More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“I am from Celdaria,” Simon said, trembling. “I have seen the daughter of Rielle. And, my lord, I will fight for you.”
dots...
You’ll do whatever I say for the chance to be with someone who knows what you’ve lost.”
oh lord
If anyone saw you, I would kill them, or you would, and I would glory in the sight of you. She blinked up at him. Would I? You would, and I would kiss you after,
this is gonna be a tough read
They see a monster. I see a god in the shape of a girl.”
More later, but for now I must tell you that Odo Laroche and I, we’ve begun what you might call a resistance effort. Those who are loyal to Audric. You’ll think it rash, but you aren’t seeing what I’m seeing. We’ve named ourselves Red Crown.
It wasn’t that she enjoyed their pain, exactly. It was that she enjoyed the display of his power,
The fog in which she had lived vanished, and she saw everything clearly at last, as if she had been violently thrust from darkness into stark light.
so like hear me out this is also whats happened to simon (im desperate for any explanation rather than him actually being empire)
With his power, Corien had muddled her mind, then dragged her across the world through Obritsa’s threads. Oblivious, Rielle had let him lead her, and in the moments when her memories had threatened to resurface, her power flaring in protest, he had increased his hold on her and pulled her back into a numb, padded cage. He had coaxed her to sleep and rewarded her with fevered dreams.
“You won’t,” he gasped, blood now dotting his face. “You love me.” “I wish I didn’t,” she said bitterly. “I fascinate you, darling.” “As would your death.”
“You cannot risk losing me, or losing my power?”
ate
The house was empty. Obritsa and Artem—and the three castings—were gone.
oop
And on the final night of that old gilded age, the Blood Queen pulled the oceans from their beds, called down the sun’s fire, uprooted the mountains, and all that Celdaria once was, all that the world once was, collapsed under the weight of her rage.
a Sun Queen puppet to play with as he liked.
They were all Rielle. Every one of them was Rielle.
“And here you are at last,” he said. “The daughter of my great love. Time tried to separate us, Eliana, but we managed to find each other eventually, didn’t we?”
I love you because you are hers. I loathe you because you are his.”
Corien’s smile faded. “How disappointing. You seem to have inherited your father’s lack of humor.”
bye the way he hates on audric is so funny sometimes
No, what you will do is sit there and watch, mute and bound, while Simon uses the power you have so helpfully resurrected to send me back to find your mother.”
Where are you? Are you safe? Rielle, I’m so sorry. I love you, my darling, and I always will. My light and my life, please come back to me.
As she inspected it all, Eliana smiled. What a lovely room the Emperor had given her. How thoughtfully decorated it was, and how thoughtful to have left her so many attendants, should she require help with something.
oh god...
Eliana turned to see Remy race into the kitchen and Simon tumble in just after him. Simon caught him, scooped him up into his arms, and Remy howled with laughter, pounded his fists against Simon’s shoulders. “He cheated, El!” Remy shouted. “He cheated at king’s cards, and I called him on it!” “Ah, but I would never lie to you,” Simon proclaimed solemnly, and then, over Remy’s head, he gave Eliana a sly wink that left her wobbly at her father’s side.
like ill die
Remy stepped back from her, and now his voice turned fearful. “Why aren’t you looking at me?” “Sad, isn’t it?” Corien approached, his face alight with glee. “To see her so changed? I suppose she doesn’t care about you anymore.”
god.
“Or perhaps you don’t care about him,” he added. “Maybe you’re as good a liar as I am.”
simon stop im mourning
He was not under Corien’s control. He was, at last, utterly himself, and as Eliana sat with Remy limp in her arms, the truth of how alone she was in this place, how she had only herself to turn to for strength, settled against her tired bones like silt in dark water.
im gonna vom
It was the voice of the empirium, and it burned its cold, pitiless words into her mind like a brand she could not evade: this power is yours you are mine mine is yours take it take me I take you I rise I rise I RISE
“You are the Lightbringer, and our world is growing dark.”
“What a vision you are,” he mumbled. “If I squint and enjoy a few more drinks, I think I can almost pretend you’re her.”
thats crazy
Will you hurt me to get her back? At last, she knew that voice. “I need to see Simon,” she declared.
Eliana forced the words out. “I let you fuck me.” A tiny smirk played at the corner of Simon’s mouth. “And I thank you for that. I needed it.”
im. simon no.
Three steps from him, Eliana stopped. A distant roar of anger churned in her ears. Her body ached with tension. “You shot him.” Simon’s smirk returned. His eyes glinted, lupine. “I did. I shot him right in the gut.”
WHAATTT
Corien jerked his head at Ioseph’s tower. “Save the man who found you in the streets and fed and protected you until he left home to fight a war I started, only to have his body stolen and used like a puppet.” He turned her roughly, made her stare at Remy’s tower next. “Or save your innocent little brother, who even now doesn’t blame you for all the misery he’s endured on your behalf. Try to save them both, and I’ll tear their skulls to pieces from the inside out before they even hit the ground.”
oh my god
No, little one. Not yet. We have things left to do, you and I. Whoever this person was, sending mind-speak into her thoughts as angels did, it was not Corien.
WHO
Eliana was mystified. Standing in a pool of still sunlight, her unseeing guards staring blankly like statues, she asked again, this time aloud, “Who are you?” I have many names, the voice replied. But you know me as the Prophet.
im SO confused
Corien’s voice came quietly. I’m ashamed of how I spoke to you. I was afraid when I realized you’d left me. I’m sorry. I was cruel, and I lied to you. Rielle, you’ll never be alone. His voice held stifled tears. And I’ll never stop loving you. I’ll never abandon you or flee from you or flinch away in fear. Queen of my heart, I was made for this. I was brought into this world to love you.
masterclass in manipulation
And standing before her was Ludivine, faint but smiling. Golden-haired and pale in a gown of soft rose. Beside her stood a man in a green tunic, his dark curls mussed, his brown skin warm with sunlight. Rielle’s breath caught. “Audric?”
Navi
this girl doesnt know abt simon yet
Eliana, she prayed, hold fast to your iron heart. Stay strong. We are coming.
“Liar,” she said coldly. Her gaze sparked an angry gold. “Rest assured, Audric—you were the one who did this to me. All of this.”
oh boy
“You knew a piece of information that was important for me to know,” he said, “and yet you kept it from me? Astonishing. Unprecedented.”
BYE
Audric closed his eyes, sending Atheria a silent apology. “With the dawn I rise,” he prayed. “With the day I blaze.”
Which meant that—even though Jessamyn had never imagined it possible for anyone to match the Emperor’s strength—something, someone, somehow, was shielding the truth from him.
i fear that its clear who the prophet is and im just too dumb to get it
gaining fluency in the languages of the Old World, the angelic languages, and every modern tongue.
theyre just making him stronger he alr knew so much
“Obviously you can destroy bodies. I think you could destroy him too, if you wanted. Unmake his truest self from the inside out. A mind, a body—they’re the same, aren’t they? At their deepest level, they are of the empirium, just as everything is.”
“He loves me, Tal.” “So do we.” He stood, his shield sparking as his anger rose. “We love you, Rielle, and will not ask of you any bloodshed.” “What if I want bloodshed? Will you still love me then?” He hesitated, and that was enough.
It was easy to turn the fire back toward its shield. Tal let out a choked cry, swiftly silenced. She ensured it was a fast burn. Even monsters were not always without mercy.
oh my god tal
She smiled, exhausted laughter bubbling in her throat. “An eternity trapped behind black eyes in a gray world full of broken magic you can’t touch, eating food you can’t taste and drinking wine that turns to ash on your tongue. Wondering every morning if this will be the day that finally tears you out of the body you stole and leaves you stranded, unable to take another. I don’t envy you. Poor thing.”
she ate him up
And these were the hours when the Prophet came and Eliana practiced escape.
where the FUCK is simon
You’re doing so well, little one,
little one is such a specific endearment
And Eliana lost all sense of pride and self as those jagged spikes of pain split open her skull. She sobbed on the floor, twisting and jerking in Corien’s grip, and mired in that black agony, the only word she could summon was Simon. She screamed it over and over, reaching for the door as if he stood just beyond it. If she screamed loudly enough, he would come for her. If she begged him, he would save her.
