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Dorian sent their power rippling down the blade. Damaris’s hilt glowed. “Tell me—” It is your own.
KOA - STOP IT
Tears slid down Dorian’s face at that unbearable truth. Perhaps his father had unknowingly hidden his name within him, a final kernel of defiance against Erawan. And had named his son for that defiance, a secret marker that the man within still fought. Had never stopped fighting. Dorian. His father’s name.
KOA - this is so sad but also lowkey so nice?
Yrene only smiled, summoning her mother’s lovely face to her heart. Showing it to him. Wishing she knew what Elide’s mother had looked like so she might show him Marion Lochan, too.
KOA - even now Yrene is thinking Is thinking of others. She’s so cute it hurts
her face … Her dark eyes were filmy, her wrinkles deep. Her thinned hair white as snow. “This is a truth you cannot outrun,” she said, her voice a croak. “A sword above our heads.” Her deathbed. That’s what this was.
KOA - this is so sad
Life—life was pain. Pain, and joy. Joy because of the pain. He saw it in Elide’s face. In every line and age mark. In every white hair. A life lived—together. The pain of parting because of how wonderful it had been.
KOA - but who knew Lorcan could love
oh, he has a score to settle with you.” Maeve’s eyes went wide, and she made to turn. But not fast enough. Not fast enough at all as Fenrys vanished from where he knelt, and reappeared—right behind Maeve. Goldryn burned bright as he plunged it through her back. Into the dark heart within.
KOA - nobody deserved to stab her more
“It means,” he said against her skin, “that we are going home. That you are coming home—with me.” And even with the battle freshly ended, even with the dead and wounded around them, Nesryn smiled. Home. Yes, she would go home with him to the southern continent. And to all that waited there.
KOA - bestie about to be an empress
He found him by scent alone. Even in death,
KOA - I’m sobbing
His father’s name. His own name. The weight of it settled into him, not a wholly unpleasant thing.
KOA - his FATHERS NAME
“You will not find them. In this sky, or any other.”
KOA - I annotated this a month after I read it and I literally cannot stop crying
Aelin looked to Evangeline, the girl still beaming. Win me back my kingdom, Evangeline. Her order to the girl, all those months ago. And she didn’t know how Evangeline had done it. How she had changed this old lord before them. Yet there was Darrow, gesturing to the gates, to the castle behind him. Evangeline winked at Aelin, as if in confirmation.
KOA - Evangeline forever the true queen tbh
“I wished to wait to offer you the blood oath until after your son had taken it,” she said, her quiet voice echoing off the stones. “But I offer it to you now, Gavriel. With honor, and gratitude, I offer you the blood oath.”
KOA - nope nope nope
She went still. “Who?” Manon’s throat bobbed. “All.” All of the Thirteen. All those fierce, brilliant witches. Gone.
KOA - Manon deserves everything
“Ask me to stay,” was all he said. Her heart began racing. “Stay,” she whispered.
KOA - cute
“Ask me to come to Perranth with you.” Her voice broke, but she managed to say, “Come to Perranth with me.”
KOA - pleaseeeee
“Ask me to marry you.” Elide began crying, even as she laughed. “Will you marry me, Lorcan Salvaterre?” He swept her up into his arms, raining kisses over her face. As if some final, chained part of him had been freed. “I’ll think about it.”
KOA - Lorcan is such a prankster
“It’s just … I’m Lady of Perranth. If you marry me, you will take my family name.” He blinked. Elide laughed again. “Lord Lorcan Lochan?” It sounded just as ridiculous coming out. Lorcan blinked at her, then howled. She’d never heard such a joyous sound.
KOA - when Lorcan is happy my life is better
“I’ll use it with pride every damned day for the rest of my life,” he said into her hair, and when he set her down, his smile had vanished. Replaced by an infinite tenderness as he brushed back her hair, hooking it over an ear. “I will marry you, Elide Lochan. And proudly call myself Lord Lorcan Lochan, even when the whole kingdom laughs to hear it.” He kissed her, gently and lovingly. “And when we are wed,” he whispered, “I will bind my life to yours. So we will never know a day apart. Never be alone, ever again.”
KOA - imagine giving up mortality for someone. Lorcan is so whipped
“You can.” Manon blinked. And blinked again as Bronwen extended a fist toward Manon and opened it. Inside lay a pale purple flower, small as Manon’s thumbnail. Beautiful and delicate. “A bastion of Crochans just made it here—a bit late, but they heard the call and came. All the way from the Wastes.” Manon stared and stared at that purple flower. “They brought this with them. From the plain before the Witch-City.”
KOA - a true Crochan queen
“So there it is,” Aelin said, nodding toward the dark stain on the balcony stones. “Where Erawan met his end at the hands of a healer.” She frowned. “I hope it will wash off.”
KOA - obsessed with Aelin making jokes
“We could reach out to the kingdom itself,” Fenrys said. “See if some of their scholars or leaders might want to come here. To help us.” He shrugged. “I could do it. Travel there, if you wish.” She knew he meant it—to travel as their emissary. Perhaps to work through all he’d seen and endured. To make peace with the loss of his brother.
KOA - Fenrys my love
“You’re the Heir to the Mycenian people,” she said. “Petty squabbles are now beneath you.”
KOA - need a full book of Aelin and Rolfe being besties
“Thank you for coming when I asked. Thank you on behalf of Terrasen. I am in your debt.” “We were in your debt,” Ansel countered. “I wasn’t,” Rolfe muttered. Aelin flashed him a grin. “We’re going to have fun, you and I.”
KOA - Rolfe being a cocky bitch is forever my fave thing
Two weddings, likely before the summer.
KOA - invite me or else
Manon, at least, had refused finery. She wore her witch leathers—though her crown of stars lay upon her brow, casting its light upon Petrah Blueblood and Bronwen Crochan, seated on her either side.
KOA - 3 best friends
For Aelin’s coronation.
KOA - it’s coronation day!!!!!!
she appeared. Rowan’s knees buckled as everyone rose to their feet.
KOA- so obsessed with her
Rowan stood to the right of the throne, teeth bared in a fierce grin that even his training could not contain.
KOA - King Rowan if you will
Aedion at the throne’s left. Head high and tears running down his face, the Sword of Orynth hanging at his side.
KOA - baby boy needed a good cry and this was just the best way for it to happen tbh
“Yes. In this life, and in all others, I will serve you. And Terrasen.” Aelin smiled at Aedion, at the other side to her fair coin, and sliced open her forearm before extending it to him. “Then drink, Prince. And be welcome.”
KOA - Aedion really deserved this but I’m still annoyed at his temper tantrum from QOS
“I will serve you, too. Until the end of my days.” And Aelin bowed to them then. The near-invisible people who had saved her so many times, and asked for nothing. The Lord of the North, who had survived, as she had, against all odds. Who had never forgotten her. She would serve them, as she would serve any citizen of Terrasen.
KOA - the little folk really saved the day like 100 times
All the women who had fought by her side, or from afar. Who had bled and sacrificed and never given up hope that this day might come.
KOA - I LOVE WOMEN
And when the waltz slammed into its triumphant, final note, they halted—a perfect, sudden stop. Right before the queen threw her arms around Rowan and kissed him. Nesryn was still smiling about it,
KOA - same girl. They are OTP
“But I will be glad,” Dorian went on, “to gain another queen whom I can call friend.” Nesryn blushed. It deepened as Sartaq smirked and said, “Not queen. Empress.” Nesryn cringed, and Sartaq laughed, Dorian with him.
KOA - Sartaq really out here making sure EVERYONE knows Nesryn is next level
“You could just marry each other,” Yrene said, and Dorian whipped his head to her, incredulous. “It’d make it easier for you both, so you don’t need to pretend.”
KOA - need a Dorian and Manon wedding IMMEDIATELY
“We’re a long way from Innish,” Yrene whispered. “But lost no longer,” Aelin whispered back, voice breaking as they embraced. The two women who had held the fate of their world between them. Who had saved it.
KOA - this broke me lmao. These 2 really just deserve the world. An act of kindness really made this entire series possible
Aelin looked at Chaol and Dorian and sobbed. Opened her arms to them, and wept as they held each other. “I love you both,” she whispered. “And no matter what may happen, no matter how far we may be, that will never change.”
KOA - yeAH THE Boys
“Thank you for all you have done for me.” Dorian bowed his head. “Those are words I’d never thought I’d hear from you.” She barked a rasping laugh, and gave him a shove. “You’re a king now. Such insults are beneath you.”
KOA - let the king be petty
Aelin let out a long sigh. “Will you let me cry in bed for the rest of today like a pathetic worm,” she asked at last, “if I promise to get to work on rebuilding tomorrow?”
KOA - if being a queen doesn’t get you a day to cry in bed I never want to be the queen
“I am thinking about how very grateful I am. That we made it. That I found you. And how, even with all that work to be done, I will not mind a moment of it because you are with me.”
KOA - Rowan PLEASE stop I am weak in my knees
“Let’s get you to your chambers, Majesty, so you can commence your royal wallowing.”
KOA - Royal wallowing is a term I can get behind
“To whatever end, Fireheart.”
KOA - crying
Aelin smiled, and eternity opened before them, shining and glorious and lovely. “Tell me tomorrow.”
KOA - literally the best possible way to end this series. I am crying and shaking and I could vomit. I love these 2 so much it hurts. Aelin really is the greatest of all time
Lord Lorcan Lochan, to Aelin’s eternal amusement—had
KOA - baby boy deserves this name and the happiness that comes with
For across every mountain, spread beneath the green canopy of Oakwald, carpeting the entire Plain of Theralis, the kingsflame was blooming.
KOA - AND SHE DESERVES IT
“I’m scared to go home,” she said at last, staring out at the dunes beyond the walls. The predawn light was bright enough for her to see the Master’s brows rise. Why? “Because everything will be different. Everything is already different. I think everything changed when Arobynn punished me, but … Some part of me still thinks that the world will go back to the way it was before that night. Before I went to Skull’s Bay.”
AB - give her a big hug please
Celaena didn’t have time to consider what poison it was before she heard her own goblet clatter to the floor, and the world spun and went black.
AB - Ansel needs a punch to the throat
“HERE! In the sewer!”
AB - eek
She’d never given much thought to how she’d die, but drowning somehow felt fitting.
AB - god this is sad
“Take my body home to Terrasen, Sam,” she whispered. And with a gasping breath, she went under.
AB - this is literally so devastating
