's that. I love how much she takes
things in stride. But this comment now, knowing
the end of the book, like, does everyone just
know about Attican? What do you mean by beastly?
Yeah. And I feel like that's just, like, her
type, like, giving in to just baseless rumors,
because when her parents died, they talked about
how they were essentially butchered. And that
was supposedly a signature calling card of Attican.
So he has a reputation of being really upsetting.
Horrendous. He has no heart. Right. So I feel
like she's just, Morona's just being, trying
to embarrass Mildred, because Mildred and Vane
are like, basically on top of each other at this
dinner. Seriously. She's almost in his lap. But
when she reveals this thing about like poisoning
Attican, everybody around the table is just like,
get it girl. And she's never had such open approval
before. And she, she feels warm, right? Like
she's starting to come out of her, her grief
a little bit. And she's like looking around the
table and starting to maybe picture herself in
this life, in this group, like as one of them.
But we'll quickly find that that warmth is a
trap. So after this conversation, Vayne takes
her downstairs to the first floor of the apartment.
They dance to no music a la Harry Potter when
they're dancing in the tent, kind of oddly, awkwardly.
Yeah, it's a little weird. Yeah. And as they
dance, Vayne tells her, quote, when you laugh,
I remember what joy feels like. I want you. I
didn't think I would, but I do. And they get
a little bit hot and heavy. They start making
out. But Vane realizes that they will be overheard
and is like, OK, we should table this conversation
until we have more privacy. And Mildred's like,
cool. I'm going to take a nap. So she takes a
nap downstairs. Which is also fucking weird.
Go home. Go home, but also like, why are you
still here? Like. Yeah, like the dinners over
the dinners over go home. Like if she's tired
send her home, you can you can literally like
Teleport her home and then teleport her back.
I don't know why This situation was allowed to
happen It was weird and it didn't make sense.
As soon as she goes to take a nap I had the same
thought I was like, why are you even still here?
Like you can leave now and have more privacy.
Yeah, but anyway We have to hear this We're here
because we have to overhear this conversation.
So Mildred sleeps for some amount of time. She's
not sure what. She wakes up and she hears the
voices and she starts eavesdropping her eaves.
They don't know that she's awake. She doesn't
know what they're talking about, but it becomes
super clear. It turns out that rather than Attican
or Garen killing her parents, Vane killed her
parents. Specifically, he killed her parents
to make it look like Garen and or Attican did
it so that the alliance would collapse that Mildred
was sold to create, right? So that this military
alliance between her kingdom and Attican's kingdom
would no longer be. Oops. The coldest part about
this conversation is that it's clear that everybody
around the table is in on it, including Morona.
She says, quote, I like her tenacity and unfitting
innocence, but this has taken too long. And it's
clear that Vane and her are still at least more
in partnership than he and Mildred are, because
he says something to the effect like, I told
you I would take, I would do whatever it takes
to like do this thing. And they're all like,
yeah, go to, add a boy, essentially. Ew. Yeah.
So she's freaking out. Mildred's freaking out.
She's overhearing that this person that she was
almost in love with, right? Like she was... starting
to tip over to being in like, at least, if not
in love with Vane, is really just playing her
like a fiddle. I thought that this scene of betrayal
was so well done. And I got to be honest, I did
not see it coming. I didn't see it coming either.
I felt like everything was set up like pretty
like almost cookie cutter of like, OK, cool.
I know where this is going. And then this happened.
And honestly, the whole rest of the book really
did take me by surprise. Yeah. Honestly, because
I I mean, I liked it. It was way more intricate
than I thought that it was going to be. But like,
up until she overhears this conversation, I was
still thinking, like, somehow we're going to
get to a white shoes, right? Yes, that's what
I thought, too. But no less. So the grief of
being betrayed by somebody like Vane, who was
honestly one of the first people who showed her
warmth and tenderness. really hits Mildred hard
and she starts freaking out. She starts almost
wanting to escape right then and there. But Lord
Stone comes downstairs, ostensibly to check on
her. It's not like she's making noise or anything
like that. And he sees that she's awake and that
she's heard what they've been talking about.
And he essentially says, quote, if you wish to
survive, you need to never so much as think about
what you've evidently heard. So he covers for
her, tells her to calm down, goes back upstairs,
says that she's still sleeping, and it's here
that she, Mildred, and we realize that Lord Stone
isn't Vayne's spy. He's a double spy still spying
for either more, slash Attigan, slash Garen.
Which was also a fun twist, because honestly,
like, this isn't explicitly stated, but I wonder
if this whole thing was orchestrated. It feels
like this whole thing was orchestrated. for Mildred
to overhear this. That way Stone could like kind
of establish who he is. Because again, it's too
convenient that they would even talk about this
while she's like in the same small building with
them. Right. Like, why would you do that? Why
would you do that? Yeah, I mean, it does feel
like Stone may have orchestrated that so that
he's not the only one who has to potentially
relay information to Attican about what might
be happening. Yeah, I Do wish that Lord stone
as like a turncoat or like a double double spy.
What's it called? Double spy a double double
agent double agent as thank you I feel like could
have been used a little bit more sharply. But
like this is this is about where his his trajectory
ends Yeah, we really don't want to interact with
him much at all after this. Yeah, we find out
that he's a double agent, and then we're just
like, OK, cool, moving on. Cool. Yeah. He served
his purpose. He's just a foil. Right, yeah. So
Mildred pretends to be asleep. At some point,
Vane comes downstairs and pretends to not pretend.
He does carry her. She pretends to still be asleep,
and they go back to the palace. So she kind of
lets him seduce her a little bit because she
knows that if she like hard says no that he's
gonna know that She knows something is off and
she doesn't want to give up the game right like
if she if that happens she knows that she's dead
so instead she lets him herself feel the grief
right the grief of Being betrayed by vain, but
also the grief of her parents overcome her and
she just falls to pieces in his arms and she
blames it on the wine. She's like, I've just
had too much to drink. I'm so sorry. We'll just
go to bed. And Vane's like, clearly a little
bit disappointed that he's not going to get noogie,
but is like, yeah, you're right. We'll let you
go to sleep. That's fine. He like tucks her in
and leaves her. Right. What's interesting about
this is that as Mildred goes to sleep, Vane is
holding her, and as this is happening, as she's
kind of in that spot between being awake and
being asleep, she hears Attikin's voice clear
as day in her head saying, quote, does that feel
good, Dredd, or does it only feel good when you
think of me? So I don't know if this was the
first time he called her. Dread but this is the
first time I clocked it and I was like, okay
Mildred's a fine name. We're gonna use dread
as a nickname That's really the only reason I
didn't totally hate Mildred I mean a name is
a name. It's just not one of my favorites, but
I really like the dread nickname Me too. I was
like, oh, okay. All right. I see what you did
there so in the following days Mildred tries
to get space from Vayne, which ends up not being
too difficult because he ends up going to the
border quite often to do some scouting trips.
Because he's one of the only people who can cross
the barrier, he needs to do that a lot for his
people, which is great. She tries to weasel her
way into one of these trips, but Vayne consistently
is always like, no. She's trying to get there
because she wants to get to one of the cracks
and get the fuck out of here. Vayne, for whatever,
he doesn't suspect that, but he's just like,
no, there's no way you're getting close to the
border, no way. No way. Too dangerous. Too dangerous.
So while she's alone, Mildred goes looking for
the feather bone. She's not convinced that what
Vane said is true and that it's completely useless,
but she still can't find it anywhere. One day,
when she's in the library, she gets ambushed
by Dahlia, who's fishing for information about
Stone. It's clear to Mildred that Dahlia suspects
that Stone isn't completely being forthright
with her, but she doesn't have any proof, and
so she's essentially trying to recruit Mildred
into helping her figure out what Stone's deal
is. And Mildred just plays the, oh, I'm just
an empty -headed little wine -obsessed girl.
I can't help you at all. I know nothing. He seems
fine to me. Dahlia then says this weird thing
where she says, quote, you're a survivor, Mildred,
a wolf too accustomed to hunting alone to trust
in any pack. And I thought this was a weird thing
to say, because it's clear that, like, Dahlia
knows, or I guess Dahlia wasn't technically in
the apartment, but she has to know to some extent
that, like, Vane's tricking her. Like, why would
you say that? I know. It's weird. Well, what
I thought was interesting, and this might have
been me reading too closely, because I feel like
now that I'm, like, writing again, I'm seeing
more words. It's the trust in any pack. So it
almost implies I might be reading too far into
this but it almost implies like we can't trust
you versus you can't trust any pack, like you
won't trust us. Right. And it's like a really
tiny word, but it does change the meaning a little
bit. And I don't know. It's a weird thing to
say either way. Yeah, I hadn't read it the way
that you just said, but I really like that. Like
it's right. It could be interpreted. And like
I did, like she's saying that Mildred has trust
issues. But yeah, I like it better where she's
saying, like, I can't trust you. Yeah, yeah.
You're. Why would you not want to help me figure
this out if you were one of us? Yeah. So a couple
of days go by, and then Mildred follows Meadow
into the woods near the castle. And they're essentially
playing hide and go seek. Like, Meadow is trying
to, like, find a dead hare or something and,
like, runs off from Mildred. And so Mildred goes
after her. She doesn't find Meadow immediately,
but Attican finds Meadow and then finds Mildred.
And so Attican is holding Muddo by the scruff
of the neck and says, quote, hello, Dread, time
to go. It gave me the same vibes as when Rhysand
shows up to take Feyre away from the wedding
or whatever it is. Honestly, it hit really hard
for me. Yeah, I got to say. This is why I wish
like the what what was he doing like while she
was gone hit a little bit harder because it's
it's very clear that Like he is he is actively
so he didn't just end up near the palace right
like this was not by chance that this happened
Why he would even like assume she was there.
Yeah, like and that he cares, right? I don't
know if this will come up in the notes, so I
do want to flag it here, because it was something
that bothered me. And maybe it'll come up. I
haven't read the notes. But there's this weird
thing. He's holding Meadow. There's this weird
thing where she's not allowed to be with Meadow,
and no one will tell her where Meadow is for
a while. And I didn't understand that. Yeah,
I didn't understand that either. And I didn't
understand it from Meadow's perspective. It was
like Meadow didn't want to be with Mildred. But
I thought they were bonded and that's like a
thing but then she'd even ask like where Meadow
is and like everyone like deflects the question
So like what is the deal with Meadow unless I
think Meadow was a spy, but I'm like, but I was
like a cat. Okay Yeah, last I checked you can't
actually speak. Yeah, I thought that was weird,
too I don't think I put it in my notes, but like
it's it's immediately after she goes back and
everybody's just like It's like keep away with
Meadow and then Meadow only shows up like a handful
of other times. I'm like That was just weird
Yeah, I was like, then why did you even introduce
this thing? Right. So Mildred, so we catch back
up with Mildred in the Cloud Castle dungeon,
which I thought was an interesting take. It makes
sense. Why is she in the dungeon? We do get a
good reason for it, but it was like, in the moment,
I was like, really? You think that she wanted
to be there? God damn it. This girl can't catch
a break. I know well it was also really and I
thought this was a nice parallel it was really
reminiscent of the first chapter right when she's
in a dungeon for like who the fuck knows why
right just hiding out yeah so Attican comes to
visit her and through the bars they have this
conversation which is basically a long exposition
dump disguised as foreplay which I'm not mad
about no it was good it wasn't it wasn't a terrible
info dump because We learned some wild things
here. We learned some truly wild things and I'm
not even sure I got all of them because it was
like kind of a bop bop bop bop bop bop but like
I'll do my best. Yeah I'm still a little there's
some things that I'm still trying to link together.
Right so the first thing that we learn is about
the featherbone. It's an unseelie heirloom that
collects quote morsels of soul from each generation
and can only be used by someone with unseelie
blood which means that Mildred's mother was unseelie
not seelie her father had lied. I For five seconds.
I was like god damn it. They're all related I
know because because I Worried that I worried
about that later too when it kind of seems like
they're all related again, right? But we don't
we don't she's like the only unsealed in the
room. It just feels like We don't we don't get
a reason why her mother was unsealy No, or like
Why her father lied or like why this matters,
right? like I just it feels like a bit of a I'm
not gonna say loose but like Not fully closed
thread because like honestly, I was like, oh
my god Her mother is Kalista and then we don't
really get I thought more exposition about her
mother and then Kalista comes up again as somebody
else's mother I'm just gonna say Attikin's mother
and I'm like Shit, they're siblings. The three
of them are related. Three of them, all three
of them. No, that's not what happens. This is
just another random unseely woman. Cool. Weird.
Right. So. This thing was supposed to take the
user home home being the bone lands because they
are in Sealy But because of the wards and the
magic around it Rather than taking her to like
a designated place that was specific to her mother's
like heritage in the bone lands It rerouted her
directly to the king So straight to veins chambers,
that's why she ended up where she was Which I
did like that explanation, but again for a second.
I was like Is that because he's related to her
and now that's home? Right. Exactly. I had that
same thought. I was like, maybe that's why you
always felt more brotherly than anything else.
Yeah, because they didn't really have great chemistry.
Yeah. So then Attican says, quote, you fractured
the wardstread, which means that she started
breaking the curse, just not all the way. And
like, Mildred Has so many different feelings
about this and I do too because he's basically
confirming to her that like you are my heart
and you Started falling for somebody else like
I'm I feel some type of way about that Yeah Which
okay, right and I'm honestly I'm a little surprised
that Attikins not more mad for who we are told
that he is in the first couple chapters I'm surprised.
He doesn't have a more aggressive reaction to
to her starting to fall for someone else, his
enemy also. Yeah. He's still presented as being
this very possessive kind of alpha male, and
that's fine. But the way that he's possessive
in the second half of the book feels a lot more
understated than he was in the first part of
the book. Yeah, I agree. And this is one of the
ways that it feels understated, right? He says
this thing, and then he just leaves her there.
He just walks away. And I'm like, There's no,
like, seething. There's no, like, raised voices.
There's no, like, physical reaction. Yeah. Like,
you put me in the dungeon, so we're not going
to talk about this? Right. Exactly. So then her
next visitor is Folly. So Phineas's sister, twin
sister. They have a brief conversation. Folly,
like, briefly admits that she loved a mortal
man who's now dead, implying that she killed
her or she killed him because he was awful. like
betrayed her in some way this never comes back
i thought it was a wild thing to drop in here
and like for now it's like i'm gonna break you
out of this dungeon and also drop my own personal
like lore on you for no reason this man doesn't
matter right so like this guy doesn't matter
and it's basically just folly like trying to
commiserate with mildred but it's like it's like
not the same thing No, not at all. Mildred didn't
kill anybody. And no one's been awful to her.
I mean, OK, Vane is a problem, but not in the
same way. Yeah, not really in the same way. So
that was just weird. It was so strange. It's
clear that Folly wants more information about
the bonelands. And so Mildred is like, OK, I'll
throw you a bone. She just starts describing
the castle and the landscape in very specific
detail so that Folly can draw it. Folly is perfectly
happy to just sit there and draw based on what
Mildred is saying. And so in return, Mildred
asks if Folly will let her out. And Folly does.
She's like, you didn't need to bribe me to do
that. I was going to come down here to let you
out anyway. Which I don't know why she's there
in the first place, because we'll get to it.
But even later, Attican never intended to leave
her in there. Right. So weird. Also like. Just
real quick, from Mildred's perspective, this
woman has come to free her from the dungeon that
she's put into. Where does she go when she's
free? To Anakin's fucking bathroom? The man who
put you in the dungeon? Right, and that's why
I'm saying her... Girl, what? Her respawn point
is a fucking bedroom. I wish that she had more
things that were... Like, properly hers. I know.
It's so annoying. It's so annoying. That's why,
like, the grief thing, I get it. Like, your dad
was murdered, like, brutally. I get it. That's
really tough. But, like, you act like this on
a regular basis, girl. Like, you don't have a
whole lot happening in your life. No, she doesn't
do anything. Yeah. So like you said, she goes
back to Attican's room and she decides to take
a bath. She does some snooping for her. She grabs
a dagger for whatever reason and like, yeah,
how's that gonna work for you? And she finds
that scarf that he had used to like clean up
her virginity blood or whatever. And then she
takes a bath and that's where Attican finds her.
And he says, quote, I believe we've been here
before, Dread. Yep. So. out of the bath, things
get really hot and heavy almost immediately,
which I loved because I'm glad that they're not
doing the will -they -won't -they thing again.
I know, but just to go back to earlier, why did
you put her in the dungeon if you were just gonna
fuck it out right here? Yeah, exactly. That's
fine. I'm glad we get an answer to it, but it
took a while for me to get there. Yeah, this
whole time I was like, okay. Right, yeah. So
she straddles him with a dagger, trying to show
him that she's not gonna take no for an answer,
and that she's got power too, and he disarms
her with insulting ease and is like, what was
your plan here, girl? What are you gonna do?
What are you gonna do? And she's basically like,
look, I have information, I heard a lot of things
while I was over there, and I'll tell you everything
if you give me safety. She says, quote, fix the
alliance, Attican. Make me your wife. And Anakin
surprisingly doesn't say, no, absolutely not.
I'm not going to do that. He just starts asking
about what she and Vayne did. So he can quote,
know which part of him, Vayne, to mutilate first.
Which I did like this touch her and die little
through line. I did too. But I also thought it
was a little bit understated, right? Because
he's not even, he doesn't lead with that. He's
like, what happened? Kind of coming in hot. He's
very restrained almost. Yeah, super restrained.
And I do wish we kind of got a little more payoff
on that. Right. I mean, I liked it. I'm not going
to lie. Oh, yeah. I have very little notes about
the scene, but it's nice. Yeah. I wanted payoff
later with Vane. I, yeah. I wanted kind of get
I wanted more of a direct conflict between the
two of them. And I wanted a little bit more of
a like territorial marking kind of thing, I guess.
Yeah, exactly. Which I guess we kind of get with
the mating. Yeah, I just wanted Vayne to see
it. I wanted Vayne to see it, not just smell
it later. Right. So anyway, they get hot and
heavy. Attikin's like, I will seal the deal.
This is how we're going to seal the deal, right?
We're going to get married in the fey way. And
so he cuts his wrist and cuts her wrist and they
exchange blood. Like, we get some full -on, like,
almost vampire -adjacent, like, blood -kick stuff.
I was really surprised by that, and I felt like
it was so seamlessly woven in. The way they explain
it and the way, like, Attican kind of goes about
it is it's very fey, but we get the, like, kinky
vampire thing without them being vampires, and
I was here for it. I was so here for it, and
it was, like, out of left field. Like, I knew,
like, they were gonna get into a scene. I didn't
know we were gonna get this scene. And it was
so good. Yeah, I was very happy to be here. Yeah.
So they do that thing. And it's ostensibly sealing
the deal, like marrying them in the Fey way.
And it acts like striking a match because Mildred
is incredibly horny. She feels like hot all over.
And she asks him, quote, what have you done to
me? And Attikins doesn't give her an answer,
but says, You know what, let's take a minute
here, because you must be hungry from such a
long journey and such a long time in the dungeons,
and makes her go to dinner with everybody else
in this state of mind. OK, like, consent is key.
But I kind of liked this, that she didn't really
understand what just happened. Yeah, I liked
it too. And I also liked that, like, Attican
calls her out on it later. He's like, oh, you
didn't know what was happening? OK, yeah. Look,
you're not an idiot. Like, you knew. Yeah, like,
you felt something. That's not a wedding. That's
not a wedding. Like, you're not. You're a smart
girl. Come on. You knew what was happening. Get
your shit together. Right. So the dinner scene
is like a little bit of comedic relief. But like,
it's also just foreplay. Honestly, like, yeah.
They're both feeling the effects of this bargain
that they just entered into. And they're both
teasing each other and saying, which one will
break first? There's this whole thing with the
chicken and a cream sauce. And I'm like, this
is just go have sex about it, please. Yeah. And
everybody at the table is like, Jesus Christ,
can you please? I want to eat. Because they all
know what's going on, too. Exactly. But they're
just trying to have a meal. And Anakin's like,
nope, I'm having a great time. This is super
fun. So Mildred makes good on her promise and
she says, she says everything that she knows,
right? She talks about the Pythorians, the warriors,
like the baited eggs around the city. Everything
that she heard talks about Lord Stone. And she
says, quote, I felt not a shred of guilt. Which
fuck yeah, girl. Love it. After dinner. They
chase each other to the bedroom. And then we
have the consummation scene that lasts for like
two chapters. And it's - It goes on and on. Amazing.
Like, it's - It's amazing. It's one of those
ones where they just can't stop fucking. Yeah.
And listen, that always makes the Fated Maid
Bond thing like better for me. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Mm -hmm. Yeah. Because I like it. Especially
when you've had the payoff of like, oh, it's
not like - immediate, like, instant intimacy,
right? They've known each other for, like, literal
years. Mm -hmm. Yeah. Swan princess over here.
So. Yeah. They're not fully sated, but they've
done it a couple of rounds, and they get interrupted
by a knock at the door, and Attican knows that
he has to go. So as he's walking away, Mildred
asks, quote, what really happened? And. Anakin
tells her, without even really fully turning
around, he's like at the door, he just kind of
says over his shoulder, quote, we made it. And
the scream I scrubbed. I know, it was so sassy
and so hot. It was so hot, oh my god. It was
so good. Yeah, and this is where it was confirmed
for me that I was like, he fell first and fell
hard. I know it. Oh, yeah. I just know it. He's
been waiting for this moment for like 10 years.
Yeah, exactly. And it made it so good. So now
we have to do actual plot stuff, unfortunately.
Yeah, I guess. We pivot to Mildred and a bunch
of the other assholes going through Cloudfall
City, hunting for eggs, right? So they're trying
to prevent this future where a bunch of Pytherians
descend upon the town. I rate that their babies
have been stolen and setting it on fire. They
essentially split up. Phineas and Ellian go together,
and Folly and Mildred go together. And they search
different places to kind of cover more ground.
Before they do that, specifically Ellian calls
out that Mildred smells different now. And is
he the only one that notices that? And Phineas
says something to the effect of, yeah, it doesn't
take a genius to know that they made it. Everybody
smells it, dude. Trying to ignore it over here.
It's super distracting to all of us. Right. We
don't have to talk about it, OK? We really don't
have to talk about it. So as Folly and Mildred
are searching we get a little bit more of her
backstory. We learned that Phineas and Folly's
father vanished 15 years ago on him like on his
way to meet Garen. So after that happened Garen
took them in his ward specifically to drain their
fortune for his war. Folly says quote, Garen's
coffers were nearly drained by a certain someone
not long before our father's disappearance. So
she's implying that Garen killed her father for
money to fund his war and then has just been
manipulating them At will basically ever since
gross. Yeah So they're they're kind of striking
out about the eggs but then Mildred like cuts
herself on Something and realizes that rather
than the blood like falling on the ground like
it would for a normal person it actually beads
up into the air and like leads her to one of
the Pytharian eggs, which is weird. It was super
weird. Mm -hmm. I had a thought here that maybe
it was because she had exchanged blood with Attican
because she doesn't have magic. I was like, where
is this coming from? I know. It's made really
clear that she has a halfling, but she has no
magic. That's doubled down a lot. Mm -hmm. And
we do get an answer for it, but it was... I feel
like it would have landed a little bit more smoothly
if she had a little bit of magic. Yeah, and it's
implied in this book that the only people who
have magic are nobles, but we don't know really
anything about her mother, so I was a little
bit surprised that she doesn't have any magic
at all. I know. Anyway, she's like, that's weird,
but we found an egg, so here's that. Like, it's
helpful, I guess. Yeah. So she takes the egg
back to their rooms, not really sure, like, what
to do with it. She's going to give it to Attican.
That's her plan. But when she gets to, I guess,
their room, she doesn't find Attican. And instead,
she finds Garen. And this is when it really becomes
clear that Garen hasn't been at the castle, like,
since she's been back. He was gone. Garen, right
now, is holding that bloodstained scarf. And...
Mildred knows immediately that this is bad news
bears for her Yeah, Garen has clearly worked
out that they are mated He says quote the scent
of a freshly -forged mating bond Plus quote the
reeky the fucking reek of it all over this chamber
Well get out of my bedroom, bro. You don't have
to smell it. Nobody invited you in here, buddy
Yeah He reveals that he's there to kill her and
return her body to her sister with a quote, sorrowful
apology. Mildred's like, great, cool, awesome.
We should talk about stuff. And she's trying
to stall. She's actively trying to use whatever
mind meld thing that she's got with Attican to
let him know that his daddy's there. And it does
work. And it's going to kill her? Right. Yeah.
Attican hears her and asks what's wrong. And
she. She says, your father's in the room. I need
your help. And he's like, great. Just keep talking.
I'm on my way. On the way. Great. So Mildred
is trying to stall. Garen, at some point, realizes
that. And he makes his move. He tries to put
her on the bed and stab her, essentially. And
it's very like. old, bad 80s movie choreographed
because they're on the bed, they're off the bed,
they're on the bed, they're off the bed in the
same position. She hits him with the egg. It's
very weird. Behind her, she's like yeet. Yeah,
and they're fighting over the knife. I'm like,
he's literally bigger than you and a fey. Why
is this happening? It has magic. Yeah, I don't
know. It was bad choreography. So we haven't
really called it out since we talked about it,
but this is when Meadow shows up again, because
Meadow's been basically MIA since she's been
back. And people have been cagey about where
Meadow is. And Meadow's been kind of a turncoat,
it seems like. But Meadow does show up and try
to get Garen off of Mildred with very limited
success, unfortunately. Well, she's just a little
cat. She just does a little baby. She tries.
Just when it looks very bleak for Mildred, Attican
shows up. And he doesn't even have to physically
assault his father. He's just like, You need
to come talk with me in the hallway. And I think
it's really interesting. Get the fuck out of
my wife. Get the fuck out of my wife from me.
I think it's interesting that Garen just does
that. I know. I thought that was interesting
too. But I liked it. I think this was a good
show of Attikin's power over Garen and how much
Garen is actually really afraid of his son. But
like we've been saying, it does feel very understated
for who we have been told Attikin. is. Yeah,
and on one hand I do like how understated it
is, I just feel like a lot of the things here
at the end could hit a lot harder. Right. Yeah.
Anyway, Garen follows him out. Mildred's in the
bedroom, but she can still hear them talking
outside. And she hears Garen ask Attican, quote,
Why would you marry a halfling? And the only
answer that Attican gives is quote, since I'm
the new king, basically, I'm going to do what
I fucking want. And then Mildred just hears a
thud. And when she opens the door, she sees Attican
has pulled Garen's heart out of his armored chest,
killing him, killing him dead. Just like, I'm
the new king. Yoink. So fucking metal. I did
not see that coming, but I. Love that, and even
Mildred asked the question in my mind. I'm like,
how the fuck did you do that? And Mildred's like,
how the fuck did you do that? What is happening?
I know, and Attican's like, don't worry about
it. He literally draws a bloody finger over her
mouth, and it's just like, shh. It's like, it'll
be our secret. It'll be our secret. OK. OK. Cool.
So in the midst of this, Attican shares that.
Kalista is his mother, and that Garen didn't
actually kill her, he faked her death and then
helped her flee the continent. Quote, in return
for her freedom, she had agreed to leave me behind.
So Kalista left and never looked back. Which
is - So Atticus is also unseelie. Yes, so everybody
in this fucking book is unseelie, and this is
where I thought, oh fuck, they're siblings. They're
not siblings, but it was still a little bit like
Scooby -Doo, okay, everybody has a secret unseelie
mother. I know. Well, and also like this whole
seely court is just being run by the unseely
and it just fine. But the only way that immediately
made sense in my mind is if they were all related.
And I'm very glad they're not. But I don't know
why they all have to be unseely. Right. And the
other thing that I kind of like only realize
in retrospect is like, yeah, of course he's like
Calista's son because Garen wasn't didn't have
like a paramour outside of that. And like Yeah.
What's her face? Corden or whatever. Cordenia.
Yeah, Cordenia was after, right? So if there
was nobody before, who else would it be? I know.
And this was a big reveal to me. I didn't see
this coming. Same. But in retrospect, it was
really obvious. He didn't exist before Calista,
and no other mother existed after Calista. Yeah.
Yeah. So if there's only one mother, if it looks
like a Calista, talks like a Calista, it's probably
a Calista. It's probably a Calista. Yeah. So
yeah, that was a lot happening. There was also
this thing that, like, we don't get, like, we
don't spend a lot of time on it, but because
Vane's dad was killed the same way that Garen
was killed, it's implied that Attican killed
them both. Yeah, which that is so subtle in here
that like, I don't even think we get confirmation,
but that's what I think happened. I think so
too. And I think the reason that he killed the
other king is because of the way he treated his
mother. And I think that's partially why he killed
Garen along with the fact that he was being a
royal dick to everybody on the planet. Yeah,
and just a generally bad king. Right. So. Basically,
Attican's like, you get some sleep, I gotta hide
this and figure out how we're gonna make this
look like I didn't just kill my father, so. Don't
tell anyone. Don't tell anyone. Good night. And
this is where we kind of get a little, it gets
implied that the reason that she was in the dungeon
when she first came back was so that Garen didn't
find out that she was back at all until he left.
Yeah, which, cool, and I'm glad that we got an
explanation of that. Yeah, but also you're just
kicking it down the you're kicking the can down
the road very clearly Yeah Anyway, so then we
get a brief break from the politics and the war
of it all for a wedding Attican is actually marrying
Mildred and it's like Within the next couple
of days. It's so soon. In fact that there wasn't
a whole lot of time for her sister, Bernie, to
attend because Bernie's super fucking pregnant.
So the only person from her side of the family
that does attend is Royce, Bernie's husband.
He's there to witness the essentially the the
alliance that they all agreed to being fulfilled.
Which is cute. I like Royce. He's such like a
nothing burger. I like him. I like it, too. So
they do the wedding. It's. Fine. But Mildred
feels some type of way about it. She asks Attican
afterwards how he feels, and he says, quote,
victorious is what I feel. And she, like, essentially
runs away from that comment. Yeah, she didn't
like that at all. And I don't know why. Like,
I don't know if it's because she is too stuck
on, like, the game and, like, that she doesn't
like that he won. But I'm like, girl, you got
exactly what you wanted. You both won, I guess.
Yeah, like you demanded that he marry you. He's
also your mate. I don't know what else you expected.
Right. Regardless, her miffing, or miffery, mifery?
Mifery. Her being miffed. Her miffed attitude
doesn't last very long because they go on another
egg hunt. And this one is around the palace in
the palace grounds trying to look for those eggs.
And. She goes with Folly. They get separated.
And Attican finds her in the woods. And they
have a cute little scene in the woods, which
is amazing. It is amazing. She even, like, calls
it out. This book is very self -aware in a way
I really appreciate. Because Mildred even says,
like, I don't think we should consummate our
marriage in the forest. And he's like, why? Who
cares? Why not? Give me a good reason. We can
do it anyway. We've already had sex, so. Right.
So this scene is great. I mean, despite the fact
that I'm not like a dude on the forest floor
kind of girly. No notes. No, it's really nice.
We also get some interesting information in it.
So we get a reveal about why. Her blood leads
her to Pytharians because she shares that information
with Attikin and it's because she has Unseelie
blood. Blood, he says, quote, blood binds all.
And so he kind of implies that any Unseelie can
do this magic trick, which makes it feel less
special, but also I've never seen anybody else
do it. So. Well, and also why wasn't he doing
it to find the eggs? Right. Because I guess maybe
no one can know he's Unseelie because he's said
at the Seelie court. Yeah. Politics. I mean,
I think it's probably more to do with the fact
that Attican is who he is and she's his mate.
But the way that he said it was like, oh, it's
just an unseely thing. I'm like, OK. Like, just
don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Yeah.
During the scene, Attican tells her that she's
beautiful for the first time ever, which is sounds
bad on the surface. But for me, it's the revealing
that he loves her. Yeah, that they're not enemies
and they never were right was all an act He also
reveals that he's a little nervous because he
says quote you cannot love him like he's still
thinking about her potentially pining after vein
His brother Yeah Right. Yeah brother half brother
at least Half brother just like add that little
twist to it. Uh -huh. Yeah, which they never
really talk about at length. No No, honestly,
a couple of times I had to be like, right? Yeah.
Guys? Right? And then we get the - It's sweet.
I know, because he also goes on to say, quote,
I want you, Mildred, always and incessantly.
I fucking wanted you. Unfortunately, this scene
ends on a bit of a bittersweet note because it's
clear that Attican knows that something's going
to happen. And so he tells her that - when they
come that she needs to get to the dungeons. Everybody
needs to get to the dungeons, like, underground.
And she's like, OK, cool, like, in the future.
And it's clear that he means, like, right now.
Like, no, I need you to go immediately. Right.
And so Mildred reluctantly goes back to the castle
to gather everybody else and go into the dungeons
while Attican does something else. King stuff.
King stuff. So she meets Folly and Folly is like,
yeah, I know we have to get to the dungeons,
but you need to see something first. Like come
with me. I need you to, you just need to see
this. So they get to a balcony where they can
see essentially like the courtyard of the castle.
And in that courtyard, they see Attican walking
down the driveway, stark naked, and he stops
and turns into a motherfucking Pythrion. I did
not see this coming at all. Never in my life.
Like if this was nowhere near my bingo card.
No, well, because like the vein has the wings
and he's like, I would think of anyone, which
if it would be vain and like I get the bloodline,
but then I didn't connect the bloodline. And
this book does like. These reveals are all so
well done, so I was like, excuse me, he's a what?
He's a what now? Yeah, no, totally. I didn't
see it coming. I loved every minute of it. I
have questions at the end of this book, but there
are no questions around the big plot point things.
Very well handled. Which is impressive, because
there are some crazy twists in here. Crazy. So
Folly goes on to say quote his mother was the
unseelie Queen and her grandfather the last Pytharian
King so essentially Attakin is the true unseelie
heir who has spent his entire life masquerading
as a seelie prince and Because a noble who can
shift is the alpha of that species He can simply
just take the army that vain has spent decades
breeding and like use them against vain which
is so fucking metal it's so metal and it's so
fun because It's not said explicitly, but I can
only imagine how satisfying that would be to
watch your half -brother make this army thinking
that he is going to destroy you. And you're just
like, no, that's my army, but you can raise it.
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Yeah, go for it. No problem.
Not concerned about it at all. Which goes back
to like, Mildred was raising the alarm bell and
like, this is going to happen. We don't stand
a chance. And Attican was so nonchalant. And
she's like, I need you to be a lot more chalant
about this, my guy. And he's like, don't worry.
It's fine. I got it. I promise you don't have
to worry about the Pytharians. Right. So Attican
is essentially summoning the Pytharians. Like,
yes, Vane has started his assault. But what he
doesn't know is that the guys riding these Pytharians
are now totally fucked, right? As they start
showing up in the courtyard, the Pytharians start
eviscerating the writers that are from Vane's
army. Which has to be so shocking to be like,
what the fuck is happening? Exactly. So Folly,
in conversation with Folly, we come to learn
that Cordania, who is Garen's consort, knew because
she practically raised Attican, right? She was
his de facto mother, which I didn't realize when
we first met her. I didn't either. It seemed
like, and I didn't give it any thoughts, but
it seemed like. Cordania came once Attican was
already an adult, or they never really had any
interaction. Yeah, but it sounds like she showed
up pretty soon after he was born, at least. Yeah,
and then they did have a close relationship.
That wasn't really well -seated. Yeah, because
they barely interact. But that's being a pity.
So Cordania knew, and then Folly also knew, because
she caught Attican once when he was younger naked,
bloody, and hunting for his clothes. Which I
think is really interesting. It's so interesting.
So Phineas is one of the only ones that doesn't
know in their small inner circle. And he's about
to find out with everybody else. So what's interesting
about this is Mildred has had this inferiority
complex because she's a half -breed, right? She's
half mortal, half fae. But she realizes in this
moment that Anakin is also a half -breed. He's
part seely, part unseely. She says, quote, he
didn't have mortal blood, but he was still just
a halfling, just like me. Oh. Oh, it's cute.
So Attican is dealing with the Pytharian invasion,
right? But Vayne is making a different play.
He comes to the back of the courtyard, and for
some reason, Mildred is there. She sees him.
She also sees that, unfortunately, he has Meadow
and is using Meadow as bait again. So she goes
out to the courtyard. They have a conversation.
He says, quote, I just need your husband to die
and threatens her friends who were coming after
her. Right. So Folly and Phineas are kind of
calling after Mildred, not understanding why
she's not getting to the dungeons with everybody
else. And he's like, you want them to die? Totally
fine. Or you could just come with me. And so
Mildred just goes with Bane. Awesome. This was
a little weak for me. I feel like Mildred did
it a little bit for the plot. I also think she
did it for the plot because the threat wasn't
strong enough. Her friends would have been fine.
Everyone would have been fine. Right. And she's
kind of like, let's see where this goes. She's
a little bit like, let's see where this goes.
But she's also kind of justifying it to herself.
She's like, maybe I can convince him to pull
back and stop the fighting. And I'm like, sure,
girl. But like. Don't tell me it's not a little
bit to stir the pot. It's totally to stir the
pot. And, like, the fight's basically over. There's
really not any fight now that you know who your
husband is. Now that you know who her husband
is. And, like, Vayne is, like, the only one who
doesn't see that. And I don't get it. He turns
immediately into an idiot. I know, which was
a little frustrating. And this is where I felt
like, I mean, we're getting to the end. But this
is where I felt like it was a little anticlimactic
because Vayne just ceases to have a thought in
his brain. Right. Beyond like, I have to win.
And this is like, that's my only point. I just
need your husband to die. Right. OK. And then
what, bro? So evidence of the fact that this
fight is basically over, he takes her to a village
where the rest of his forces are essentially
hiding out. It's clear that Vane knows about
the mating bond. He says, quote, you reek of
him, not just in the usual post -coital way.
He threatens her pressing a knife to her throat
draws blood but can't make himself finish her
off because I think his Thought process is like
kill her kill Attican that wasn't very clear
to me though That wasn't clear to me either and
I also don't really understand why he can't Why
he can't finish her off. Like does he have feelings?
I don't think he did not really. Yeah, I didn't
think so I mean, it's certainly not for her right
so like Yeah, not enough to, like, not be able
to kill her if that, in his mind, is the only
thing that'll work. Right. The thing that he
says to Mildred, though, to try to get, like,
her on his side is that he essentially says that
Attikin is becoming untouchable because he is
the king of the Seelie and he is now the Alpha
of the Pytherians, and technically he could take
the Unseelie throne, too, if he kills Vayne.
He tells her, quote, you need to help us end
him or we all lose this war. But I don't understand
why that's a problem for her. I don't either,
because she's on the winning side. She's mated
to the guy that's going to win. Right. So you
say we will all lose the war. I'm not losing
anything. I'm fine. I get two kingdoms. There's
also a little bit of undercurrent in this conversation
where Vane is asking forgiveness. But he just
doesn't want to like. and it's clear that he's
still not bought in on actually wanting Mildred.
He's almost acting in ways that he doesn't quite
understand himself, and Mildred's just like,
girl, it's way too late. Yeah, you betrayed me
in so many ways, and also, what are you trying
to apologize for? Which part? brutally murdering
my father or manipulating me or kidnapping me.
Like, what are we really talking about? Yeah.
And trying to kill me 20 seconds ago. She effectively
says something like that. She's like, you're
not doing yourself any favors, right? Like you're
making it you're actively making it worse. You
need to let me go. Yeah. You're not helping anything.
Right. So Mildred reaches out to Attican through
the bond, tells him where she is, warns him that
they're armed with iron bolts, and is basically
like, see you soon, honey, right? I like that
we have this love triangle and we're sold on
it, but really, Vane was never a problem. She's
like, I had feelings, they're gone now. I had
feelings, they're gone now. Yeah, I wish, I mean,
I think. It's interesting in how this book is
ended because it is implied that maybe Vane's
affection for Mildred is a little bit more of
a slower burn. Like he was already committed
to the path of manipulating her and like getting
what he wanted and then is realizing, oh shit,
I might actually love this person. Like I can't
kill her for some reason. Right. And I think
it's interesting, like the line that we said
earlier about him waiting for... Like a fated
mate that hasn't shown up yet It would be like
if this was not a standalone if there was a book,
too It would be interesting to explore like is
she fated mates to both of them. Oh And like
I mean that vain is slowly realizing that he
the thing that he's been waiting for he was too
blinded by his own like Machinations and machinations
and like ambition to see yes And now it's too
late because I can you made it to two people
Why choose? Anyway. So Mildred and everybody
else knows when Attican has arrived because he
lands in his dragon form and it feels like there's
an earthquake, which is unfortunate because they're
in tunnels underground. Oops, right. So he's
essentially trying to collapse the tunnels in
a way that forces them out in a very specific
place. They end up going... out of the tunnels
into this field where Attican is, and it's ringed
in fire. There are dismembered warriors everywhere.
There are iron bolts the size of Mildred being
fired by, like, flying warrior things. And all
of these things are just essentially, like, bouncing
off of Attican's scales. And he's just, like,
standing in the middle of the field waiting for
Mildred. Just, like, chilling. Like, I would
like my wife, please. Like, your Uber's here,
girl. It's time to go. So Attican hasn't shown
up empty -handed. He throws Garen's severed head
toward Vayne. And there's a note attached to
it that says, quote, claim your victory and retreat.
And Mildred realizes that she's just become queen,
one. And two, this is an opportunity for Vayne
to claim a victory and retreat with dignity,
right? And not totally lose face with his people.
Yeah, which I forgot about that bargain. Right.
Well, I forgot about that bargain, too. And she
did, too, until just this moment. But Vane promised
to give her something when he invaded the Seelie
Realm. Anything. Right. And what she wants is
for him to take his people home and live a life.
Leave them the fuck alone. Like, lose my number.
Stop being so obsessed with me. Why are you so
obsessed with me? Why are you so obsessed with
me? No, really. They have this conversation.
It's clear that Vane doesn't want her to ask
this thing of her She's trying to convince him
to like take that take the win and leave right
take Garen's head home on a pike and Like leave
it at that. You're not gonna win this war like
you're not gonna kill out of your life, right?
In the process of this she gets hit by what sounds
like friendly fire like she gets hit by an arrow
in the side made argument Yeah, that was crazy.
That was crazy. It serves to like It's an interesting
choice because it serves to end the conversation
and like force the conversation forward because
it was clear to me that Vane and her were at
an impasse. He wasn't gonna say yes and she wasn't
gonna outright like ask for the thing yet. Yeah,
so that was fine. Vane catches her. He tries
to vanish them both to safety, but she pushes
free of his arms at the last minute and rolls
back toward Attican. It's a clear choice and
the book like lets us sit with this clear choice.
Mildred was kind of entertaining. I did have
feelings for you at one time. You're trying to
apologize for me, but you're still being kind
of a dick. And in the moment when it matters
she's not torn, she's decided with her full chest,
which I liked. I liked that too. And I liked
that, especially with this being a standalone,
that it doesn't leave those threads open. I mean,
it would be fun. But that it's like, nope, the
love triangle's over. This is. This is where
we are. We're done. Yeah. I also thought it was
kind of a dick move for Vane to vanish or like
teleport and just leave all of his people there
like, bye. Right? Like, way to pull a Kyla. What
was her name? Yeah, Kyla. Yeah, Kyla. Jesus.
Bitch. Bitch. Speaking of pulling a Kyla, everything's
fine. The war is over. They're not at odds anymore.
OK. And that's where I was like, it was barely
even a battle. You've been at war for. who knows
how long. Yeah. And you had like, Heath chose
him as a dragon and it's like the war's over,
which fair, but what? Yep. Not even like a peace
treaty conversation, like anything. Is he just
still gonna plot? We do get one line of a fixer
that like Attican had a treaty like ready to
go and like Vane did eventually sign it, but
like that's it. Like that's just, that's it.
That way everything's fine. Everybody's at peace.
Nobody has any more ambition that's gonna like
fuck shit up. Okay, cool. Yeah. OK, sure. OK.
We get this interaction between Attakin and Mildred,
because they've got some stuff to say on their
chest. And so they're alone in the throne room,
and they're talking. Attakin essentially says
that he acted the way that he did for survival.
He never wanted to rule both kingdoms. He wanted
to be free. And freedom meant that his birthright,
the throne and the army, under his own control.
So he could be free from being his father's pawn.
He says quote I loathed you while I loved you
as it was the only way to get what I needed he
confesses that he felt the bond the night that
she poisoned him and Despite knowing that he
was supposed to let her run to Bain so that she'd
break the wards the moment that Was supposed
to happen when she was first in the woods. He
realized that he couldn't go through with it
He says quote I knew then that I would rather
remain trapped for eternity than let anyone think
you're theirs He goes on to say quote, you're
still mine Dred, now you will forever be just
mine. Privately, Mildred admits that she's been
in love with him probably always and then she
leaves him with his crown anyway and says quote,
congratulations King. I didn't fully understand
this move and I had to have it explained to me
by like the next epilogue chapters but she's
just not quite ready to put her armor down and
stop living this like survival life that she's
known her entire life i didn't understand that
either and it makes sense and i appreciate that
it was explained because at first i was like
why are you being such a bitch right but i i
also get it like in hindsight and having reflected
on the book after finishing it like it would
be hard for me to take that confession at face
value too like you've been this person that i
know you to be and now you're saying that that's
all an act and you can just be like a loving
husband to me What are you talking about? And
again, don't forget, we've known each other mostly
our whole lives. I know who you are, or I thought
I knew who you were. So that's fair. And they've
been playing the game for so long, so I don't
want to let the game up either. Right. And as
she confessed to Vane, she kind of likes the
game. Yeah. So I think there's some of that in
there too to work through. So in the next couple
of chapters, we get kind of a hard exit. Mildred
has like fled. I hated this. Mildred has fled
the kingdom and gone to be with her sister and
her new niece, I think. It's like, OK, again,
going back to what we were talking about, I get
that you have to reconcile that confession, but
this seems like so dramatic. It's a little bit
dramatic and it is she even admits like at the
end of the chapter that it is a test to see if
he really is that person and I'm like I kind
of get it but I'm like I just I didn't really
want to see it like I could have I could have
skipped to the epilogue personally I could have
yeah I didn't need it because it was also weird
being I think it's like the lash the last two
chapters of the book and I'm like I'm already
bought in on their love story I I didn't I don't
need this, like, I'm going to flee at the last
moments. You could prove yourself to me. OK,
girl. Right. Exactly. All right. So crucially
in this time, Mildred's drinking basically a
specific type of tea that will block their mental
connection. And it's something that is a known
thing because mates who are in or fated mates
who don't want to be with each other want privacy
from that person that they are bound to. Awkward.
Which I like that little one liner that Because
we get that in Akatar, but just because you're
fated mates doesn't mean you like each other.
Right, exactly. So they spend time. When the
tea is worn off, they do spend time kind of communicating
mentally with each other. And at some point,
Attikin does show up to retrieve his wife, which
I love. I love the I'm here for my wife thing.
I love that, too. And again, we see Royce again
as just like, is this OK? Should I be concerned?
or go with him, I don't know. There's also this
adorable scene with Attican and the newborn,
and Attican doesn't know what to do with the
newborn, especially because the newborn shits
while Attican's holding them. Anyway, when Attican
finds Mildred, Mildred's under a tree, and basically
they confess their love for each other in those
explicit words. Attikin says that he's been a
villain for so long, but quote, that doesn't
mean I cannot love you. That doesn't mean I don't
need you to be as obsessively in love with me
as I am with you. And then they say, I love yous
to each other. But Attikin realizes that Mildred
needs some of this game. And so at the end, he
says, quote, disappointed. Basically, re -initiating
that, like, ta -da -tet that they had going on.
Which I appreciate it, too, because that can't
just totally change. I know. It's like how they
interact with each other. And that was part of
what Mildred was afraid of, right? She's not
afraid of Attican. She's not afraid of being
loved. She just doesn't know how and still wants
to retain the parts of that life that excited
her. Well, and to be fair, that's the person
you fell in love with. So you can't just now
be a new person and think that we can have a
healthy relationship. Right, that's going to
take some getting used to. So we do get a bit
of an epilogue and that jumps 20 years into the
future. Um, the Pytherians that are now under
Attikin's reign live in the sky mountains, which
are part of the cloud kingdom, the unsealy kingdom.
Cool. Attikin is in his dragon form and Mildred
and their daughter are up there with the Pytherians.
And this is really cute because their daughter
Lumina is four years old and is feeding wild
flowers to Attikin and Pytherian form, despite
the fact that these give him like a heinously
upset stomach when he shifts back into a person.
It was so cute. Yeah. We learned that Dahlia
has extended an olive branch at some point, too.
She's sent Mildred books. They've been exchanging
books back and forth, essentially doing a book
club. And Mildred recognized the book for what
it was. She sees this as trying to build a bridge
between the two kingdoms, and she accepted it
and is letting it happen. Also, as they're sitting
there, she sees a shadow, like implied that it's
one of Vane's shadows, just like saying hi. And
she waves back, essentially. Which I also thought
was kind of cute. Yeah. Which I think opens the
door to like, could there be just a little bit
of romance there? I think so. I mean, there's
definitely affection there. Yes. That didn't
end. Yes. So that's where the book ends. And
so like, I had a really good time in this book
and I did not see the end coming. There were
just a couple of things where I was like, like
the Lordstone at the double agent thing like
that literally never came back. I know. And that
was kind of a bummer because like, where was
he in the end? Even a one liner of like, he delivered
the peace treaty or whatever. Right. And, and
the whole like Callista's still alive thing,
like. Where is she? Do you care? Is she going
to come back now that both of these assholes
are dead? Can she just be with her sons? Right.
And does she want to? Because Anakin makes it
sound like she left and never looked back, but
she wasn't really given a choice. Right. She
literally didn't have any other choice. So. Anyway,
let's get into our ratings. Oh, yes. Maybe one
day we'll disagree. Whatever. We did disagree
once. But the thing about when we disagree is
that, I mean, I think the most recent time last
is that you convinced me to change my score,
or vice versa. We really stay at odds. That's
true. Which, I mean, that's why we're here. I
think that's why we're truly friends. Anyway.
Yeah. So girl, how do we rate the spice? We rated
it at A4. The spice is really good in this book.
It starts off. Pretty early, it's super believable.
We get the intimacy. We get the surprising vampire
-esque blood play that neither of us saw coming.
Yeah, girl. This might sound bad. But what would
have made it a five for me is one, more diversity,
because it's still pretty vanilla. But also if
she had an actual scene with Vane, even if it
wasn't fully penetration, I wanted more with
Vane. Yeah, or like, yeah. I was going to yes
and you and then say the exact same thing. I
totally agree. I think I do that to you all the
time. I'm like, yeah, for sure. Let me reiterate
what you just said as if it's an entirely new
idea. We're she -he -peating each other. We're
she -peating, she -peating. There we go. That's
fine. She -he -peating. She -he -peating. Yeah,
so that brings us to writing style. We both rated
it a three. There were just, despite the fact
that I had a great time, there were s - some
ways in which this book was written that made
it difficult to read. Sometimes like I would
just trip over the sentence or like, yeah, the
participles were in places that I wasn't expecting.
And so like I would have to go. Wait, what? Let
me just run that back one more time. And even
you probably heard it when I was saying some
of the quotes, like just the way that they're
written is a little clunky. Yeah, they're a little
strange. And I pulled one out that I didn't say,
but one that tripped me up. and maybe it was
just me, but it's like when they're preparing
for the picnic, she grabs the basket and her
internal monologue is to darkness with it, which
is not, and I know it's like to hell with it,
but like no one's referred to a quote unquote
like hell or darkness. I was like, what the fuck
are you talking about? And that, it was like
little things like that, just strange wording
and quotes. Yeah, and it was like it. I've raced
through this book, I really enjoyed it, but there
were times when I would be going on a good path
and then I would get stuck on this one sentence
for five minutes and be like, okay, I have to
move on. Because I don't know what it's trying
to say to me, so I gotta let it go. And it doesn't
matter. So that's why we rated it a three. Everything
else, it's clear when we change. perspectives,
even in like one character's perspective, like
when she would dream and be like seeing what
Attican is seeing, for example. That was clear.
That was all super clear. I really appreciated
that. The formatting of the book on Kindle is
good. It wasn't like the blocks of text that
you hate. I hate that so much. I can't stand
it. So that all was fine. Moving into quality
of storytelling, how did we read that? We also
rated it a four, and I almost want to give it
a 4 .5, just because it has a lot of really surprising
twists and reveals. OK, but that was going to
be a lie. I was going to say, I'm rarely surprised
by twists, because that's not true. I often don't
know until I'm told. But this one just boop,
boop. I was like, I don't know who I'm pretending
to be. I never know. It's not even a twist, and
I'm like, wow. Wow. It's crazy. But this book
handled Like, four or five twists that all made
sense. They all fit in the plot. They didn't
create plot holes. I think the only thing that
made it not a five is it gets a little scooby
-doo at the end, like, I'm over here, and then
I'm back over here, and then I'm back over here,
and then I'm going to go to my sister's house
for some fucking reason, and then I'm going to
come back. Like, I didn't need that. There were
a couple scenes that just I didn't need. The
weird, like, cheese -making scene, I didn't need
that. The sandwich -making, I mean. and there
were some things that i think i wish were explored
a little bit more like we we called out the like
lord stone thing um i think it's interesting
like the the way that vain betrayed her and then
felt like seems to feel like differently at the
end of the book like i couldn't tell if that
was because he just didn't want to lose or if
he was actually trying to feel something so like
that was i we could have dived into that a little
bit more dove into that a little bit more but
um Yeah, I mean, the twists, what a twist. Those
were all really good. Oh, the other thing that
I wanted to call out was she's basically a cardboard
box. Like, she is a character. Doesn't have a
lot going on. No, she doesn't do anything. You
pointed out her respawn point is just a bedroom.
She just reads and looks out the window. And
she has a pet that also kind of ceases to exist.
Right, which is so interesting because I would
say that she has a good personality. She's sharp
and she's witty, and I enjoy reading about her.
I just wish that she also did other things. Like
anything else. Right. Agreed. So that brings
us to do we recommend it? Yes, we do. Yes. It
was such a pleasant surprise. It really was.
I really enjoyed this. And look, for right or
for wrong, I'm always going to probably grade
up when it's a standalone, because I'm just so
grateful that there's not 1 ,000 pages of this
that we have to read to get to the end of the
book. Yeah. I know we can make it a tupada. It's
not. Right. I mean, we got Silver Flame coming
up, which I think is a four -parter, maybe. Yeah,
it is. It is. Yeah, we've been reading Akatar
for a year at this point, so. Yeah. Also, just
this is. The eighth Akatar book, not the next
one that comes up after that, is like 900 pages
long. Jesus Christ. Yeah. Well, anyway. We did
it. Those are our thoughts on Amid Clouds and
Bones by Ella Fields. Thank you as always for
joining us on this journey. Let us know what
you thought on the socials. You can find us on
TikTok, YouTube, and Goodreads at Spice Tutors
Pod. And if you like our podcast and want more,
consider becoming a patron where we release Patreon
exclusive episodes on our off weeks. And if you
really, really like us, drop us a review wherever
you listen. Until next time, we'll see ya. Bye.
Bye.