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There wasn’t anything else to discuss. Within a few days, they’d all be a grand feast for the crows.
Aelin and her army better haul ass to Orynth!!!
The Lord of the North. And at his feet, all around him … The Little Folk. Snow clinging to her lashes, a small sound came out of Aelin as the creature nearest curled its hand, beckoning. As if to say, Follow us.
OMG are the Little Folk here to help!???
“A stupid cow I might be,” she muttered, rotating the book to show Rowan the page she sought, “but not without options.” Rowan’s eyes danced. You’re including me in this particular scheme, Princess? Aelin smirked. I wouldn’t want you to feel left out. He angled his head. “We need to hurry, then.” Listening to the ruckus of the readying army beyond their tent, Aelin nodded. And began.
What’s Aelin planning??? A plan to defeat the army? Or Erawan and Maeve?
He extended the sword. “You will forgive a proud old man who sought to do so as well.”
About time Darrow gave Aedion his sword back!
Darrow repeated, and glanced down to Evangeline before he looked to Lysandra. “Someone very wise recently told me that Terrasen is not merely a place, but an ideal. A home for all those who wander, for those who need somewhere to welcome them with open arms.” He inclined his head to Lysandra. “I formally recognize Caraverre and its lands, and you as its lady.”
About time! Darrow finally grew a brain and decide to do the right thing!!
“Evangeline is my heir,” Lysandra said thickly, resting a warm hand on her shoulder. Darrow smiled slightly. “I know that, too. But I should like to say one more thing, on this perhaps final night of ours.” He inclined his head to Evangeline. “I never fathered any offspring, nor did I adopt any. It would be an honor to name such a wise, brave young lady as my heir.” Absolute silence. Evangeline blinked—and blinked again. Darrow went on in the stunned quiet, “I should like to face my enemies knowing that the heart of my lands, of this kingdom, will beat on in the chest of Evangeline. That no
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And now I’m crying again 😢
So Aedion leaned in, and kissed Lysandra, kissed the woman who should have been his wife, his mate, one last time. “I love you.” Sorrow filled her beautiful face. “And I you.” She gestured to the western gate, to the soldiers waiting for its final cleaving. “Until the end?” Aedion hefted his shield, flipping the Sword of Orynth in his hand, freeing the stiffness that had seized his fingers. “I will find you again,” he promised her. “In whatever life comes after this.” Lysandra nodded. “In every lifetime.”
NO! NO GOODBYES! YOU WILL ALL LIVE!! 😭
A horn cleaved through the air, through the battle, through the world. Aedion went still.
Does this mean Aelin’s army finally arrived???
And before them all, sword raised to the sky as that horn blew one last time, the ruby in the blade’s pommel smoldering like a small sun … Before them all, riding on the Lord of the North, was Aelin.
YESSSSSSSSSSSS 👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼 (and yes I just fist bumped in real life too don’t judge me)
The Lord of the North reared up, jutting Goldryn higher into the sky, and Aelin unleashed a flash of fire through the ruby—the signal the army behind her had awaited. For Terrasen. All of it, for Terrasen. The Lord of the North landed, the immortal flame within his antlers shining bright as he began the charge. The army around and behind her flowed down the hillside, gaining with each step, barreling toward Morath’s back ranks. Barreling toward Orynth. Toward home.
THE FINAL (?) BATTLE BEGINS!!!
At Borte’s side, her betrothed guarded their flank, and Falkan Ennar, in ruk form, guarded her other.
OMG I forgot I still need my Falkan and Lysandra meeting!!
The odds were against them, even with the planning they’d done. Yet if they could liberate the city, regroup and restock, before Erawan and Maeve arrived, they might stand a chance.
Ok so *not* the final battle like I thought lol…
Once, they had been little more than slaves to a queen who had unleashed them across the world. Together, they had taken on armies and decimated cities. He had not cared then whether he walked off those distant battlefields. Had not cared whether those kingdoms fell or survived. He had been given his orders, and had executed them. But here, today … Aelin had given them no order, no command other than the very first they’d sworn to obey: to protect Terrasen. So they would. And together, they would do so, cadre once more. They would fight for this kingdom—their new court. Their new home. He
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This court truly has become a family 🥺
Aedion’s drained legs shook, his arms strained, but he held his ground. For whatever few breaths he had left. Aelin had come. It was enough.
I love how the phrase “it was enough” or the word “enough” has been so meaning in this book (sorry my English major is showing!)
He had never seen battle. Knew he never wished to again. The chaos, the noise, the blood, the horses screaming— But he was not afraid. And Chaol, riding near him, breaking soldiers between them, did not hesitate. Only slaughtered onward, teeth gritted.
Another repetitive phrase: “(s)he was not afraid”
Beneath a spiked, massive tail. Belonging to an attacking wyvern with emerald eyes.
Is that Lysandra?!?
Then the flash and shimmer. And a ghost leopard now hurtled toward her, and Aelin toward it. She flung her arms around the leopard as it rose up, massive body almost knocking her to the ground. “Well met, my friend,” was all Aelin could manage to say as she embraced Lysandra.
IT IS LYSANDRA!!! 🥹
While Aelin threw herself at the rungs lining the catapult’s wheeled base, and began pushing. Turning it. Away from Orynth, from the castle. Precisely as Aelin had told him Sam Cortland had done in Skull’s Bay, the catapult’s mechanisms allowed her to rotate its base. Rowan wondered if the young assassin was smiling now—smiling to see her heaving the catapult into position. All the way to the siege tower at its left.
The way this book makes little callbacks to past books and plot lines is just amazing!!!
Wide-eyed, the three Fae warriors blinked. “That’s where Aelin is,” was all Fenrys said.
STILL A BADASS 👏🏻😂
A wyvern came crashing toward the gate, flipping across the ground as it rolled toward them. Aedion braced for the impact, for that huge body to shatter through the last of the gate. Yet the felled beast halted, squashing soldiers beneath its bulk, right at the archway. Blocking the way. A barricade before the western gate. Intentionally so, Aedion realized as a golden-haired warrior leaped from the wyvern’s saddle, the dead Ironteeth witch still dangling there, throat gushing blue blood down the leathery sides. The warrior ran toward them, a sword in one hand, the other drawing a dagger. Ran
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DADDY GAVRIEL TO THE RESCUE
“Then we shall shut them,” Gavriel said, and smiled grimly. “Together.” The word was more of a question, subtle and sorrowful. Together. As father and son. As the two warriors they were. Gavriel—his father. He had come. And looking at those tawny eyes, Aedion knew it was not for Aelin, or for Terrasen, that his father had done it. “Together,” Aedion rasped.
DADDY GAVRIEL DID IT FOR YOU AEDION
But when his father did not join his side, Aedion turned. Gavriel had gone directly to the gate. To the golden line of his shield, now pushing back, back, back. Shoving that wall of enemy soldiers with it, buckling with every heartbeat. Down the passage. Through the archway. No. Gavriel smiled at him. “Close the gate, Aedion,” was all his father said. And then Gavriel stepped beyond the gates. That golden shield spreading thin. No.
OMG no is Gabriel going to sacrifice himself to save Aedion and the Bane???
It was the golden hair he spotted first. Before the mound of Valg he’d piled high. The gate he’d shut for them. The city he’d secured. A terrible, rushing sort of stillness took over Aedion’s body. He stopped hearing the battle. Stopped seeing the fighting around him, above him. Stopped seeing everything but the fallen warrior, who gazed toward the darkening sky with sightless eyes.
NO GAVRIEL DID NOT JUST DIE ON ME?!?? ON *AEDION*?!?
His tattooed throat ripped out. His sword still gripped in his hand. Gavriel. His father.
Nooooooooooooooo 😭😭😭😭😭😭
Keep going. They had to keep going. Gavriel would wish him to. Had given his life for it. Yet Rowan lowered his head. “I hope you found peace, my brother. And in the Afterworld, I hope you find her again.” Rowan stooped, grunting at the pain in his thigh, and hauled Gavriel over his good shoulder. And then he climbed.
OMG he’s going to carry his fallen brother to safety 😭
Yet the songs would mention this—that the Lion fell before the western gate of Orynth, defending the city and his son. If they survived today, if they somehow lived, the bards would sing of it.
Rowan closed Gavriel’s unseeing eyes. “I will see you in the Afterworld.”
My heart! 😭
Lysandra turned to the old man. “Aedion and Rowan sent up the order, Darrow. Any who can are to evacuate immediately.”
Well shit… things are about to go down… is this the final battle now?
Maeve and Erawan had come. To personally oversee Orynth’s fall.
Of course they did… 🫣
Her name was Aelin Ashryver Whitethorn Galathynius. And she would not be afraid.
DAMN! 👏🏻 RIGHT! 👏🏻
Maeve and Erawan halted. So did the army poised behind them, a final blow of the hammer, ready to land upon Orynth.
Ok I guess THIS is now the final battle? LET THE FINAL BATTLE BEGIN!!
The magic in her veins was little more than a sputtering ember. But they did not know that.
Oh shit is she going to try and trick them?!??
She would not have long. Not long at all until they realized that the power that made him hesitate was no more. But she had not remained outside the southern gate to defeat them. Only to buy time. For those in the city she loved so greatly to get away. To run, and live to fight tomorrow. She had made it home. It was enough.
1) what’s she gonna do???
2) She’s trying to save as many people as possible 🥺
3) NO ITS NOT ENOUGH AELIN!! YOU HAVE TO LIVE GODDAMNIT! YOU *DESERVE* TO LIVE
4) I love how even in Aelin’s “last stand” SJM calls back to this mantra that Aelin and other characters have been using to motivate themselves or justify their actions
But that was why she remained here. To give them that slim shred of hope. That will to keep fighting. At the end of this, if that was all she was able to do against Erawan and Maeve, she could go to the Afterworld with her chin held high. She would not be ashamed to see those she had loved with her heart of wildfire.
Even as her knees quaked, she winked at him. “Pretty as this form is, Erawan, I think I miss Perrington. Just a little bit.”
Sassy to the very end… I love it!
“Last I heard, you were hell-bent on sending him home. And had gathered a little army of healers in Doranelle so you might destroy him the moment you got the chance.” Erawan blinked slowly. Aelin smiled. “What will you do with all those healers now, Maeve? Have you two discussed that?” Darkness swirled around Maeve’s fingers. “I have endured enough of this prattling.” “I have not,” Erawan said, his golden eyes blazing.
Oh shit is she going to try and turn them against one another???? 🫢
But Aelin could not defeat them. There was only one person who could. Elide’s eyes landed on Yrene, the healer’s face ashen as she watched Aelin. The queen would never ask. Never ask that of them, of Yrene. But she might leave a path open. Should they, should Yrene, wish to take it. Noticing her stare, Yrene tore her attention away from the battle. “What?” Elide looked to Lysandra. Then to the city walls, to the flash of ice and flame along them. She saw what they had to do.
Of course these smart ladies figured it out! I however am clearly not that smart bc I still have no idea what they plan to do 🤣
And before Aelin could muster an ember to strike, a dark, sinewy form swept from the blackness behind Erawan and snatched him up. An ilken. Aelin didn’t waste her power trying to down them, not with the ilken’s defenses against magic. Not with Maeve tracking Erawan as he was carried into the skies. Over the city. Against two Valg rulers, she should have already been dead. Against the female before her, Aelin knew it was still just a matter of time. But if Yrene, if her friends, could take down Erawan …
Ohh she’s separating them and having Yrene kill Erawan while she takes on Maeve
“Just us, then,” Maeve said, lips curving into that spider’s smile. The smile of the horrendous creatures that launched themselves at Orynth. Aelin lifted Goldryn again. “That’s precisely how I wanted it,” she said. Truth. “But I know your secret, Heir of Fire,” Maeve crooned, and struck again.
Eh even if you do know Aelin’s powers aren’t as strong anymore, I have a feeling you’re about to reach the end of the line Maeve…
Maeve glanced to the blazing sword. “Clever of you, to imbue the sword with your own gifts. No doubt done before you yielded everything to the Wyrdgate.” “A precaution, should I not return,” Aelin panted. “A weapon to kill Valg.”
Oooooo that was smart!!!
Spirit that could not be broken. You do not yield. She would endure it again, if asked. She would do it. Every brutal hour and bit of agony. And it would hurt, and she would scream, but she’d face it. Survive against it. Arobynn had not broken her. Neither had Endovier. She would not allow this waste of existence to do so now.
Their magic flared, illumining the darkness like lightning behind a cloud. Yet it was not enough to free themselves from Maeve’s grip. Ice and wind blasted against it, again and again. Brutal, calculated strikes. Maeve’s power swelled. The ice and wind stopped. The other magic within the darkness stopped. Like it had been swallowed. And then they began screaming. Rowan began screaming.
What is she doing to them?!? Can someone just run up behind Maeve and stab her or something?
“Maeve thinks I left to kill you, destroy you. Your little fire-queen thought so, too. She could not conceive that I wanted to find you. Before Maeve. Before any harm could come to you. And now that I have … What fun you and I shall have, Yrene Towers.”
This dumbass wants to rebuild the wyrdkeys???
Another step closer. But no more. Erawan went still. Tried and failed to move. Looked at the stones of the balcony then. At the bloody mark he’d stridden across, too focused on his prey to notice.
*gasp* did they put wyrd marks on the ground to trap him?!?
A Wyrdmark. To hold. To trap. The young healer smiled at him, and the white light around her hands winked out as her eyes shifted from gold to sapphire. “I’m not Yrene.”
I WAS RIGHT!!!! But wait… who’s in the tower with Erawan then? Lysandra?
Erawan whipped his head to the skies as Lysandra, in ruk form, came sweeping around the tower from where she’d been hiding on its other side, Yrene clutched in her talons.
Ok not Lysandra… WAIT IS THE SAPPHIRE EYES DORIAN?!? (I should really be remembering these details but there’s too many characters to keep track of lol 😂)
Dorian shifted back into his own body, healing light pouring off him, too, as he encircled his power around the Wyrdmark that held Erawan.
Ok my second guess was right then!
The world slowed and warped. Yet Yrene was not afraid.
Damn right she’s not! 👏🏻
And when her magic began to slow, Yrene held out a hand. She didn’t feel the sting of her palm cutting open. Barely felt the pressure of the callused hand that linked with hers. But when Dorian Havilliard’s raw magic barreled into her, Yrene gasped. Gasped and turned into starlight, into warmth and strength and joy.
OMG he’s sharing his power with her to defeat Erawan!!!
And yet Dorian found himself saying, “His name.” Yrene, focused upon the task before her, didn’t so much as glance his way. But Erawan, through his screaming, met Dorian’s stare. The hatred in the demon king’s eyes was enough to devour the world. But Dorian said, “My father’s name.” His voice did not waver. “You took it.” He hadn’t realized that he wanted it. Needed it, so badly.
He wants to remember his dad’s name 🥺
