The Throne of Honor and Blood Part 2

Join us as we dive into the latest installment of The Mortal Fates Series by J Bree, The Throne of Honor and Blood. In this episode we discuss the story, compare reactions, and talk fan theories of part  (chapters 21-40). Spoilers abound so proceed with caution. 

Transcript

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Welcome to romance racks. We're three book besties, explore the world of romance novels, and encourage you to expand your TBR. Join us as we dive into the hottest releases and hidden gems of the genre. This is part two. Of a deep dive into the throne of honor and blood by J Bree. If you haven't listened to the first one, go ahead and go over and listen to that. If you've read the book and you weren't interested, and you just wanted to hear our theories and thoughts and synopsis of the second half, then welcome.

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This episode is full of spoilers. We are breaking down each part of the book. We're talking about our reactions to what happened to the character development, to everything going on in the world. And we are discussing our own personal theories on what happened. So if you're not familiar with the book and you plan on reading it in the future. I'd go ahead and save this one for later.

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And buckle up for some bookish banter.

1:03

Okay, part two. They just got to the castle, right? There's a lot of taunting and posturing while escorting the three of them into the castle. So they're escorting Rooke, Sauron, and Prince Gage. There is a you will not touch him again moment, which is amazing. Chef's kiss. Mm hmm. In the throne room, once they finally get to the throne room, The regent is waiting in front of butchered Lower Fae. He accuses Soren of treason, of course. And Sari speaks up for her father, and how disappointed she is. The emissary from the Seelie court is the ancient, shows up and vouches for Rooke in the most minimal way possible. But he does warn that hurting Rooke will result in a war with the Northern Lands. The regent twists that to accuse Soren of treating her so poorly and arrests him to keep her safe. Blood witches enter the scene, while escorting Rooke to her rooms, yeah, their leader reveals that he killed her coven. What a dumbass. The worst thing he could have done with his life. Soren and Gage wake up in the dungeon. They bond and become bros. Gage sees his mate, Malia, who is Sari's sister. There's a lot of taunting and gossip down in the dungeons. Rooke sends a message to Baelor about Baelor, which is the lead technically ex blood witch. Right. Because he's been cast out of his coven to someone. In the Northern lands. And then she just goes to dinner with Sari and her friends where she meets Soren's beautiful ex, but she's a bitch. So who cares? And has to deal with petty shit at this dinner. She does learn that Sari is betrothed to the Sealy high commander. Who is he? All caps. That night, Soren and Rooke bond through their mind connection. And it's adorable. There's a whole chapter of them just talking mind to mind. Rooke goes to tea. She learns the regent wants to become an undying ancient. Sari sneaks her away after the tea to give her Soren's mom's ring and a warning to get out and offer to help. Rooke places a protection on her and her mom. And to give to her sisters and tells her that she will be safe in the Seelie Courts with this protection. And that she also has a way out and not to worry about her. Guards are waiting for Rooke at her doors when they arrive. And then Soren and Gage are escorted out of the dungeon suddenly. And out of the castle altogether, where Prince Gideon and the Goblin Army wait for them, Soren gives Rooke the best hug ever upon reuniting with her. He also chokes out his cousin. In the same breath. Yeah. Yeah. That night they camp in the Brindlewood Forest on their way back to Rhaegar. They chat with the goblin princes around the fire about history and warnings about blood witches. Then they sneak, then Soren and Rooke sneak off to the hot springs for some flirting, insecurities, admissions, and foreplay. They are interrupted by the forest, alerting of a betrayer close by. And on their way out of the forest, they run into Cersen, the Elm's Word witch, and it's a beautiful reunion. And that is how the time they spent in the castle and how they got out. Yeah, right. And so I feel like we do need to spend some time in the castle. Yes, that's a big. Yep. Yes, because a lot happens. Let's focus on the castle. We learn a lot in the castle, right? So when Soren and Gage are sent to the dungeons and, They're down there. They realize that they are not by themselves, right? So it seems like what the regent has done is used the blood which is to help him round up anyone Who was against his reign anyone who spoke ill of him or spoke in favor of soren? Was rounded up and tossed into dungeons. So when they get down there or at least they Or killed or killed. Right. There's so many dead bodies hanging everywhere and laying in the throne room. Right. And also even that, even the way the blood witches were used was a trigger for Soren, because if you remember when Soren sees them, it immediately reminds him of the way his household and his parents were killed. So we already know that blood witches were involved there. They have a very specific style of killing where they just decimate bodies. Like it's, it's very specific. We also get first referenced this when they get to the capitol And Rooke sees it as a patch on one soldier and asks Soren about it. So we see it there. We see it again when the blood witches come in. And the way, the way the bodies are laid out are exactly how his parents were laid out with that symbol. Very taunting. Which just proves that he was there and a part of it. So what a dumbass, leaving your evidence right there in front of thousands of people. But also, doesn't this go back to book one? He was looking for these witch marks too on some of He was looking at, and he was looking for it on, on Rooke too, I think. He's seen it on some witches before. Rooke tells him this is an old witch's mark that should not be known. This was knowledge that was supposed to be forgotten. Yes. Which then makes me think, does this have something to do with the state of the castle and the undead? Right. Yes. And the type of magic that Carl is currently doing. Maybe they're all unknowingly wearing part of the spell. Right. Because, does she say it's a rune? Nope. Did she say that or no, she says it's a witch's symbol, But either way, yeah, we know that's right. Yeah We know markings and stuff can hold magic. So if that's the case with this yeah, that could totally be a part of some kind of evil nefarious magic that they're all just boasting and It's a wordmark. Completely comfortable with. Yeah, right. Stop. It is a wordmark. Gonna take it straight to Prithian. This should've been forgotten. I hate that. But yeah, so we see all of that happening in the castle. The Blood Witches are running rampant, Aurelie's daddy's down in the prison who else? There are just people down there with him. Airelie's dad. Airelie, yeah. Not Aurelie. Also, people are just like walking and dancing around and over these dead bodies. It says like their blood is like ruining the hems of their dresses and they're just acting like nothing. Yeah! Yeah, Sari is literally sitting in a beautiful gown as she likes to do, and the bottom of it is drenched in like blood and, I mean, later we know that Sari probably absolutely hates that, but that's just a norm. This is just how this castle has been operating. This is our first sneak peek behind the lens of what's going on there. And it is actually terrifying what the region is doing or allowing to be done. Yeah, and this begs the question, how long have the Blood Witches been out and present in the castle? Because, and I highlighted it through my second flip through, We've endured this castle full of high fake hunts for too long to slip now. They have been there a long time. Which brings back my theory, my original theory, that Aura knew about the Blood Witches and didn't say anything. Here's the thought. Which supports Dev's theory that Aura is a spy. Yes. But here's the thought. But it also supports a myth. Yeah, if they're all under a spell, she maybe can't talk about it or doesn't remember when you leave the spell. Yes. Oh, that too. That's a nice way to think of it. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yes. Yes. We could go anyway with that. But then also what if she's the mom or is actually Thea's mom, right? And she cannot say anything because the regent found out and it's I will kill your daughter if you start spilling secrets. What if he's using like her secrecy using a secret Yeah, you get me because aura's vote is pretty powerful towards like she counts towards soren Her seat on the council of whatever's so i'm, sorry i'm, just that just makes me think because yes If this is her baby, she's going to keep quiet about it. She's not going to tell anyone. If the regent is like torturing this girl and no one else knows that she's Aura's child, she's going to do whatever she can to protect her. I think she fiercely loves her kids. She just loves them in a terrible way. The way she loves Airelie is horri it's horrible. It's horrific. It's like the kind of love that isn't actually good. But I think Aura does love Airelie. Early in her own twisted way, controlling way. Yeah. So narcissistic mom, right? Exactly, but that doesn't mean the love isn't there some way so I don't know I'm just saying now I'm seeing the light that possibly fail belongs to aura. My biggest thing that never added up to me and I thought it was a plot hole Was that aura should have known that at least some nefarious things were going on. Fact that this The entire court didn't bat an eye and could that easily ignore it? That trauma and all of that. I think it's magic. I think I support that aura I think she's a double agent now. Oh, yeah, I fully think that aura is the spy that we're we're looking for Okay, so we're in the castle. This is when we see sorry. We're still in the prisons This is when we see gauge react to his mate and I know there's a lot of thoughts about gauges mate He has a visceral reaction to seeing malia We talked about it possibly not being her, but after re reading that scene, no, it's her. It has to be. Yeah, exactly, and that's what I was gonna bring up. There's a lot of like theories that his mate is actually Sari, and that they're like playing it cool or whatever, but when he encounters Sari, The reaction is not the same as Malia and if sorry is his mate, I feel like we needed to have seen a different reaction because the reaction he gives sorry is kind of like, I hate you. Yeah, I think we're, I'm going to jump off the bandwagon of thinking that sorry is his mate. I think it's fully Malia. She's part goblin too. So yes, exactly. Yeah. Mm hmm. So yeah, that just tracks for me so yeah, we eventually do get out of the Prison, but while we're there Soren is like doing the alien thing and like diving down into is it alien? Yeah, diving down into his magic, right? She was doing that for three months Soren's been doing that. Mm hmm. Yeah, that's how him and Gage bonded. Because he did a bubble around it, and they were talking about magic, they were talking about Rooke, and how much Gage knows more than Soren does about her time in the Northern Lands. And he's this is not my place to tell you. If you don't know by now, I'm not going to be the one. Right. Which I wish he would have been the one, because we all have questions. Yeah. And there are a lot of chapters at the castle, but it's 36 hours, right? They're not even there two weeks. Yeah. So they're not. Yeah. Mm hmm. I didn't care for her inner monologue about Soren's ex. Absolutely not. We did not need that. That is not the Rooke I know. She is more self assured than that. Yes, okay, great, she's beautiful, but you know there's so much more than that. You know that she's an ugly person. She's sitting there being catty towards, you know, Sorry and everything else. She's wearing the regent's colors. She's you can't Yeah, I wanted that to go. You know it. Yeah There's something so I think what I would have liked better if she if jb was going to write that Rooke is jealous. I think we needed to see maybe some jealousy of airly Of sorry just so we could see okay This is just a looks thing Rooke is self conscious, but that's not the Rooke we saw She was never jealous of those two women And so I think the only reason she is jealous is because this woman was with soren and if that is the case Give me that give me the she has been with my man jealousy. Not i'm less than her jealousy Because she kept saying oh, this is his type. This is his type bitch You know that she he never expected to be with a witch You You're not his type, babe. Let's be clear. You are not this man's type, okay? Not his previous type. She is. Right, his pre He is. Now, yeah, but before that, witches were not on his radar. He was not looking for anybody with silver eyes, babe. No, he was trying to kill you. Yeah, exactly. So, to see, yeah, I, that just wasn't a plot line that I felt was true to Rooke's nature and the character that she was showing us. So I didn't mean that. The way you guys are talking about him makes me think she fits like kiss, marry, fuck all three for certain, or kill, marry, whatever it is. Kiss. Oh yeah, kill, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She is. Well, not so much the kill anymore, but at one point, yeah. He can do that with the different versions of Rooke. So the Rooke, his his his Croy that he knew in his Oh! Kiss. Kiss. Yeah. Yeah. The Rooke that standing there. The one he meets he's a soldier from the northern lands. Kill. Kill. And the one that saved his kingdom. Kill. Immediately. The one that wears the special robes. Yeah, marry the soldier who saved his kingdom. And it goes kiss, kill, marry, like in that order. Yeah, exactly. That's exactly right. Yeah, that, that's his bae. That, you can't tell nobody that's not his boo now. But yeah, we didn't need that plot line, but we did learn a lot with that whole dinner and the tea. Sari, we've come to find out, is a double agent for her father. Her father is stupid as hell. Yeah. I mean, I saw that coming. That was like, it wasn't, yeah. For me, I needed it to be because the level of idiocy that was in this, the vapid, like just, I could not believe that this was her character, especially when she had already given us breadcrumbs to a nature so different than what was being written on page about her. And we saw it in book one, the moment we met her, I was like, there's more to this character because, I'm so excited to learn more about her. I want a novella. Of her, and and her fate, and how she's been able to lead this whole, it's not even a double life, just a false life. Yeah. The only true her is in her mind, and that is, She does not get to outwardly display who she is ever, even with her sisters, because technically there's always under surveillance. So the little pieces of love she can display or whatever, she's never alone. Literally. She was only ever alone for the first time, probably when she was with Rooke and they went through the portal to a the fade doors to different parts of the castle which also, can we talk about how big the castle and just that kingdom is for them to need fade doors inside? That made me sick to my stomach. So many. Yeah, I did not like that. Cause I'm like, yeah, yeah, I don't think so. I don't think it's burned down to the ground. It's going to happen with all that evil dead magic. Yeah. They're going to have to do something with it. I don't think he's going to be able to be there. That's where he lost his entire family. I don't think he'll rule from there. I hope not at least. But yeah. So what else happened? That's all we see. We get the information. The goblins shows on. Yes. Yeah. Prince Gideon. We ride for Gideon. That's Gage's big brother. I love Gideon. Yes, Prince Gideon. He is the heir apparent. He is next in, yes, next in line for the throne once their daddy kicks the bucket or steps down or whatever, however that works. But Gideon is furious at his younger brother. He's so cute, the banter between them. Yeah, he, I mean, well, he doesn't speak in first person on purpose. Did they kill you? Yeah. You're so dead when we get home. Mom. Yeah. Maman or MEMA or, yeah. Maman Mama. I think. Mm-Hmm? And then all his sisters. So they have sisters who are warriors. They mom's a healer, but don't get it. Twist. She'll still kill you. You, she could, yeah. She'll still kill you. Or if you wronged her kids, she will leave you permanently scarred. scarred. Yeah. Don't think you're gonna get the healing that you're looking for if you wrong her, her children or her family. I, so, yeah. And oh, I love that. I just, I wanna, I wanna novel of that family now, right. I do want, I do want to know, I love the goblins. I love that they have managed to cultivate and hold onto their histories and their lore and like everything they are in this time of strife, they have literally chosen a side and that is no one side other than themselves. And they've stuck to it. Like they did not offer aid to anyone. The only thing though, sorry, Christina was the only thing is that I distinctly remember in book one. Talk about the Goblin King saying he would exile people who went to the north or something. Do y'all remember that? But even the people that left spoke of him highly. Right. They did speak of him, but they just said he couldn't come back. Yeah, I mean that's loyalty and I think that's also making sure that no one infiltrates their people. I think that's the same thing. Okay, because that had me on the fence about who he was but then when you meet him you're like wait No, I love this man. You're so sweet. I love you. So yeah, okay Christina my question is why won't he vote for soren's side to make the region step down? Because he didn't know his character. He knows it now, but yeah, so now he But because he hasn't seen the character yet Yeah, well the seer never will on on principle the seer never will but all they needed was him But now it doesn't matter because everything is in ruin and it wouldn't matter if he voted The regent would still stay there and take it by force. So because Because, I think he might have come to Soren earlier, but Soren, remember when Soren meets him, he's a dick. Soren is disrespectful by customs. He doesn't acknowledge their customs. He doesn't acknowledge him with any respect as another leader. And he sees that Rooke is not being treated how she should be treated. So he, while he was ready to give his back, back his vote behind the Ravenswyrd mother and her partner, he's not so sure after that move. And he still doesn't know. And he is putting his, his force behind them now. Yeah. Now that, now that Gage has gotten to know her and what's really going on, and once Gideon and Gage, they talk, and they're like, Remember around that campfire in, that I just read about? Mm hmm. They're like, Oh, this answers so much. Dad will be so relieved to hear this. You're just an idiot. You're really just ignorant. No, he's ignorant. There was no way for him to ever learn these things and the customs and, and, and they are realizing it's no fault of his own. His right. His disrespect is not, it wasn't his choice. It was thrust upon him. Right. It actually works in favor. But if everyone's still so worried about who's side who's on wearing the colors and everything if the regent's never gonna step down Why does he care about keeping the people whose votes are on his side? He doesn't anymore They said that when they were in the castle, that was the breaking point where he doesn't care anymore So the last who's sorry. No, the regent doesn't care anymore about oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah Soren says that when he gets down to the dungeons, he sees everyone and he's like it doesn't And the guards that were taunting him, all these people threatened to jump ship and leave your side and vote for him when threatened with the dungeon. I just hope you know he's but he goes but the regent Yeah, it was right when they get down there and he looks at everybody there And so he's have fun with your followers the regent, but the regent just Said he doesn't need the votes now anyways, because he said to hell with the votes He's just gonna kill you instead yeah, so he's already but now Now everything's kind of out in the open and he's I don't need it. I have power he has Confidence it's like Rooke said he has confidence that he Has everything lined up, but he doesn't even realize all the players in the game. He doesn't know that there are other pieces on the board. He doesn't see the whole thing. He was confident too, that the emissary coming over was going to speak disparagingly about Rooke. He was placing his bets on that to further, is assassination attempts of them, or just like making sure that this, Exactly, and trying to get her to go back to just make sure that Soren did not have enough fuel to take his throne that was his plan. Obviously that didn't happen, so now his second plan is oh well, fuck it, I got magic, and y'all are gonna die tomorrow, so, you know, I think, I think the regent is past the point of caring about the legality of the throne, and he's just gonna take it. Basically. Well, Ansari says that they're gonna wed in name only, and he even says that to Rooke in front of everybody, and then plans to just kill Soren after that, so she can go and kill Karl afterwards for him, so he's basically just trying to use Rooke as a pawn, but he's a Frickin idiot. She's not a pawn. She's the queen on the board. He's a pawn. She can go anywhere she wants. Yeah. Look at that chess reference. Let's get out of the castle though. And let's talk about the hot springs before we move on to the next part, because we need to, let's let, nope. Let's let Christina talk about the hot springs without us interrupting her because we want to hear how sweet it is first. Oh, right. Well, it is sweet. No, it is. You're absolutely right. It is sweet. Yeah, I mean, I was wanting more. I was left wanting more. I'm sure they both felt like they were left wanting more. I was just gonna say that, yeah. We were all wanting. They took a bath. They bathed. They undressed in front of each other. Slowly. Teasing. There was, there was some kisses. I just want to annoy Dev at this point. It was really sweet. They opened up. They were in, they were raw with each other. Ooh, not raw. Emotionally. Yeah, I loved, I did love this scene. I think it was sweet and I think it was necessary for us to push the plot of lovers, right? We need to get into the lover's section of their relationship. Writing wise, J Bree, why did you leave us hanging? This is where it kind of fell apart. The editing where there was, yeah, this is when it starts to fall apart because this is their first kiss. This is magical backdrop. We're in like beautiful scenery. They've gone through so much. They've come out the other end. They're alone. This is when. We should get their lips meet and I want you to describe everything. I need a kaleidoscope of feelings and emotions and things happening. And Jay Breid just kind of says their lips met and then we're in the next scene. They're in the water. Rooke is in the water. They're standing apart from each other. They're standing apart from each other. And it's, I mean, there's a way that you write that, right? Right. We are, it's kind of like closed door or fade to black. With the kiss that's what she did and then they're just picking up later on after that and you're supposed to like Fill that in but we know this is supposed to be a spicy book at least I hope so I mean there was a warning at the beginning saying it would be spicy and their time in there does get a little bit spicy But I think denying that like first meeting of their lips and like their acceptance that they were both Very much so into each other and showing that physically Was just such a disservice See, for me, that was annoying, but it wasn't the thing for me. For me, I don't even mind that they got interrupted and couldn't close the deal. To me, that's normal. We're in the middle of war. Yeah, same. And honestly, edge me. Great. Love that. Yeah, angst. I love it. Yeah, but to me, it was how insecure she was all of a sudden and talking. She brings up his ex. While they're naked in the water. And I understand that some characters, this is a, A revealing moment and they're like laying out the insecurities But to me this doesn't feel like it should be Rookes. It doesn't belong to this character No, it does not belong. It doesn't match with her. I don't know. You're right. It didn't feel it didn't feel Necessary to her storyline or to her characteristics not the woman that we've been getting to know over the last couple of books This maybe should have been the scepter Rooke, you know still young Feeling it out. Totally plausible that you'd be feeling this way. Which time wise, he cut her off at the beginning of the scepter. He was with someone else at the beginning. Yep. And yes. So, oh my gosh, I forgot about that. But yes, he sure did. But yeah, that's not, it's just not what we expected of Rooke at this day and age. And yeah, that, that made me sad. But I am happy that they had at least some kind of a moment. Because like I said, we need to push on into lovers now. I think we're done with enemies at this moment. Let's get into the lovers. And I think, we gradually get there throughout the book. And it ends with her seeing Cerson. I just want to say, I love Cerson. Bubbly from the moment we meet her and positive, she instantly loves Cerson. Soren, which is amazing. Yeah, we learned that she is Pemba's wife. It is Rooke's sister in law. Yeah, so, So there was something I mentioned. Yeah, I know that's gonna be tough for me. But so bringing up Circe, and I'm glad we got to her because there are a couple of things. Circe's coven has direct magic to the first Fae, which is very interesting. She helps, she's the, her coven is the one who helps the first Fae put the magic in the Fae doors. Oh, that's right. Yes. She mentioned and that's why she went and destroyed some of them. So carl couldn't Use them anymore transport great groups of people through the ley lines Right. Her magic is very different to what Rookes is but also within her magic she's able to see other magic or see other things which is how we uncover who titan Yeah, we'll get to that. That's the next. Yeah, right. So Cersen, Cersen's magic, I think is going to be pivotal moving forward just because it's a different branch of magic. And, we're definitely learning more about the different covens and what they are. And I think they're like, characteristics are very clear. Like the Ravenswood, which is are very different from the Blood witches you know, we can kind of see that. We're gonna get into a lot of these covens in the next Section. That's mostly what they talk about honestly in the next right? There's a one section when they go into the brindlewood forest soren and Rooke and Do you guys remember when she says the forest is like happy to greet her, but she's not the witch They think she is Yeah, that's, that's Hanede. Hanede Sfars. They recognize her as their own. And she says that at the end of the book. Yeah. When she talks at the dinner that we'll get to, she talks about that. But that's the forest recognized her as one of their own but She felt really guilty about it. You can tell right I think that is some I don't know why but for some reason I think i'm paying attention to that part. I don't know what dots i'm trying to connect there, but the fact that Her having someone else's blood that she can have someone else's blood inside her. Number one, like I need more talk about that, but her having someone else's blood in her and then walking into another forest and being rejoiced or welcome it. Well, I think they all recognize her to some extent. They all do as the favorite child. I was just thinking about that in correlation to how the forest were deceived, right? The forest were all deceived to some extent. So I'm just like, what if there was some kind of like blood magic at play or something that Carl used or whatever to get these nefarious beings or people into the forest? Because the forests are very discerning. How were they tricked so badly? When they can literally, when you cannot even gain, yeah, you cannot gain entry because they sense who you are. So the fact that these witches with bad hearts were able to walk into them and do all these things. I think that magic that is in Rooke, I feel like that might explain some things later on or like how she's able to do that, walk into someone else's forest. So that's just something I like highlighted to keep my eyes on. Yeah, keep our eye on that as we go forward. So they arrived back at Regar with a new witch over a thousand Goblin soldiers. And they find all the Regent's prisoners that supported Soren originally. And we find out that cen. Rescued them somehow and brought them all over but that was never fully explained. So we're just gonna never jump past that and I forgot about it. Actually this takes some time for everyone to get over and adjust to cough cough Roan but when they are greeted aura doesn't Complete 180 in her personality upon seeing Cersen. Mm hmm. That's the key factor. And it is upon seeing Cersen and Rooke together. And she's apparently nice now. Different person. Cersen gives Rooke a bedazzled sword, which is described as hers. It fits her hand perfectly. It is her sword. By that first description and definition. They all have dinner, like one awkward family, where everyone is scared to talk about anything. Rooke returns to helping Thea she talks war and gossip with Saerson, and the whole crew eventually, and they just go back and forth, and again, she mostly just stands there looking at people and don't worry, that's not a problem. And then they go, but this is a problem, we need to discuss it more, duh duh duh duh duh. But no one wants to elaborate. She won't elaborate to them why it shouldn't be a problem. So that is on her. But they also don't listen to her, so, whatever. Also, Titan is revealed to be a shade of the Ravenswood Forest. Gideon warns Soren the night before their wedding and explains what blood witches are. And in the same breath, tells him to keep an eye on Rooke because her nature is too nice. Which doesn't line up. And then it's the wedding morning and Soren and Rooke bond really sweetly over wedding traditions and their different ribbon customs. She explains the significance of her ribbon and the wedding happens and her dress is so scandalous that Soren almost kills all the males in attendance and then suddenly they are whisked away. By Cerson and Lacrosse the Ley Lines into her home forest to finish the marriage rites there. They stay in her village for the night and finally get it on. It is not confirmed or denied that this is Rooke's first time. It didn't seem like it, but it was not mentioned either. So that is a point of contention for me personally. Cerson comes to find them early. The next morning because of an issue at the castle already, they learn that some guards are injured and Gideon's wife and her soldiers are cornered in a forest and need their help. And I'm gonna end there so we can just talk about Basically the wedding and that dinner. Yeah. That horrible dinner before we get into the end of it. Yeah. I have a theory now. Oh. Yeah. Okay, so you talked about Aurra's personality completely changing as soon as she saw Cersei. Or Cersen, sorry. Yeah. What if she was under like dark magic for many, many years and Cersen took it away as soon as she saw her? And so now this is her real personality we see. Like just the effect of Cersen being there? Because I feel like Cersen would have said. Like just her being there, mmm. But she didn't say anything about it. Because she says at the dinner that they brought her friends. What if the father, the person she really loved and had a baby with, is a part of the prisoners? So now she's happy? Oh, the group that was saved. I like yours. I like yours. It has something to do with The something we lifted from her. She's been controlled for so long and now she's actually able to show love and affection. Well, there's something there because literally she does not change until she lays eyes on Circe and that is very clear. So there's definitely something, yeah, seeing them, because yeah, then she even becomes a little nice to Rooke too. Like a little bit, she includes both. Yeah. Let's get you two. Yeah. Yeah. I'm like. Yeah. Swords like the fuck away. It's very, it's very weird. My whole problem with that dinner is the lack of communication. No, no. The lack of miscommunication. Curiosity. Oh yeah, curiosity. No one was curious. They like, Mm-Hmm. So the sword thing, they were, but they wouldn't address it. They would not address it, but then no one wanted to voice opinions on anything. Roan throws out Rand, was it Roan who throws out a statement about the high commander or about the sword and stuff like that? And then we automatically assume it's the high commander, which is also a point of, well, that's not contention actually. That's just plotting that J Bree doing. And it's a really doing a really good job of us trying to figure out who the high commander actually is. There's a lot of mystery surrounding this person. Yeah, so I don't know what's going on there also in this they talked about pemba A bit at this dinner and I did take some notes on this it is said that pemba is Exalted. So only a few people have the title of Exalted. Pemba was Exalted, but also prince Stonefire is also Exalted. Mm hmm. Is this that fey prince she sleeps by? This is the fey prince that I, I did the math. This is the one she slept next to between Pemba and him is Rooke Exalted too. You have to go to name trials. A fame or whatever, aia, eia. Fania I don't know. Everyone calls her that, even her other family. So it's probably a C word, but could word be Oh yeah.'cause I wondered if it meant exalted, you know, maybe, but it's very specific to her. It feels oh, we don't know. They don't, we don't see them call anyone else. And it's very possessive, like that's Maia Fania Mhm. I feel like it's like queen, mother, leader, savior, yeah. I think she is the main it's their whole, their group of six that save them. I agree with you though, Dev. If I had been at that dinner, I'd be like, what do you mean? Give me more details. Yeah, yeah. You don't have to be thoughtful. So they talked about how the High Fae only heard of other High Fae in the Fates War. And that's why they hadn't even heard of Rooke. Rooke, right. That's why they hadn't heard of anyone else of Pemba, and they're like, you didn't even hear about Pemba? Mm hmm, right. What? Yeah, but no one wanted to ask questions, and even if I feel if even if no one would, and it That's what I'm saying, Yes. I love it. I like it for the plot, but I don't like it for the writing because even if Jaybree didn't want those questions answered, I think they should have been asked just to even spin us for a loop even more. Right. Oh, so is this sword yours or is it Pemba's? Rooke sits quietly without answering. Well, now we're like, yeah, Cerson even looks over at her at one point and was just like, you came here. To meet your fate, but you can't even face what you've already been through and all the things you've done. Mm hmm. She's what are you doing? Yeah, the, yeah, the relationship between Cersen and Rooke is definitely deep. Obviously they know a lot about each other. And Cersen has a lot of information about Rooke. But, I don't think Cersen shares the same, I guess, train of thinking of Gage. Like, where she's oh, yeah. Okay, I'll let Rooke tell you I think Cersei will scream from the rooftops her sister in law's accomplishments if given the chance, if someone asks. Or she will push her to do it herself. To do it herself, yeah. She's her hype girl, her biggest cheerleader. Yes what, yeah, exactly. And, you know, her family too Yeah, the dinner was interesting, but it could have been a lot more. Yes, I do agree. I think the dinner fell a little flat. Even if they asked and it didn't get answered. That's what I'm saying, yeah. even if Rooke just stared at them. The fact that the questions we're thinking or asked leads us to not like, okay, these are things we're thinking about. Or if she got up and left the table because she couldn't handle it. Give me that. Right, then we're like, oh my gosh, that's something, right? So yeah, now we're like rushing back out after the wedding. They've had their wedding. They've had their sexy time and the way the wedding was so basic. It was so basic. Yeah. Yeah. I think I, I think I expected more of the same way. The first kiss, I think I thought the wedding would be a little more like. Intricate. I do love how, I do love how Rooke had been making his ribbon for so long, for a hundred years. Oh, absolutely. Since she's learned her face. That's crazy. And I thought she was making the ribbon for herself cause when it's brought up for the first time, it's kind of like, this is her thing, right? She's just tracking her life this whole time. Yeah. This whole time she's been making it for him, whether or not she was going to choose to give it to him. Right, but now they're at a space where she actually will give it to him this entire for years She has put the horrors No, it really is and it just shows you it also shows you that I think Rooke is always ten steps ahead And I think she does have a bit of a savior mentality or when she'd like she wants to make sure everyone's okay She wants to save everyone. She kind of wants to Just take the hit if everyone is gonna be okay, but we don't want that from her We don't want her to be a martyr for this cause and it kind of looks like that's what she's gonna end up being And I think that ties into Was it Gideon who told Soren like yes, I was just gonna say I think Don't let her Sacrifice be a martyr. Yeah, because she will without Yeah, yeah Right. So their wedding night gets interrupted. Now we're back in battle. We're back. To save Rosh. Is that how we're saying her name? So to help Rosh or also say Osh to, yeah. Roosh, which is Gideon's. Roche or Roche. I, I don't know. R say I say Roche. So they must,'cause I imagine the, the g the goblin language being like, they're always like, it's like rough and I feel like Yeah. Rosh guttural anyway. Yeah. Guttural. Yeah. Mm-Hmm. So to help. Rosh, they must enter the blood forest, they decide, so they set out right away. They come across marks of unknown magic cast by Karl himself. It causes the witch's distress and almost breaks Rooke's mind, and it felt like an Irene. So as they near, and it was also compared to the magic, the evil she felt at the capital. As they near the blood valley on their way to Banshee's Call, they run into a random ice storm. Then obviously. It was called upon to drive them somewhere. They cross through a magic shield, which forces them into a blood forest. Soren sent, Soren feels the magic and goes into a rage killing when they come across the regent's men. Just, they have these battalions behind them and they're all just watching Soren. Hulk out basically and then the forest, cause the forest is calling to him. This is where they find Rosh. She comes out and I was like, Whoa, look at this asshole. We find out that she left the people they went to save. They left behind with some of her men and she lost two thirds of her people. Let's just do that little bit. We've kind of talked about the magic that Carl put there, but the ice storm I thought was weird. Yes. And it's not explained well. Yep. And I still even after rereading. Yeah. But it was random. It's it says on there it's forced magic Natural. Yes. It magic it in there that it wasn't, and so it was forcing them into a place, but I can't figure out who it was. I have to know Ed's power, because I think the shield they walked into was hanni. Yeah, she said she sent her magic ahead and only felt one person, and she wasn't concerned. Random to me didn't feel necessary other than them just not being able to see for a while and yeah Or maybe that's what he called up to allow Them to not see the barrier or like to get them into the barrier. I don't know It's really interesting. Maybe he did it to separate them from what lay ahead I don't know maybe he didn't want them to keep going. It, there's just no explanation for why we needed that entire snowstorm in the middle of this scene. Yeah. So it's not very clear. But Gideon is reunited with his wife, Gage is reunited with his sister in law. And she doesn't care for Rooke, or doesn't really care about Rooke, and is not impressed, and Rooke takes that personally. I would too. The way she's acting is just scared. Because she doesn't know who she is at first. No, she does. She knows right away. She calls her the Ravenswyrd mother immediately. Does she? Yes, immediately. No, she was not. Because Rooke even is like, why is she afraid? She like, it does not come across as awestruck. I don't know. I don't, I didn't, it was weird. I didn't feel that I gotta re reread that.'cause I didn't feel like she was like, yeah, you should re you should reread the end because Okay. Yeah. It did feel weird. Deb's favoring but also interesting. I know. This is mine. The end is my favorite. There are some disjointed parts, but overall, it's not, I love it. So they go to find the people that she left behind. On the way to the people they came to save, Cirson gives everyone a history lesson basically about blood witches and the favored children. Like a little cozy bedtime story. Try, cause she knows what's coming. So she's trying to soften the blow, I think. And I just love Cersei so much. They find the blood witches. When they go, they come across the blood witches in front of a shit ton of the Regent's men, and Rooke calmly just walks up to them. She talks to them like this is a part of her fate. To take out these blood witches. The wording she uses. Sounds like this is another part of her fate we didn't know about, rooke makes the call for the Bloodwitches, and so all of a sudden the Bloodwitches start popping up. So Soren watches every single reborn witch, which is, that's the last name of the Bloodwitches, the reborn. They pop in, yep, and answer Rooke's call. We learned Rooke's dad was born of the line of the womb and she has them all here for his assay, or assay. Oscar her cousin one of the most notorious blood witches Mists an entire legion, a whole legion, when their commander insults Rooke. Soren has cast a shield around the regent's soldiers to hold them back from this display. So that the traitors, can be they dealt with their crimes. They do the assay where her uncle, her father's brother calls him out as a betrayer and lists every single member of her family. That he killed because they are technically part of the line of the womb of the reborn as well which is their greatest sin to kill their own or the favored children He is Tortured and then killed baler. This is baler baler. Yes as penance and then Soren breaks his shield, which, so impressive that he can do that big of a shield with that much control already. Already. And Rooke starts the prayer, which after the prayer releases all of the blood witches to go spill blood in honor of her family. Mm hmm. I cried reading this. I did not cry the first time while I was reading, but reading it again, I just cried the whole time. And they slaughtered Everyone for her beer. And to be fair, that's their purpose. That's their coven's purpose, right? To spread blood or spill blood for the earth. So they're just living up to their namesake. It just so happens that this is also like a murder revenge funeral thing. And so after everyone leaves, the only one left standing with her is Oscar. And Oscar calls over to Soren and says, And Taunton's get the fuck up here. What are you doing? Yeah, why are you back there? He literally says, you're embarrassing my family right now. Get up here. When he goes, he disappears because Hanede attacks him and throws a shield over them. And Oscar has to pull Hanede off of Soren. And he threatens Hanede because Soren is part of his family now. And Hanede is Is a whiny bitch and outs the secret part of her fate to everyone there, all the soldiers to Soren, everyone by saying that she has to die. And how can you all stand here and just let her do this? And then Rooke confirms that Pemba died to save her in the last stand. And that is where we end. She won't even look Soren in the eyes. So we don't even get to see the devastation on his face. Yeah, which was that was hard for me. Like this entire ending killed me. As soon as we get into snow storm vibes, I could already feel things happening and it started to break me down a little bit, but that ending that we don't get to see Soren's reaction. I feel like we needed to see that because we're only left with our own feelings and I wanted to feel Soren's feelings because he is obviously directly affected by that. But yeah, that was very informative. We obviously learned that Rooke has been keeping secrets, a really big secret. We learned that this could be the reason that her nightmares are like taken over or why she dreams of the arena so much. It's because she's not, yes, she's dreaming about them, but also maybe she's having nightmares about the fact that This is the moment she loses her brother because he goes to save her. So there's like just a lot there's a lot of confusion as well. I'm part of that confusion because I just don't know whether Pemba is actually dead or he's alive. There's 10, he's totally dead, 10 things that are written. And it is. Amazing writing for J Brie to kill Pemba off because, we meet Pemba in book one and you love him. You love the way he goes to bat for his sisters, even in the first book you love Pemba. He is nowhere on page, but you love him for like the reverence for how much Rooke loves him, how she speaks of him and all that. He's amazing. And then to have us like never actually meet him is gut wrenching. But I do think that with killing Pemba here, it does leave us with room to get to know him in a novella of the Northern lands, which is something that I would absolutely love. So we can see that entire war from Rooke's perspective and maybe even Pemba's Haneed, that was not the greatest, Debut for me with him. I'm not a honey stand after that. I didn't like that. I I don't know I don't think I hate him. I think that just I think he was heavily influenced by his emotions I think the reverence that everyone around Rooke talks about her the whole a Fania thing. I think Haneed must feel that to a max Especially her blood is like writhing his blood. Sorry is all in her body I don't know if there's like some kind of a connection there It just seems like this reaction was over the top and maybe that there's an explanation for it. At least I hope so Other than it just being, well, I don't want you dead, you know? So I'm looking forward to seeing that, hopefully. I'll figure it out. I felt it was a very SJM ish last hundred pages, where there's this long ass book of plot, and then BAM, you're gonna have something crazy happen the last few pages, and there's gonna be some Yeah. Stupid, you don't need this cliffhanger. Pfft. Well, no, I think we absolutely needed it. So. We talk a lot about the High Commander and we talk about Pemba and when they talk about the sword, Roan made this connection, an assumption that Pemba was the High Commander. I have proof that he was not. Quote from the very end. This is Rooke talking. Pemba saved my life at the cost of his own. After following me out to face the Eurene, he followed her. So either he wasn't a I'm saying either she was the commander, she was the high commander at that point. Mm-Hmm. And she followed her, or he was not originally part of that battalion or whatever it was the 10 21. And he only stayed and just went to see, and he stayed in it when he didn't need to for her just to stick with her. But either way he was not leading that. Yeah, I don't think, I never. Thought he was the commander. But this, to me, this makes me think that she was the high commander and she is not anymore, obviously. Someone else is the high commander and that is who Sari is. Betrothed to and maybe when she stepped down and just became healer after the war and was dealing with all that trauma I would not be surprised if it's prince stonefire who got promoted because he was a part of the last stand He was a part of that group of six that came Or that five then that ended out because Pemba's dead. So there's five of them including Hanede, Saerson, Stone, Rooke, and then there's, but I think that's Stonefire, isn't it? Prince Stonefire? I think that's the Dragonrider. I didn't think it. Oh, the Dragonrider is there. She's talked about Dragonriders before, just how she fought. Like she was close with one, that's my theory. And then that Stonefire got promoted because he was a part of that. And so he got Commander, and that's who Sari is going over to see. Whether he is actually her fate or not, which I don't think he is, I think that's Sari's lying. Yes, that's my theory of what happened. And they've heard these stories of the High Commander, and it's really they heard the stories of her, but because it's High Fae, they never talk about who it was. Yeah, I think that's super plausible, especially because Phaedra at the castle literally says that if you harm her, you will be getting an enemy of the Northern. And I get it. Like she birthed his sons. So of course, a soul king might feel indebted to her. I think anyone in that final group, but the way that it always has talked about, I think she discovered the unmaking. I thought she wasn't the only one that do it. Cause they said that everyone under the high commander in that last stand could do be a part of the unmaking, but I think that she is the one who discovered it and she was the master of that and that's how she became high commander of that last stand. That's just my theory. Probably also there are three mothers in that group alone. Well, I count Hanita as a mother, but that's only because he's literally the last of his line, but yeah. But like Serson is a mother. Rooke is a mother, and then he is a father, I don't know, that's not really a role in the covens, but he is technically the last of his line and has all that power in him. there's definitely something there. Well, and then the blood witch mother is back now. The blood witch mother is back. Because she was called home by her blood. And it was said earlier in the book, because when they said, I forget what witch's coven, the last of the lot, the womb died in the last year of the war, right? Yes. And they said something about her relic. they asked about her relic and she,Rookeook in her inner monologue, she said that her aunt has it. So the mother. of the reborn has the relics, the missing relics of the other forest and will help heal by bringing the, returning them. So I thought that was interesting. Yeah. Yeah. But I think the final thing we need to talk about, I mean we can talk about more but we just need to make sure that we talk about, the fact that she's supposed to die. Yeah, I don't like that. I don't like that. I don't support that at all. But also it's this is supposed to be some kind of a romance. So Rooke needs a happy ending. So regardless, if she has to die, she's going to come back. I don't see her dying and then being done. I think there will be a way to either save her before she dies. Or, you know, when she dies, something happens. I also think Rooke is still keeping information from us. She's one of those characters who you can't allow to speak on page too much because they will reveal secrets that they're not supposed to. And I think there are possibly things that Rooke still has not told us. Like literally her last, the last words out of her mouth are something so big and devastating. Of a secret that she's kept for months now dealing with so I don't think we're done with seeing lying ass Rooke I think there's still more and hopefully that more will give us like space within her fate to Rip it apart as far as it being black and white that she has to die yeah, I think that Because of how much they talk about the fey magic and how little is known. And then how, again, always mentioning how powerful Soren is. I think Soren is going to keep her alive or literally pull her back from Elysium. From the end. Like I think he is going to, with his will, because he says his magic, he describes it as selfish. And it is his. And it's territorial magic. And I think that alone will keep her this side of Elysium. Yeah. He will not let go of her. Soren will not let something bad happen to her. And if it happens to her, I think he might just go along with her. Which would be so dumb. So, I think, yeah, we can count on Soren to find a way out of this. If she dies and comes back, I will forgive J Bree as long as she doesn't take her magic. If she does that and takes her magic, I'm done. I'm Yeah. That's so annoying. I don't love when my super powerful Female characters get dwindled to nothing and we are already seeing Rooke kind of be whittled down from the Rooke we met in book one. So having her die and then also take her magic would just, it would be too much. Like at this point, I want you to uno reverse and bring back first book Rooke. Give us the strong woman who's going to battle. Let her cry it out, of course, because we should all cry. But Give me the strength of the woman that I met in book one. I love that. She'll need to have that. If she's going to deal with Soren after he learned, she has to die. She needs to be bad ass bitch again. though we've forgotten he exists, Carl. That is still her fate. We still actually need to go kill Carl. Carl. That's, yeah. That's still a big part of her fate. So like as much as we've kind of forgotten him, Carl, who, towards the end of this, who was nowhere to be seen book, half of the book, nowhere, who know, he was like whispered on pages had he had like BRookes original fate was ring in the ground and that was it. Yeah, right. But we still, we know there's a big battle or something will happen. And Carl needs to die. I don't think week Rooke is going to be able to do that. I think she needs to bring her in a game and we'll have you know, the strength of her friends and the people who love her and her family behind her. But we, I don't think this is our last of seeing super strong work. I think she'll come back. She'll make a comeback. It's crazy. I was just thinking about this, but we did not talk about read this whole episode and guys read So listeners, thanks for staying for so long listening, but quick, quick story about Reed. If you read this, what was going on? That was a plot line that I did not love. I, I loved how jealous Soren and, and yeah, Rookes were just blind refusal to yes. That's what I did not know about it the whole book and then and never said anything to it except for towards the end Like when she was like, well, i'll have whatever friends I like and then he's well, you can't have any female friends but That like that entire plot line was so dumb because Rooke every single time she was in reed's presence Brought up the fact That he was not looking at her, he was not talking to her and yet she kept her mouth shut. Rooke was very quiet this book and I feel like there were times when it worked but this was not a time. Like we, we should not have gotten even 25 percent through the book you know from when Reed's tune switches to Rooke not calling him out on that. So that was like rough but I really love Reed. I love, I love his character arc and the way he treats Rooke. She did call him out. She called him out once, but he wouldn't tell her. He's he's really cares about you. And it's before they like admitted feelings or anything. And she's oh, he doesn't give a shit about me. And then she never put that together the rest of the time. She never addressed it with Soren. Yeah. I don't know there with despite all the issues. I love this book I love to even more after my second reading. It's a four just because of the unfortunate editing and disjointedness, random third person sometimes, but it wasn't enough for me to dislike the book. I still loved it. I still can't wait for the next one. Me too. I just love these characters and this world. I'm going to be really sad when we have to leave this world because I love it so much. I love these characters. I want to see, spinoffs of all my faves. I don't think that's in the cards, but I really do love Jaybree's super talented. She has a brain like no other to come up with the plot and schemes and just the connectivity between the characters and the stories and the. past and the present. So I'm really excited. And yeah, it's a solid four for me. Literally only taken off one star for the editing. And like you said, the disjointed, the continuity issues. Yeah. The holes, but otherwise loved it. Loved it so much., And that's it for our season one too. That's it guys. This is the last episode. Thanks for sticking with us. Not just through the season, but this long ass episode. We love this. Series and we hope you do too. Yeah, but we'll be back throughout the summer with random stuff definitely check our socials to stay abreast of the situation Yeah At romance Recs pod on tiktok and instagram. We're gonna have some things coming up So make sure you're following our pages. You don't want to miss what's gonna happen. Okay. Bye. I know. That's so sad. See you later. Yeah. Tune in for season two. Oh, fates.