Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass, #7)

by Sarah J. Maas

Aedion could barely stand to look at her. Talk to her. He only did so because he had to uphold this ruse, too.

That’s so sad…he loved her too

It was the hand on her rounded belly. She stared toward him, hair still flowing. Behind her, four small figures emerged. Rowan fell to his knees. The tallest: a girl with golden hair and pine-green eyes, solemn-faced and as proud as her mother. The boy beside her, nearly her height, smiled at him, warm and bright, his Ashryver eyes near-glowing beneath his cap of silver hair. The boy next to him, silver-haired and green-eyed, might as well have been Rowan’s twin. And the smallest girl, clinging to her mother’s legs … A fine-boned, silver-haired child, little more than a babe, her blue eyes harking back to a lineage he did not know. Children. His children. Their children. With another mere weeks from being born. His family. The family he might have, the future he might have. The most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

Stop I can’t, this is beautiful

He had a feeling he knew the answer. Knew that Maeve was likely the cause of it, the damper on what was between them. She’d gone into his head to trick him into thinking Lyria was his mate, had fooled the very instincts that made him a Fae male.

What a bitch

And tell him thank you—for walking that dark path with me back to the light. It had been his honor. From the very beginning, it had been his honor, the greatest of his immortal life. An immortal life they would share together—somehow. He’d allow no other alternative. Rowan silently swore it to the stars. He could have sworn the Lord of the North flickered in response.

Yrene’s hand drifted across her abdomen and lingered.

Little baby Westfall coming to an Adarlan castle near you…

But he was not her king.

Bet

spider’s smile never faltering

Fitting

But Connall’s own heart.

Wtf!?…

Black blood. As dark as night.

Come on Aelin...put it together

Fireheart, why do you cry? And from far away, deep within her, Aelin whispered toward that ray of memory, Because I am lost. And I do not know the way.

Aww sad

The body he’d turned into solid flame, so hot it had melted through the wyvern’s jaws, its throat, and he had passed through the beast’s mouth as if it were nothing but a cobweb.

Woah...he might be just as powerful as Aelin

“A decent attempt, but Celaena Sardothien looked a little more amused when she cut men into ribbons.”

Holy shittttt i just realized who Nox was

A dark stain spread across the front of Cairn’s pants.

Oh so he can dish it out but can't take it?!

For Fenrys’s loyalty, for his sacrifice, there was no greater reward she could offer. To keep him from death, there was no other way to save him. Only this. Only the blood oath.

Yay! So sweet

“Get out of my tent.”

You are going to fuck this up Aedion

Aelin. She was Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius, and she was Queen of Terrasen. More magic rippled out, but she held her grip. Not all—not yet. She had been captured by Maeve, tortured by her. Tortured by Cairn, her sentinel. But she had escaped, and her mate had come for her. Had found her, just as they had found each other despite centuries of bloodshed and loss and war.

“It is my honor to serve this court. And serve you,” he added to Aelin.

<3

“To whatever end,” he whispered. Silver lined her eyes. “To whatever end.”

I love them

“Your wife is pregnant.”

That's so rude to ruin Yrene's surprise

jasmine, lemon verbena, and crackling embers

This would be a great candle...

When it receded, there was only ash and dented metal.

Holy shit…how does one even fight against something like this that just decimates one’s armies?!

The young queen let out a broken laugh of joy and flung her arms around his neck. Pain lanced down his spine at the impact, but Chaol held her right back, every question fading from his tongue.

Oh yay, a happy reunion

“I went to the Torre,” Yrene said, her voice cracking. “I took the money you gave me, and went to the Torre. And I became the heir apparent to the Healer on High. And now I have come back, to do what I can. I taught every healer I could the lessons you showed me that night, about self-defense. I didn’t waste it—not a coin you gave me, or a moment of the time, the life you bought me.” Tears were rolling and rolling down Yrene’s face. “I didn’t waste any of it.”

Oof I’m not crying you’re crying 😭

“Moonbeam.”

STFU THATS HILARIOUS

Aelin slumped into the chair beside Chaol’s. Rowan laid a hand on her shoulder, and when she looked up, she found him near laughter.

This coming full circle is beautiful

Aelin grinned at Nesryn, the woman leaning against Sartaq’s side. “I hope you only said horrible things about me.” “Only the worst,” Nesryn said with dead flatness, though her mouth twitched.

Omg the sass is killing me! Lol 😂 Aelin might not be 100% back to normal but seeing her with her friends is healing

His thumb ran along the nape of her neck, then drifted over the mating marks again scarring one side thanks to the seawater they’d used to seal them.

Love this for them

Aelin leaned back into her chair, her head resting against the solid wall of Rowan’s body. His hands shook against her shoulders. Shook as he seemed to realize what, exactly, had ripped into his mind. Where Maeve’s power had come from that allowed her to do so. Why she remained deathless and ageless, and had outlasted any other. Why Maeve’s power was darkness.

I feel like Aelin is Kronk in this moment: Oh, right. The poison. The poison for Kuzco, the poison chosen especially to kill Kuzco, Kuzco's poison. It’s all clicking together

Then Hasar hissed, “We’ll make the bitch pay for that, too, won’t we?” Aelin met the princess’s dark stare. “Yes, we will.”

Hell. Yes.

“There’s nothing I have left to say to you. Or you to me.”

I’m not sorry abt this because Aedion deserves to grovel for Lysandra’s good graces again…

“Is it bad if I want to join you? And bring snacks?”

Same girl 😂

Then there was the matter of his breasts, which he’d never imagined to be so … cumbersome. Not unpleasant, but the shock of bumping his arms into them, the need to adjust his posture to accommodate their slight weight, was still fresh after a few hours.

Haha yeah they’re not fun 😂

He’d thought he’d known everything about the female body. How to make a woman purr with pleasure. He was half-tempted to find a tent and learn firsthand what certain things felt like.

Dorian! You naughty boy! Lol

“Queen of Witches,” Crochan and Blackbeak declared as one voice.

Omg chills

He’d never seen such a glorious sight. In every land, every battle, he had never seen anything as glorious as Aelin before the throat of the siege tower, holding the line.

Two queens, holding their lines.

Lorcan could barely lift his sword before the soldier plunged his own into Lorcan’s gut. Lorcan fell, sword clattering. Icy mud sucked at his face, as if it would swallow him whole. Pull him down into the dark depths of Hellas’s realm, where he deserved to be.

Noooooo, not the cranky immortal!!

“And if I asked you to stay?”

Ooh Manon is growing a heart

His heart thundered as she revealed inch after inch of bare, silken skin. Not a seductive removal of her clothing, but rather an offer laid bare.

Ugh she loves him

“An alliance,” she said, throat bobbing, “between you and me.”

“I have loved you,” she went on, “from the moment you came to fight for me against Vernon and the ilken.” The light in her eyes stole his breath. “And when I heard you were somewhere on that battlefield, the only thing I wanted was to be able to tell you that. It was the only thing that mattered.”

Love, true love…

Manon only said, “Your queen summons you to war.” And touched her flame to that in Bronwen’s hearth. Light flared, bright and dancing. Bronwen picked up a branch of her own, a long log burning in the fire. “The Vanora will fly.” She withdrew the wood and stalked to the next clan’s hearth, where she plunged that kernel of the sacred fire into their pit. Again the light flared, just as Bronwen declared, loud and clear as the breaking day around them, “Your queen summons you to war. The Vanora fly with her. Will you?” The hearth leader only said, “The Redbriar will fly,” and ignited her own torch before hurrying to the next clan’s fire. Hearth to hearth. Until all seven in the camp had accepted and ignited the fire. Then, and only then, did the young scout from the final clan take her burning torch, grab her broom, and leap into the skies. To find the next clan, to tell them the call had gone out.

I have chills, they’re multiplying’! 😉

“Is there any other reason you would deign to visit Morath, Maeve?”

WTF????!!!!!

“The fabled warrior-prince would tell you to stay the course, but if destroying Endovier will help, then he’ll be right there with you.”

I love him

The same tattoo he’d had Gavriel and Fenrys inking on his own back these past few days, whenever they stopped for the night. “I’m glad to be here, too, Fireheart.” For however much longer the gods would allow it.

I love the matching tattoos

Her Second, her cousin, her friend, smiled, eyes bright as stars. “Live, Manon.” Manon blinked. Asterin smiled wider, kissed Manon’s brow, and whispered again, “Live.” Manon didn’t see the blow coming. The punch to her gut, so hard and precise that it knocked the wind from her. Sent her to her knees. She was struggling to get a breath down, to get up, when Asterin reached Narene and mounted the blue mare, gathering the reins. “Bring our people home, Manon.” Manon knew then. What they were going to do. Her legs failed her, her body failed her, as she tried to get to her feet. As she rasped, “No.” But Asterin and the Thirteen were already in the skies.

OMG PLS TELL ME THEYRE NOT GOING TO BLOW THEMSELVES UP

As the Thirteen, their broken bodies scattered around the tower in a near-circle, made the Yielding as well. Light. They all burned with it. Radiated it. Light that flowed from their souls, their fierce hearts as they gave themselves over to that power. Became incandescent with it.

I’m sobbing

Manon fell to her knees.

Oh no, I’m crying again

Behind her, had she looked, she would have seen Glennis. And Bronwen. Petrah Blueblood. Aedion Ashryver and Lysandra and Ren Allsbrook. Prince Galan and Captain Rolfe and Ansel of Briarcliff, Ilias and the Fae royals beside them.

Aww they’re supporting her and honoring the fallen

Had she looked, she would have seen the small white flowers they bore. Would have wondered how and where they had gotten them in the dead heart of winter. Had she looked, she would have seen the people gathered behind them, so many they streamed all the way to the city gates. Would have seen the humans standing side by side with the Crochans and Ironteeth. All come to honor the Thirteen.

*cue me ugly sobbing*

“Be the bridge, be the light. When iron melts, when flowers spring from fields of blood—let the land be witness, and return home.”