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“Wait.” Aurelia’s voice cracked through the room like shattering glass. “Who is the father?” “The High Necromancer obv—” one of the Undying said but then paused, staring at Helena and seeming to reconsider.
“I knew you were having your fun with her, Ferron.” Aurelia’s cheeks flushed scarlet.
“The parentage was determined on the basis of resonance. The High Necromancer deemed your husband the most suitable,” Stroud said in a conciliatory voice. “I assure you, Mrs. Ferron, your husband’s cooperation was in no way a reflection upon you—” Several people laughed.
Buuuurn, just made things worse
“The High Necromancer was specific that this was to be a diplomatic meeting, and you were not to threaten them into compliance.”
But you ruined it by making it into a spectacle!!
Now I have an unpleasant domestic situation to resolve, thanks to you.
Shuck her in a dungeon or something
It was Ivy and Sofia Purnell.
Frigging Ivy lives?!?!
“As Stroud said, it was at the High Necromancer’s personal command. I assure you, nothing about the process was pleasurable for anyone involved.”
It really wasn't
to do your duty to your family. I have it on good authority that you were once a regular at certain city establishments during the war. So clearly you do not lack experience or capacity, leaving me to assume you lack motivation.”
Dang Atreus
Atreus looked sharply at his son. “For a captive, she doesn’t seem very afraid of you.”
“Well, that’s all thanks to Aurelia here. After she assaulted my prisoner in a fit of rage, I ended up in the heroic role of saviour.”
“This is my house,” Atreus said, “and now that your failed tasks are mine to complete, you do not command me. Perhaps, when I have finished, I will ask our great leader to order you to produce an heir,
Trying to parade him like a praised Stallion
“She’s convinced that the necrothrall with her is alive.”
This is so heartbreaking
“But…I want to save you back.” “I know.” He said it gently. “And if anyone could, it would be you. But I would like to say goodbye to you before you’re gone, and you are losing yourself in this.”
So little time indeed
Making love. It was what they’d had.
When she’d hated him, she’d been less self-destructive.
“You were hard to get to.” Helena didn’t move. “What are you doing here?” “I’m here to rescue you.”
Dont go with her
“I don’t want to be your friend,” Helena said coldly. “Your sister is dead. You betrayed us all for a corpse.” “I know!” Ivy’s
DO YOU REALLY KNOW???
Helena felt no sympathy. “You cost us everything. Even if we were always going to lose, there were people who could have run, they could have fled if they’d had time. But you made sure they didn’t.”
ivy deserves to be turned into an iron pretzel by kaine
“You don’t remember me, do you? I thought eventually you might.” Kaine studied her. “I can’t say I do.” “I was different when we first met. Smaller. Screaming.” Kaine shook his head, as if that could have been countless people. “I used to wear two braids. With bows.” Ivy gestured along her shoulders with both hands. “After the Undying killed my parents, they used them to drag me across the floor and put them in your hands. You were younger then, too.”
Shiiiiiit
Kaine’s expression grew contemptuous. “Another reason to regret my actions that day.”
“You’re the killer.” He smiled. “Yes, and you, in particular, I’ve been looking forward to.” Ivy turned towards Helena. “And you knew?” She looked between them. “Is this all pretend?” “In a way,” Helena said.
“She’ll say anything to get out of this room alive, and then she’ll betray you, just like she betrayed everyone else.”
I agree with Kaine
“What do you need?” Ivy asked. Her eyes were sharp and curious, that bright look that Helena remembered well. Helena looked at her. “Kaine’s phylactery. It’s part of the outer bone of Morrough’s right arm.”
You cannot seriously be trusting her!
He left and returned with two knives, one the obsidian and the other a part of her old set he’d recovered from the bombing, and a suicide pill. If Ivy betrayed them, and he couldn’t reach her in time, she’d have a chance of a quick escape for herself and the baby.
Jesus
“If you use your resonance, you’ll be able to feel her now. If you want.” His hand twitched and he hesitated. “We can do it together,” she said. “You should meet her.”
😭😭💔💔
Come. There’s a reunion that’s rather overdue.” It dawned on her then where they were going. “Amaris…”
“She very much remembers you. Howled for half the day when you arrived.”
Baby G ;-;
“There’s only one surviving chimaera from the war, and everyone knows who it belongs to. If she’s sighted, that will be enough to give an ambitious Aspirant a direction to hunt you down. You have to leave her.” He rested his head against Amaris, and her wings fluttered. She turned her neck to nip at him. “We’ll go out together, won’t we, old girl? Bennet’s last two monsters.”
*UGLY CRY*
“What sin did your mother ever commit to deserve such a son?” Kaine leaned forward, a razor-thin smile spreading across his face, pure contempt in his eyes. “I believe it was when she married you.”
Atreus turned sharply. There was a wet snick and a gasping burble as Aurelia stopped speaking. She reached up towards her neck as a line of blood gushed from a slit across her throat. She blinked once, mouth opening, but no sound came out, only a blood-filled gasp, and then her head toppled backwards, slit throat opening, body following, and she collapsed onto the white gravel. Her pink dress turned redder and redder.
YES
“Do not ever compare yourself to my wife,”
Ferron men are quite attached to their ladies
I respect that
“You clearly had no intention of ever putting an heir inside her.” Atreus leaned down, pulling Aurelia’s body up off the ground by an arm. “I’ll deal with this, but once this matter is resolved, you will give me the name of a woman you will cooperate in marrying and producing a guild heir with. Otherwise, once I’ve found the last member of the Eternal Flame and gifted them to the High Necromancer, I will request that he order your cooperation in producing an heir, and I will choose the bride.”
“You planned that.” He froze for an instant. “What makes you say that?” His voice was light. “Because she’s a loose end. If you’ll let Amaris die, you won’t let Aurelia live.” His expression hardened. “What did you expect? She tried to gouge out your eyes.”
He sounds giddy
“We received word that while the Eastern envoy was passing through Novis, the train was attacked. Everyone on board was killed—including Shiseo.”
SHISEO NO
“It’s all right, Kaine. You did everything you could.” I’d rather die in your arms.
😭😭😭
“Come out, come out, little prisoner.” Crowther’s voice came from the other side. “I want to talk to you.”
Helena had assumed that Atreus had come because he was suspicious about Kaine’s injury, but no, this was about his mission. All his interrogations and victims had yielded no results, and so he’d turned his sights to Helena.
“You’re fond of him, aren’t you? You can admit it to me. After all, he takes you for walks and keeps you so comfortable in this room, with protective servants at your beck and call. I do believe he enjoys keeping an eager creature like you around.
“He’s going to kill Kaine…if you don’t find the killer, isn’t he? That punishment—it wasn’t just because of Hevgoss, it was a warning for you, wasn’t it?”
Read him like a book
“But you’re right—there was a spy. I was his handler.” There was a flash of triumph in Atreus’s eyes. He saw victory in his grasp. “But you won’t save Kaine by finding him. The killer you’re searching for is your son.”
Atreus’s thoughts were linear, flattened. They all ran towards Kaine and Kaine alone, because that was all he had left of Enid.
This family has only known suffering
Also he has a weird way to show love to his only son
“Is that what this was for?” Atreus’s furious voice broke in from where he lay contorted on the ground. “All this because you’re trying to save her?” Helena thought Kaine would ignore his father, but he looked at him. “It seems I am cursed to love as you do.”
KAINEEEEEE RAAAAAAAA 😭😭😭
“How did you—?” Helena’s voice shook with disbelief as Ivy shoved the bundle through the gate at her. It was wet and smelled like gangrene and formaldehyde. The fabric fell aside, revealing a rotted arm, ripped off at the elbow,
SHE FINALLY DOES SOMETHING RIGHT
“Do you think she’d forgive me now, if she knew?” Helena didn’t know what to say. “She loved you.”
Ivy...
“Kaine,” she said, her voice hoarse from smoke. “You can come with me now. We can escape together.”
YES YES YES YES
“This was what we needed. This buys us a month, I’ll be able to find a way…” “I can’t go with you,” he said, walking towards the house. “My father is right. When you escape, war or not, you’ll be hunted.
NO NO NO NO
If I stay, now that we have this, and he can’t control me anymore, I can make sure that no one he sends makes it out of the city until you’ve safely disappeared.”
YOU COULD STILL DO IT WITH HER
“You need a willing soul for that, and you’re not going to find one, because the only person who’d die for me is you.” She stared at him as if he’d struck her in the throat. “What? You’re not even going to ask me?”
