Goldfinch (The Plated Prisoner, #6)

by Raven Kennedy

My name is Auren Turley. And I am stronger than the dark.

I haven’t been able to unstopper.

Typo?

“It would be my fucking honor, Rissa Bell.” A tear threatens to slip from my eye, but I sniff and clear my throat. “My last name is Caddell.” “Your last name is going to be Ferox soon, because that’s mine.”

Gag

half the soldiers don’t believe the fae are invading, and the other half have become consumed with a rumor that our previous Commander Rip was a fae in disguise and that he’s led the army here to take us over.” Well. That’s not fucking good. I shoot the lieutenant a look. “Where did these rumors come from?” “I don’t know, sir.”

Kaila

that would only piss him off, which I actively try to prevent. I’m in a constant state of controlling my own reactions while also attempting to regulate his so that he doesn’t lash out. I’m surprised my feet aren’t scarred from all the times I’ve had to walk on pins and needles around him.

Oof

“Winged creatures will feel a kinship because of what you are. Of what we are. This,” he says, moving his finger to press against the side of my spike, “is a symbol of that. We are Culls. But more than that, we are the dragon-wielders of old.”

Oh

my father’s wrong. I’m not a Cull, and I never want to be. I’m my mother’s son. I’m a Ravinger.

Smoke churns from the Pitching Pines, blowing up in thick streams.

When a woman faces an impossible problem, whether she be mother or queen, she must find a solution. She must find a way.

Until, suddenly, the world seems to tremble. The very ground I’m pinned to darkens. At first, my heart leaps in both relief and fear that Dommik has come with his shadows. But it’s not Dommik. “What…” Pruinn jerks away, boot leaving my hand, just as the fae controlling the wood drops dead. My eyes widen when I see his body is now crawling with lines that snake through his skin, turning him a sickly color. Then the lightning fae drops too, one last crackling spark sputtering out as he falls.

Slade!

He has brought terrible power and terrifying wrath, and yet…he also just saved my people. Saved them, when I could not. So I do something I never would have ever done in the past. Something that I would have been too proud for, too selfish for. Too short-sighted for. I, Queen Malina Colier, fall to the ground and kneel.

Ok I got chills

And then, I call up the dragon and wrench it free.

Ok so you can just control it suddenly?

Then, I step off the bridge and into Annwyn.

!!!

HERE UNTIL THE END OF THE CHAPTER I was screaming in the car

Behind the gathered soldiers, a new group suddenly appears. Swiftly and silently, they start to charge. Though, not at me. The soldiers are caught completely unaware as the group attacks them. With a battle cry, the new group pounces, the element of surprise allowing them to cut the soldiers down before half of them even realize what’s happening. I watch the slaughter, head cocked as they clash. The attackers aren’t in the same attire as the soldiers. Each of them is dressed in civilian clothing, yet they move with practiced uniformity and obvious combat training.

Hey!!!!!

even if we were never paired, it wouldn’t matter. Because I would have made her mine, whether the goddesses deemed it or not.

In her shock, Una stands frozen, back plastered against the wall, shaking all over. “What are you?” she asks. My gaze stabs into her. “Really fucking pissed.”

lol

My eyes snap down to the shackle around my ankle—this thing that somehow dampens my magic. If I’m going to get out of here, I need this gone. And I saw what my ribbons did to Una. They’re strong. I send a group of them down to the cuff, and they slip beneath the polished gray surface. My ribbons wrap around it, again and again, going taut in four different directions. Then, they pull. The cuff snaps open with a crack, releasing a puff of gray dust in its wake. The pieces fall to the floor, spilling out dirt, and I instantly feel its absence.

Yeah right

“I know we are facing an inconceivable mission,” I say, taking in each grim face. “But victories can still be earned even when the odds are stacked against us. The truth is, we aren’t here for ourselves. We’re not even here solely for Fourth. We’re here for Orea. Because this is our home. Our land. And we won’t sit by and let the fae take it.” Their heads nod, backs straightening. “So we will stand our ground until we can no longer stand.”

Then his eyes move to Lu. “Captain, give ’em hell.” “I don’t give anything else,” she says.

swinging my sword at his neck and slicing through his throat

I thought necks were guarded

When I’m on, Judd takes us into the air, and then I see them. Dozens of timberwings. “What…” In the distance, on the other side of the rift where the rest of the fae army was feeding in from Fifth Kingdom, I can now see white ships gliding over the snow. Red Raid ships. “What the hell are the snow pirates doing here?” “Oh that? Called in a favor,” Judd shouts back at me with a grin in his voice. “Thought we could use the help.”

Queen Kaila.

Thank goodness

“Are you going to start listening to me?” “Yes. Sometimes. When it seems like the right thing to do. And if it suits me.”

Lol

“Yellow Bell. I’m not bringing you up on a fucking fortress wall to throw catapults into a fae army.” She leans away with a frown. “And why not?” Fucking hell. This woman. I shake my head in frustration. “You don’t go onto the actual battlegrounds. I’m not arguing with you about this.” “There’s nothing to argue,” she argues. “We stay together. We don’t want to worry about each other, so

This woman is an idiot

Queen Kaila and her brother Manu are here.” My head snaps over to him. “What?” He points at me. “But you can’t kill him. Slade gave them a pardon, remember?” “You see Slade here?” I retort with an angry growl. “It’s their fault Rissa almost died. So I’ll kill them if she fucking wants me to.” I look down at her expectantly. I told her to give me a name, so I wait for her to part those pretty lips and say it so I can fucking end them— She shrugs. “All is forgiven.” I have to do a double take. “Ex-fucking-scuse me?” Rissa gives me a scathing look. “We’re in the middle of a war, Captain. Stop threatening people on my behalf, because we don’t have time for that. The queen is obviously here to help. Even I know we have to be politically sensitive about these things. Correct?” she asks, and Judd nods in confirmation. “There. See?” “No, I don’t fucking see,” I bite out. “I want to kill them for what they did to you.” She rolls her eyes. It makes me hard as a rock because that’s what this infuriating woman does to me. “Well, too bad. You can’t,” she says.

This writing is absolute shit

you can’t mean to simply…walk up to the palace gates?” “That’s precisely what I mean to do.”

Good bc auren is there

Because the next figure that stands upon the stage…is me.

Emonie

“Are you going to tell me who you are?” she says. “You’re not asking the right question,” I reply.

Not this again

“Slade.” Our auras might’ve shattered the sky, but her saying my name shatters me.

“You found me,” she whispers, lip trembling. The relief and heartbreaking joy is so intense I have to shove it aside before I can answer. “I’ll always find you, Goldfinch.” Always. A devastating smile breaks out across her face, watery eyes spilling over and flooding right into me. Then she leaps into my arms and I catch her. I hold her so tightly against me in a way that threatens the Fates if they ever fucking dare to separate us again.

DIfference between slade and midas

She falls against me just as the front of the boat slams into a wall. Dazed, I look up, and see a green orb light hanging over the door of a building that has access to the underground canal.

No way you were paddling too

Before Slade and I leave the house, he stops to grab his old pants, and I see him take something out of the pocket. I arch a brow, but when I see what it is, my heart skips a beat. “A piece of my ribbon?” I ask breathlessly. He nods, coming forward to show me. It’s worn and frayed slightly, the golden color not as bright and glossy as the ones on my back. My eyes fill with tears. “This is the piece…” The piece that Midas had cruelly tied around my wrist once he cut the rest from my back. The piece I saved and looked at, while believing I’d never have them again. “You kept it all this time?” Slade nods and slips the piece back into his pocket. “I keep every part of you you’ve ever given to me,” he murmurs. “Your heart, your soul, your mind, your bond, your body…and your ribbon.” Tears spring to my eyes and I tuck myself against him. All my ribbons curl around to wrap us up, like they want to squeeze him in a hug. “Thank you,” I whisper. “For keeping all the parts of me safe.”

“Sometimes, feelings build up and become our foundation. Shame and guilt aren’t like pages in a book. I couldn’t simply turn it over and move past it. This regret…I’ll carry it for the rest of my life.”

“I bow to whoever I need to so I can keep my head,” Brennur replies. “King, rebel leader, noble, doesn’t matter. Roles and politics change all the time. I’m nearly a hundred and eighty years old. You think I’d still be alive if I’d been something as stupid as loyal? Bah!” He waves his hand, the chain around his ankle clinking with his movements. “Loyalty is a good way to get yourself killed.” “Funny,” Wick grinds out, “considering disloyalty is going to be the thing that actually ends you.”

my dragon drops in supplication to her. She’s the one who rules, and I couldn’t be more fucking proud. The sight affects the Vulmin and the Lydians too. They all stand in gaping awe, watching this golden Turley stand here, as a dragon, the most ancient of powers, bows to her. I climb down its back, leaping off the last few feet, my boots kicking up dust from the decayed soil. I go to her, and the two of us share a look before we turn back toward the city’s arch. Where everyone suddenly drops to their knees, repeating one thing. Lyäri Nōhcra. No longer the golden one gone, but… The golden one who rules.

my head whips up to face the Stone King, and our eyes meet. His gaze widens as I lift my blade—metal. Not an inch of stone on me that he can control. And with my momentum fueled purely by near-death panic and unadulterated rage, I swing my sword. Right through his neck. Metal slices through him, and the moment his head hits the snow, so does every single statue. All at once. Lifeless. Unmoving. Useless rock.

Byeeeeee for judd

Then he wraps his hand around mine where I’m still holding the dagger, and he plunges it into his heart too.

Ok romeo and juliet

And then. It…stops.

Oh wow....twice now

“The bridge is gone—our worlds severed. The fae have actually been defeated.”

Yeah and slade abd auren arent there

When he flings her viciously away, it makes the edge of my net lift. Just an inch. But it’s enough.

Ok

“I knew you were mine the second I laid eyes on you. Because someone told me. Someone who hasn’t spoken to me ever since,” I explain, my confession rattled and grieved. “One word. One single word. Spoken from the lips…of my mother.”

“You were always mine, and I was always meant to love you with every single part of my existence.”

“I love you, Goldfinch. In every life,” I choke out, my tears falling onto her cheek. “I love you…in them…all,” she says back, her voice a struggled whisper. A shaken breath.

Crying in the car

Because that root—the one still caught in my core, it reached. Pointing the way toward its other half. Toward my other half.

Ok

AUREN TURLEY

Dude wtf

just as the circle of grass withers and dies.

“You need to learn to have a gentler touch, Commander,” she says with a choppy giggle.

Don’t make ryatt and empine a couple

He’s walking this way with Elore, and I can’t help but notice how her hand is draped in the crook of his arm and how she’s smiling over at him as he says something. A tinge of color blots his cheeks, making my brows lift in surprise. My stoic guard is blushing. I never thought I’d see the day.

NOT EVERYONE NEEDS TO DATE