The Assassin's Blade (Throne of Glass, #0.1-0.5)

by Sarah J. Maas

“But if the two hundred slaves that I freed are telling the story, then no, I suppose I didn’t deserve it.” None of them were smiling anymore. “Holy gods,” Ansel whispered. True silence fell over their table for a few heartbeats. Celaena resumed eating. She didn’t feel like talking to them after that.

“What more can I say?” he exploded, his whisper rough and harsh. “I’ve already told you everything—I’ve already told you that if I stay here, if I have to live with Arobynn, I’ll snap his damned neck.” “But why? Why can’t you let it go?” He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “Because I love you!” Her mouth fell open. “I love you,” he repeated, shaking her again. “I have for years. And he hurt you and made me watch because he’s always known how I felt, too. But if I asked you to pick, you’d choose Arobynn, and I. Can’t. Take. It.” The only sounds were their breathing, an uneven beat against the rushing of the sewer river. “You’re a damned idiot,” she breathed. “You’re a moron and an ass and a damned idiot.” He looked like she had hit him. But she went on, and grasped both sides of his face, “Because I’d pick you.” And then she kissed him.

The "you'd pick him" had me right in the heart. Thank you Celaena for proving Sam wrong :')

Arobynn studied her. “While I might regret beating you, Celaena, you did ruin a deal that would have been extremely profitable for us.” “Us,” like she was a part of this disgusting mess. “You might be free of me, but you shouldn’t forget who I am. What I’m capable of.”

He is such a good villain.

Arobynn stared back, then shrugged. “I suppose that’s a good thing.” She felt the final blow coming, and she knew she should run, but she stood like an idiot and listened as he said, “Because I spent all the money you gave me when I was at Lysandra’s Bidding last night. My vault feels a little empty because of it.”

Jaw to the floor. Speechless. It shows my kink that I am both disgusted and also find this a turn on somehow. It shows raw power and dominance, even if it is directed in an evil way in terms of society's standards. He is an absolute fiend, and it makes him delicious and horrible at the same time.

Arobynn’s smile grew. “Do come back and visit us some time, Celaena.” She had to bite her lip to keep it from wobbling. “Why did you do it?” Arobynn shrugged again. “Why shouldn’t I enjoy Lysandra after all these years of investing in her career? And why do you care what I do with my own money? From what I’ve heard, you have Sam now. Both of you are free of me.” Of course he’d found out already. And of course he’d try to make this about her—try to make it her fault. Why shower her with gifts only to do this? Why deceive her about Doneval and then torture her with it? Why had he saved her life nine years ago just to treat her this way? He’d spent her money on a person he knew she hated. To belittle her.

I can't, he is such a well written villain it's crazy. He is so manipulative and self serving and cruel and WEIRD. I can't make him out at all and it is intoxicating. So well written!

She closed her eyes, and leaned her head against his. He smelled of her lavender soap—her expensive lavender soap that she’d once warned him to never use again. He probably had no idea what soap she’d even been scolding him about. She’d have to start hiding her beloved toiletries and leave out something inexpensive for him. Sam wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, anyway.

This is the beginning of many comments on money in Sam and Celaena's relationship. But this comment in particular, us seeing inside Celaena's thought process about her soap, gives me the ick for Celaena. "My expensive soap," emphasis on expensive. It's giving spoiled rich kid- but then again, she was that at one point. Celaena is a tiny bit insufferable as a character and one of the things Maas does is to make Celaena aware of her insufferable qualities to an extent, but it doesn't make me like her more. This was just one of those times that I remember how I would never date her myself.

“You had no right to accept his offer,” Sam raged, his face set with such fury that people along the broad city avenue practically jumped out of his way. “No right to do that without consulting me. You didn’t even bargain!”

Again another fight about money, and how such a big part of Sam and Celaena's relationship mirrors a real relationship outside of books. There world is so small and their worries so small in comparison to what is (and will be) happening in the world at large in this series, and so it somehow makes their relationship seem that much more real to me/insignificant in the grand scheme/relatable.

“If we pay that, then we definitely need to find a contract before we leave!” If we pay that. She said, “I am paying that.” “Like hell you are.” “It’s my money, and I can do what I want with it.” “You paid for your debt and mine already—I’m not letting you give him another copper. We can find some way around paying this parting fee.”

This just adds on to my last highlight, really. Celaena has money, Sam doesn't. It is an awkward power struggle, but at least I will give it to Maas she doesn't write Sam as being intimidated that Celaena is more wealthy than him. Instead she writes him as if these two are already married in his mind and that he has a right to be included in financial decisions- "your money is mine and mine is yours" kind of vibe. Still a weird take for me that he might feel that way since their relationship is really not that old, but I guess trauma bonding and all that. High stakes bring out the intensity in a relationship.

Now that she’d ruined the career he’d worked for his whole life, she’d hand over all her money to make sure that he could at least be free. But she couldn’t just explain that she paid for everything because she felt guilty. He’d resent that.

Ouff.

When they moved, maybe they couldn’t leave behind death and killing and all that came with it—not at first, but someday, far in the future, perhaps … She brushed the hair from his eyes. Someday, they would both lay down their swords and daggers and arrows. And by leaving Rifthold, by leaving the Guild, they’d take the first step toward that day, even if they had to keep working as assassins for a few more years at least.

It is wild to read this knowing that the beginning of this series is AFTER Sam has already been killed and Celaena is on her way to becoming Aelin again/heading towards a life COMPLETELY different from what this younger Celaena wanted. These last two short stories by Mass really highlight the more youthful mind of Celaena which I find brings more emphasis to how she's grown mentally by the fourth book in the series. Her innocence in this paragraph is incredibly highlighted since we (as an audience) know what comes next "little does she know..."

“Is this because of the money? Because I’m paying for things?”

There has been so many comments on finances and money in The Assassin and the Empire. It such a mundane and typical fight between couples that I cringe inside to watch them argue.

Sighing, Celaena unlocked the door and walked into the apartment. Arobynn Hamel was sitting on the couch. “Hello, darling,” he said, and smiled.

EATING it up. Despite the odds I have a crush on Arobynn.

His eyes—those silver eyes that would probably haunt her for the rest of her life—were bright. “No matter what I have done, I really do love you, Celaena.” The word hit her like a stone to the head. He’d never said that word to her before. Ever. A long silence fell between them. Arobynn’s neck shifted as he swallowed. “I do the things that I do because I’m afraid … and because I don’t know how to express what I feel.” He said it so quietly that she barely heard it. “I did all of those things because I was angry with you for picking Sam.” Was it the King of the Assassins who spoke, or the father, or the lover who had never manifested himself ? Arobynn’s carefully cultivated mask fell, and the wound she’d given him flickered in those magnificent eyes. “Stay with me,” he whispered. “Stay in Rifthold.” She swallowed, and found it particularly hard to do so. “I’m going.” “No,” he said softly. “Don’t go.” No. That was what she’d said to him that night he’d beaten her, in the moment before he’d struck her, when she thought he was going to hurt Sam instead. And then he’d beaten her so badly she’d been knocked unconscious. Then he’d beaten Sam, too. Don’t. That was what Ansel had said to her in the desert, when Celaena had pressed the sword into the back of her neck, when the agony of Ansel’s betrayal had been almost enough to make Celaena kill the girl she’d called a friend. But that betrayal still paled in comparison to what Arobynn had done to her when he’d tricked her into kill...

“I get scared, too,” he murmured onto her skin. “You want to hear something ridiculous? Whenever I’m scared out of my wits, I tell myself: My name is Sam Cortland … and I will not be afraid. I’ve been doing it for years.”

That's where she got it from!

The body still smelled faintly like Sam. And like the cheap soap she’d made him use, because she was so selfish that she couldn’t let him have her lavender soap.

Saving grace to her character

“Endovier, then,” Farran mused, his dark eyes still upon the wagon. “A surprising twist of events. I thought you had planned a grand rescue from the butchering block.” The King of the Assassins said nothing.