Chapter 190 - A Bitter End
Added 2023-12-15 01:19:16 +0000 UTCOliver
Month 4 Day 17, Saturday 8:10 a.m.
Oliver was meeting with Anastasia Gervin in his home office when he caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye. It drew his gaze to the wrap-around window behind his desk.
Sebastien was outside.
She stood in front of the wrought-iron entrance gate, looking up at the manor. She firmed her jaw, squared her shoulders, and stepped through.
This last week had been one of the most unpleasant in recent memory. The Friday before, on the day of Ennis Naught’s sentencing, Oliver had planned to take advantage of the opportunity to show himself in a very public place while “Lord Stag” made appearances elsewhere, at a time when the coppers would be too distracted to spend all of their resources trying to catch him. And if he had also thought to take some vindictive pleasure in seeing Siobhan’s father get what he deserved, surely no one would judge Oliver for that?
He had been at ease, because Siobhan knew of the danger the day presented and would stay safe under Liza’s wards. The worst Oliver had imagined happening was that Ennis Naught might be sentenced to death, and Siobhan, despite her disdain and resentment for the man, would be distraught at the fate of her father.
But from the very beginning everything had gone wrong.
Katerin had broken the flimsy bracelet linked to its pair on Oliver’s forearm by mid-morning. He had rushed to her side, arriving to find her frantic at what seemed to be the pre-meditated and extremely determined kidnapping of her nephew. They both imagined horrible things and speculated desperately about who might want leverage over Katerin and Oliver. Or revenge.
A moment of hope had appeared, as one of the Verdant Stag subjects who owed them a favor had come to the Verdant Stag with news. They had recognized Theo during the boy’s desperate attempt to escape, and had taken the initiative to follow the kidnappers’ wagon on foot. Unfortunately, they had but lost it after following it north for a few blocks.
Even with a strand of Theo’s curly copper hair, the Verdant Stag’s thaumaturges were too weak to find the boy.
Katerin had snapped and tipped over her solid wood table with a heaving roar, and then collapsed sobbing in Oliver’s arms.
He had picked her up and bodily stuffed her into a carriage, which they rode with reckless speed through the clogged streets to Lynwood Manor.
Surely, Gera would be able to find Theo, Oliver had thought. No one could divine like a prognos. Especially not one that was forced to use magic constantly in everyday life.
But Gera had left earlier that morning without telling anyone where she was going. And then they discovered that her son was gone, too.
Oliver sent someone for Liza, but she didn’t answer her door.
It was then that he had broken the bracelet that would call Siobhan to his aid. But she never came. Dread had filled Oliver’s belly to overflowing. This confluence of events had to be purposeful. Enemy action. And if Liza wasn’t opening the door, how could he be sure that Siobhan was safe behind her wards?
When the cloud of ravens began to coalesce in the Mires, Katerin had gotten it into her head that the coppers had caught everyone and were going to reveal them at Ennis Naught’s trial. Maybe to bait the Raven Queen into arriving. Maybe to execute them all in a reminder of their power.
Oliver thought it more likely that the Architects of Khronos had been behind it. They hadn’t found the book when they attacked and searched the Verdant Stag, but maybe they still weren’t convinced that he was uninvolved in its theft. Maybe they hoped to ransom off the people he cared for in exchange. That might not explain Millennium Lynwood’s disappearance, unless perhaps the Architects suspected the Nightmare Pack of having the book, too, and were covering all their bases.
How the cloud of ravens played into it, Oliver wasn’t sure. But it was too unsubtle to be safe to approach personally. The best he could do was send a squad of enforcers dressed in plainclothes and hope that the ravens were only a decoy, and not Siobhan’s desperate cry for help.
Under Katerin’s urging, Oliver had gone to the Edictum Council while Katerin called on every favor and pulled every string the Verdant Stag had access to. Some of the higher-ranking coppers on the Verdant Stags’ payroll were assigned at the sentencing for the day, and despite the risks Oliver took to question them, they knew nothing. Oliver had barely been able to appear normal as he mingled among the nobles, trying to pick up any gossip or clues that could give them a chance. Any chance.
Something grew sick inside of Oliver when the raven delivered its letter into the center of the Edictum Council floor. Surely…someone was framing the Raven Queen? Taking advantage of her reputation, just as Oliver had speculated might be possible. Either that, or things had gone desperately wrong. Was Siobhan turning herself in? Wild ideas spiraled through Oliver’s head like debris carried on a tornado.
He almost hadn’t been able to control his reaction when Damien Westbay, of all people, decided that they should team up to figure out what was going on and ensure Sebastien’s safety. Westbay hadn’t been entirely useless, but he was painfully naive. Someday, that would get him into trouble that he couldn’t get himself out of, and then it would break him.
When a divination team at Eagle Tower had been attacked, Oliver finally grew suspicious. This might be someone trying to take advantage of the Raven Queen’s reputation…but it could also, maybe, be the Raven Queen herself. And not out of desperation and fear. This was too well-coordinated for that. It had been planned in advance.
After one of the most torturously frantic days of Oliver’s life, spent in excessively high states of anxiety as he ran around uselessly, his thoughts spiraling into ever-darker realms as the hours passed without hope, Katerin sent him a message on his distagram, which he’d moved into his carriage for easy access.
Siobhan, Theo, Millennium Lynwood, and all of the people that had gone missing along with them were fine. Oliver had rushed to the Nightmare Pack’s underground arena. But though everyone agreed that the Raven Queen had entered, and Katerin said Siobhan was sleeping in a room upstairs, Oliver was not allowed entrance.
When he had gotten the full story, and particularly Gera’s part in it, all the stomach-eroding worry that he had felt dropped away. It left behind anger, but beneath that, and more lasting, was a persistent dread. The anger burned hot, flaring up a few times over the week to come only to burn itself out again, but the dread never left. It grew worse every day that passed.
And now, Sebastien was here. Some of the anger flared up again as he was reminded of her thoughtlessness, her lack of care for him or the others under her protection that would lead her to create such a huge spectacle without even a warning. But underneath it, his dread crystallized into something hard and sharp.
Miss Gervin cleared her throat, dragging Oliver’s attention back to her.
Had she been talking? “I’m sorry, I grew momentarily distracted. What were you saying?”
Miss Gervin stood, slipping the sheaf of papers they had been working on into her purse, which hardly looked large enough to hold them. “That’s quite all right,” she said with a smile. “I think we’ve covered the most critical bits. Why don’t we schedule a follow-up in two weeks?”
Oliver tried to keep the relief and impatience from his face. Anastasia Gervin was an extremely useful connection, and receptive to his ideas in a way that few in the Crown Families were. He didn’t need to risk offending her just because he wanted to rush from the room and find Sebastien.
But when Oliver opened his office door to see Miss Gervin out, Sebastien was standing outside the door, stiff-backed like a wooden soldier.
Sebastien’s eyes widened as she saw Miss Gervin.
Miss Gervin’s eyes flicked between them in the silence that followed, and then she took a large step forward and slipped her arm through Sebastien’s, tucking her hand into the crook of Sebastien’s elbow.
Sebastien relaxed somewhat, and then gave the other girl a grateful smile.
Ana squeezed her arm, then gave Oliver a bright, toothy smile that was aggressively perfect. “Sebastien! I’m so surprised to see you here. My father is letting me handle some parts of the business now, remember? I am collaborating on a very optimistic endeavor with Mr. Dry—oh, I’m sorry. With Lord Dryden here.” She rolled her eyes. “Mother is thrilled.” Another squeeze of Sebastien’s arm, as she sidled a little closer until their shoulders bumped. “Do you want to get breakfast together, the three of us?”
At first, Oliver thought that she was flirting, trying to assert some kind of romantic claim. But she hadn’t pressed the side of her breast into Sebastien’s arm. Her tone was more cold than playful. And something hard and protective had come into her eyes that reminded Oliver of a guard dog.
She thought she was offering comfort and protection. And based on the way Sebastien gave her a small smile and didn’t even flinch at the touch of her hand, despite the way Oliver had seen her recoil from an accidental shoulder brush with a stranger on the sidewalk, Miss Gervin was successful.
Oliver frowned. What had Sebastien been telling her friends about him?
“That’s okay,” Sebastien said, gently disentangling Miss Gervin’s grip from her arm. “I had breakfast already, at the cafeteria, and now I’m too full to eat again. I just need to discuss some things with Oliver.”
Miss Gervin, to her credit, didn’t hesitate or ask Sebastien if she was sure. She just nodded to both of them and walked away with a nonchalant wave over her shoulder. They watched her descend the stairs, and then, with a wave of invitation from Oliver, Sebastien followed him into his office.
Sebastien stood behind the chair Miss Gervin had been sitting in, her slender-fingered hands resting upon the wood frame of its back. She didn’t even wait for Oliver to sit down behind his desk. “Did you steal one of Myrddin’s journals?”
Oliver’s heart jumped as if it were trying to tear itself free of his chest. He stared at her for three frantic beats and then said, “I did.”
Sebastien showed no signs of surprise. “I also have one of Myrddin’s journals,” she said, as nonchalantly as if they were talking about cravats from a favorite tailor. “Just not the one people think. One of the other four.”
“You’ve been busy,” he murmured past numb lips. How long had she been working on this? Had she suspected him for a while now, or had someone else discovered the truth and told her?
“The one you have contains a method to transmute pure celerium from beast cores,” she said. She paused a moment for him to speak, but when he remained silent, she continued. “Do you know what the one I have contains?”
Oliver had to clear his throat before he could speak. “I don’t. Do you?”
Sebastien didn’t answer his question. “You used me as a decoy,” she accused, still seemingly without feeling.
If Oliver’s dread were tangible, it would have been slicing into his internal organs with every breath. They were at the top of a precipice now, and he could see no way of stopping their descent. Not when she looked like that.
Sebastien’s face was emotionless, and for the first time her eyes reminded him of those of a shark. Cold-blooded, predatory, and uncaring. Responses ran through Oliver’s mind, different ways to try and mitigate disaster, to hold up the crumbling brick of their relationship, built so gradually and now tearing apart.
Before he could land on some magical answer, she spoke again. “Did you somehow cause Ennis to steal the journal?”
She knew too much. He couldn’t lie. “I didn’t. But…it’s possible the thief I hired took it upon herself to place a compulsion. Something to sow confusion. She left the country upon completing the mission, and I haven’t heard from her since.”
Sebastien nodded to herself thoughtfully.
“I didn’t tell you because you didn’t need to know. And I didn’t actually use you as a decoy. Not really.” His words were coming faster even though he tried to slow them, to keep them measured and with the perfect intonation that would somehow make her believe him. “I tried to keep you safe, even though I could have just let you be. That placed me in more danger. If I had ignored you completely, even if you were caught, even if my thief made a mistake when altering the expedition’s logs and they somehow discovered that an additional book was missing, I wouldn’t have been implicated. The information within can be used for the greater good. A way to create celerium could be the great equalizer for our society, as well as an insanely lucrative source of income.”
Sebastien raised one eyebrow and said dryly, “And with the celerium mines running dry, the power you would hold would be enormous.”
Oliver had already had another argument lined up, but his thoughts stuttered and tripped over each other. “What? The mines aren’t…”
She frowned darkly, accusingly.
“You really have been busy,” he said, the words slipping out without his conscious thought. It was a mistake.
Her frown disappeared, but was replaced by the faintest sneer of disgust.
“That would make a lot of sense,” he said carefully. “But I didn’t know that. I thought that those in power had just been restricting the flow of celerium into the market for the last couple decades as a way to artificially increase the price. Collusion to line their pockets by creating scarcity. But if that’s true, it…has major implications. If that’s true, I might need to accelerate my timeline on getting it decrypted.”
She scoffed. “You expect me to believe you didn’t already know?” Before he could respond, she snapped, “Or that our connection was solely for my benefit? That you gave me a loan with fifty percent interest and asked me to commit crimes to pay you back…just to keep me safe?”
“I didn’t know,” he said softly.
Sebastien sneered, one side of her upper lip drawing back to reveal the teeth beneath.
Something about that expression, not just angry but disgusted, sparked a bloom of anger. “I won’t apologize for acting in the best interest of all the people who we have helped, and all who we could still help, Sebastien. Every young child and aspiring free-caster could go to school. We could be an entire nation of thaumaturges. We could end poverty, scrub out the corruption and entitlement, and save lives. What you have now could be for everyone, without any of the struggle or the danger.”
Sebastien opened her mouth to retort, but Oliver held up a hand to stop her. “Listen. I will tell you once.” He paused, drew a deep breath, and repeated more softly. “Please listen. I didn’t intend things to work out the way they did. I never planned for Siobhan Naught to steal a book in my stead, or become the Raven Queen, or my friend. I may not have shared all of my secrets with you, but that has never been a requirement of our relationship, never a promise I made. And if you wish to speak of my manipulations, I admit it freely. As I said before, I have never bound anyone to me with a leash they cannot break, and that includes you. I may want to lift this country, this world, out of its own shit, but I am no saint. I do what is necessary, not what is right. But do not pretend that you have not acted similarly.”
He allowed the pause to linger, staring at her hard.
Sebastien returned his gaze defiantly.
“That little spectacle of yours, did you ever stop to think about the danger it might bring to the Verdant Stag? To the innocent people who you’ve never even met and apparently don’t care enough about to consider? Do you have any idea how many unwarranted arrests the coppers have been making in the last week to bring people in for questioning? I can’t even keep track of them. Did you consider the more direct harm that causing a widespread panic might do? That innocent people could be injured?”
Her expression had stilled again, but it wasn’t as dead as before. “Were people…injured?”
“Several.”
She blinked slowly, but didn’t flinch.
“And more have been harmed during arrests or questioning. That part, you might argue, isn’t your fault, but if I had known about your plan, I could have made preparations that might have mitigated the severity of the situation. And this time, you might say, was out of desperation. But it’s not the first time you put aside morality or honor when it suits you. Did you really expect that I would think it a coincidence when the textile sub-commission that I had worked out and agreed upon with Lord Gervin suddenly fell through? And just before you came to me with such an advantageous solution to my newly created problem. You were saving yourself, to be sure, but risking harm to everyone that sub-commission would have helped. Thousands of people given work, tens of thousands given warm clothing through the winter months or dressed in something other than rags. If you hoped that I wouldn’t notice your sabotage, you should have been more subtle.”
Sebastien rocked back on her heels. She frowned in seeming confusion, looking away and muttering, “Ana,” to herself.
“Your friend did not tell me. She had no need. I am not so foolish. But I didn’t even hold that scheme against you, Sebastien. Because even though we’re on the same side, I have never expected altruism of you. I have considered us friends. I have given gifts of monetary value, knowledge, and protection. I have gone out of my way to keep you safe, even at danger to myself.” He laughed bitterly, and Sebastien flinched.
“But when it comes from you to me, it is always a transaction,” Oliver continued. “You will never act on my behalf unless receiving something in return. And perhaps you became used to my generosity, to the point that you expect it and become angry if I do not immediately, even preemptively, give to you. So, let us transact, now. If you want complete honesty from me, want to know all my plans and secrets and all the ways I move under the surface of this city…what will you give me in return?”
Sebastien’s pale skin first grew even more sallow, and then her cheeks flushed with rage, her black eyes glinting. For a moment, her shadow seemed to waver like a ripple over the surface of a pond. “So be it,” she whispered, her voice trembling. She swallowed and lifted her chin. “Should you wish to speak with me again, you will pay tribute, like the rest of those who treat with the Raven Queen.”
And with that, she spun on her heel and made for the door.
“Wait.”
She stilled, then turned slowly to look at him again.
“Does anyone else know about the book? The one I have?” he asked.
When she smiled it was a small, mean thing. “No. And I will not tell them. We will keep each others’ secrets, hmm? A fair trade.”
Oliver watched her leave, and then listened to her walk away at a measured but fast pace. A few minutes later, she said a warm goodbye to Sharon, was forced to accept a picnic basket of food, and left.
The echo of the front door, though it had been closed gently, seemed to reverberate through Oliver’s bones. He forced himself not to watch her leave through the window. Instead, he pressed his trembling fingers to the cool wood of his desk. Then he let his head slump down onto his hands.
He had lost something precious, and it was more bitter than he ever imagined.
Author Note: I'm just days away from sending this book off to my editor. It's definitely the longest yet.
What do you think, should Oliver have apologized?
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Comments
She also knows what is in his book, but he has no idea what is in hers and he seems to suggest he has no made no inraods in having it decrypted.
Daniel McConville
2023-12-27 01:44:01 +0000 UTCOliver's making a huge mistake turning the relationship into a transactional one. He needs S way more than she needs him. Without the Raven Queen the Verdant Stags would have fallen to the Marrows, and she seems like one of the more competent battle mages he has available. Meanwhile the Stags provide little to no real value to S at this point, and have consistently gotten her into danger. She has plenty of other underworld connections (who treat her better than the Verdant Stags) and an entire other life that's going really well (for now)
Galen Rokosz
2023-12-19 23:36:06 +0000 UTCS is an incredibly transactional person; dont think it's a huge leap for Ana to extrapolate that her relationship with Oliver is transactional as well. (there have also been hints of the fact that her relationship with Oliver isn't a simple standard sponsorship - such as the period where she had to resort to using a shitty conduit, which was definitely noticed)
v
2023-12-18 19:38:17 +0000 UTCI agree. I don’t think Ana sabotaged the deal, I don’t think Ana is like that with her friends. But also she would have had to been next level strategist to understand S’s relationship it Oliver (at that time) enough to make that work.
Amanda Dimitrov
2023-12-18 14:21:15 +0000 UTCAlthough we see Siobhan excellent at magic I think we will find her real strength is simply her very very clearly focused and pure Will. She uses it to communicate with other species , other people, it can penitrate Liza's exceptional wards, allow her to use her own body as a puppet to escape the sensory deprivation circle.. she can allow it to "Ride" her shadow and act as a 6th sense. This is her very best strength even though no one can quantify Will. Her shadow rippling is showing us she is at the verge of a breakthrough were she will be able to do even more unexpected and previously unknown feats with it. During one of the previous chapters she was explaining Glyphs in class and she motioned with her hand as if she could free cast the Glyphs like Lacer... that sounds like mucle memory to me, maybe Naught her memory...??? I think her real power is waiting to burst out (her real abilities using sheer Will, NOT the thing behind her seal) .. we saw she didn't need a spell circle to control things within her domain of control...like it said when she was breaking out of the deprivation spell. I think her domain of control is expanding rapidly... I believe she is about to blossom and it will be based on her exceptionally clear and powerful Will . It wouldn't surprise me to see her be able to grow into telekinesis, telepathy and acutally possessing others...I can't wait!
Jim A
2023-12-18 06:06:05 +0000 UTCSo I know the argument is the star of this chapter, but one thing that really stood out to me was S’s shadow. I am really excited about this and suspect it is “foreshadowing” something big.
Amanda Dimitrov
2023-12-18 01:22:48 +0000 UTCOk I was really upset about this falling out, but this comment made me feel better.
Alison Stoneklifft
2023-12-18 00:00:57 +0000 UTCSiobhan didn't get her mothers Conduit Ring... Lacer has it and the one she got secretly during the Gervin theft was a fake
Jim A
2023-12-17 00:53:58 +0000 UTCI don't think Ana sabotaged the commission. But if she did, I think that would really lower my opinion of her. While a well calculated move. You don't get to complain about "Transactional" friendship, while secretly sabotaging things in the background.
darkmuch
2023-12-16 23:40:55 +0000 UTCI love this comment! And that last bit, rolling her eyes about how thrilled her mother is? 😂 her mom probably is overjoyed and suggested she work with Dryden first.
Stefanie
2023-12-16 21:18:49 +0000 UTCI mean, it is was also a move out of desperation for her sister's sake, which is different from manipulating to accumulate more power. So I think S will forgive her much more easily.
Keid
2023-12-16 15:55:33 +0000 UTCDo we blame Ana, if she really sabotaged the commission? While very manipulative towards S. And Oliver, it gave S. The opportunity to get out of her oppressive debt contract.
Spade ♠️ Dragon
2023-12-16 12:11:39 +0000 UTCHope there’s a redemption arc
frankie doerr
2023-12-16 04:31:19 +0000 UTCI do think a compulsion is relatively likely, but Ennis doesn't, in particular, seem smarter than to have taken the book on a whim. We know that he has frequently gotten in trouble that Siobhan has had to pull him out of, and it seems likely that he has gotten complacent after having the security of his daughter always saving him from his mistakes. This just happened to be the first trouble available to him that was serious enough that his daughter couldn't save him from.
Keid
2023-12-16 04:24:20 +0000 UTCAnd I'm pretty sure she seems so quiet because she planned out her side of this confrontation in advance and is trying to stick to her script. She's been worrying about it and trying to figure out how she wanted to do it pretty much non-stop for a bit. It's also why the second she gets to the manor she marches straight to Oliver's office and is standing ramrod straight outside his door when he comes out.
Keid
2023-12-16 04:06:43 +0000 UTCI feel like her cutting words are generally something she does unintentionally when she forgets to censor her honest opinions of people. It isn't so much something that comes out when she's mad or does with the intention of hurting anyone. I don't think it's something she would know how to intentionally pull out to hurt people even if that thought occurred to her.
Keid
2023-12-16 03:55:03 +0000 UTCAlso, I love their respective misunderstandings of each other. Oliver: Obviously you're a manipulator too! Someone made me lose the commission the first time! Siobhan: ...Oh, right, I have another friend that I know to sometimes be manipulative... Huh. But also. Siobhan: You have to have known about the mines and must still be lying to me about it to manipulate me! You just want to hide that because it makes you look worse if you manipulated me in a sinister, megalomanical plan to control all magic to take over the world. Oliver: ...I didn't know, but that's actually quite convenient for my megalomanical plan to take over the world. Can you hold on for a second while I figure out the logistics?
Keid
2023-12-16 03:19:24 +0000 UTCI’ve been kinda more down on Oliver here than I intended; his goals are complicated by the fact that he might have wanted to protect S. but he didn’t have a good way to do it that would simultaneously protect his secret and assuage his guilt. Setting up the loan was a good way to do both, and he may have intended to forgive the loan if it became too much for S. to bear. He likes to see himself as a benefactor and positive influence both in the world and to individuals. He also doesn’t seem to want to use extortion and some of the worst aspects of organized crime (although blackmail seems to be fair game). S is, perhaps a bit more angry than she ought to be. Deals with the devil often don’t end as well as this.
Jonathan Gordy
2023-12-16 03:17:06 +0000 UTCThis makes me wonder, was the shadow familiar even ever a real esoteric spell with any real history, or was it something her grandfather devised to complement the seal? He knew at that point that any spell he taught her would be cast frequently, and, the genius that he was, he might've seen some way for her to relieve pressure on the seal by letting some power out. Nobody else in this city full of various types of thaumaturges has ever heard of anything similar to put the pieces together about an ordinary spell? Like, esoteric spells are often niche and run in families, but someone at the great university has to research them, and with the degree of notoriety the Raven Queen has, nobody has ever brought any similarities to anyone's attention?🤔
Keid
2023-12-16 02:40:58 +0000 UTCI mean, in addition to being angry in the moment, he also was a spoiled, privileged kid who decided all on his own that he is clever enough to fix the entire world and that he essentially knows better than everyone else... In many cases, he actually does know better, but that just bolsters his arrogance.
Keid
2023-12-16 02:27:34 +0000 UTCI agree with you for the most part that Oliver knows her better than most, but will note that Liza probably has a much more accurate and balanced view of who S really is, even not knowing about the transformation amulet, and even without the two really being friends. That relationship is a great contrast between S's relationship with Oliver. That one is actually genuinely the collaborative relationship based upon fair exchange, mutual respect, and hints towards the beginnings of a genuine friendship that Oliver imagines he had. It would be so perfect if we got our first Liza chapter soon, both as a foil to this one, and to let us in on some of her mysteries.
Keid
2023-12-16 02:12:54 +0000 UTCThis chapter is SO GOOD! Usually I never like when people write falling outs between two characters I understand and like, because it usually revolves around some big misunderstanding or something blown out of proportion, where if one party had just clarified something or said something differently it could've easily been avoided. Having characters fall out like that always feels frustrating and cheap to me as a reader, and never really conveys the complexity and sometimes inevitability of conflicts I tend to experience and see in my life. What you wrote is the perfect antithesis of that. Both characters are represented well and have clear viewpoints in conflict, and while they do misunderstand some things about each other's actions, those misunderstandings are parts of broader patterns displayed by both, and are more a consequence of than source of the conflict. Seriously, that was perfectly written. I was a little surprised that Oliver, with all of his political savvy, didn't catch on to the fact that Ana was deliberately insulting him with the "Mr." slip and calling their business "optimistic", but the man was pretty distracted, so that makes sense. Also, I loved that chapter title, it set the tension up for the chapter well.
Keid
2023-12-16 01:51:03 +0000 UTCYeah, oliver argument falls apart with their first ever interaction, he set out the tone that it was purely transactional when he literally forced her into an extremely predatory loan. Why does he expect her to be nice and generous when he took advantage of her in their first interaction? Every other thing she received came with the requirement, implied or directly said, that she would help the verdant stag. When oliver makes a plan that affect siobhan, she has to just deal with it yet when siobhan makes a plan that affects oliver suddenly oliver has the right to know every detail? How's that make sense?
HardcoreLace756
2023-12-16 00:34:29 +0000 UTCthe long awaited Oliver chapter!!!! I don't necessarily think Oliver is in the wrong for keeping his secrets, but S does have to protect herself, and his reaction to that is quite nasty. It's really easy to talk shit about generosity when he's continuously had the upper hand in their relationship (and he's kept that upper hand forcefully! he can't even verbalize that in his thoughts because of severe cognitive dissosance, but clearly he knows something's wrong with their relationship due to those sinking feelings). It's grating (but actually pretty funny, rip) that if we viewed their relationship through a purely transactional lens, S would still be getting big-time scammed.
v
2023-12-16 00:00:13 +0000 UTCSo do we think the Raven Queen will team up with Lacer to decrypt the books or will she take a tribute from Kiernan and work in parallel, racing Lacer to see who can do it first? Also if she figures out the beast core to conduit process using her "Organic" method maybe they will think she actually has the correct book
Jim A
2023-12-15 20:16:26 +0000 UTCIt's implied but not proven that Ana sabotaged the deal so she would have leverage to get Sebastien to help her depose her uncles.
Stefanie
2023-12-15 17:43:14 +0000 UTCWe knew Siobhan's type is blue eyes and dark hair. Now I guess we know Lacer's type is dark, like ink, and inhumanly powerful 🤣
Stefanie
2023-12-15 17:42:00 +0000 UTCIsn't a Sky Kraken just a big Raven after all 😉
Jim A
2023-12-15 16:40:45 +0000 UTCSo maybe the biggest reason Sebastian is mad at Oliver is that Oliver didn't tell her that he had the book that she was blamed for having, and she thinks he set her up to take the fall on purpose. I guess they both withheld info and assumed the other did it maliciously. I am disappointed in both of them and hope that they can work together in the future. I think they are both good people who make mistakes.
Mike Blandford
2023-12-15 16:16:06 +0000 UTCDid Sebastian really sabotage the initial deal with Oliver and Ana's dad? She didn't deny it, but that seemed really shocking, like how did she even know about that and how would she have even influenced Ana's dad at that point?
Mike Blandford
2023-12-15 16:01:09 +0000 UTCShe teams up with Lacer's ex lover, the giant kraken, and razes the Lilies. (No, I have not let that rumor go.)
Stefanie
2023-12-15 15:40:23 +0000 UTCI just want to say how much I agree with this. It's such a realistic and completely believable portrayal of someone who wears their wealth and privilege on their shoulders without bothering to examine how it affects everything in their lives.
Stefanie
2023-12-15 15:39:12 +0000 UTCExactly. ^ I also think it's important to mention that he coerced and manipulated her into the situation in the first place. She wanted to give back the book, he wanted to use her as a decoy - just like his operative supposedly did. (Do we believe him?) He actively convinced her out of giving the book back, carefully probed her for her true motivation, and then paved a path for her to achieve her goals that kept her crippled by debt and exhaustion, and completely dependent on him. Additionally, as someone else pointed out above, two gifts didn't make a friendship, they set an expectation. And they were all gifts she could wear, that might give him an excuse to touch her - I don't think she's going to miss that detail when she puts it together in the future. After typing this up, I'm asking myself why, exactly, I love Oliver so much? 😤
Stefanie
2023-12-15 15:35:04 +0000 UTCI see Siobhan and Oliver being two sides of the same coin. Both of them have been betrayed by forces outside their control. Oliver has his backstory with his sister which he shies away from, while Siobhan has the events around loosing her grandfather. The result for both is that each of them seeks power and control in their lives. However, I think their backgrounds are what shape the differences in how they approach obtaining power and control. Siobhan seeks to master herself - her magic, her body, her mind. She also seeks to break anything which binds her to the will of others. This is in line with the experiences of a young woman with an unreliable guardian, where the only one she can trust is herself. Oliver, on the other hand, looks to a more political base to establish power with. He is creating and leading a movement with the poor as his base, but in the end he is building a power base with which to establish his control. Oliver, as a child of privilege if not a noble, has been trained to associate power with control over others all of his life. Further, their backgrounds also influence how they see themselves, even though both are outsiders. Oliver, as a Null but wealthy, see himself as separate from those around him. He tries to hide this, but it shines though how he is constantly looking at the things which differentiates himself from others. How many times have we seen him congratulate himself for being "smarter" or "better" then other nobles? Further, especially when under stress, we have seen Oliver being dismissive, rude or downright aggressive towards servants and others of a lower class. Siobhan, conversely, knows she's an outsider due to her lack of money and the advantages that money brings, but does not see herself as any worse (or better) than her peers. She holds everyone to her standards because in her mind there is nothing special about herself which sets her apart - anyone should be able to meet her abilities if effort is applied. She is respectful of anyone regardless of class or social standing. What happened is that both of these individuals demand control and have come into direct conflict. Oliver wants to control Siobhan due to his nature and the fact Oliver believes he has a better understanding of the situation then her. Siobhan, on the other hand, has been looking to free herself from an unequal relationship and build a situation where she is an equal as opposed to a subordinate. Both parties see asking for forgiveness as a sign of weakness, loss of control or undermining their own position. Hence, the break between the two.
rhekke
2023-12-15 14:56:26 +0000 UTCI predict a future chapter " Wrath of the Raven Queen". With the Raven Queen tearing through Gilbratha like Godzilla through Tokyo. All her friends seem to be betraying her, the high crown/the coppers and the red guard after her . She needs to let it all out! After all " The best defense is an overwhelmingly powerful offense" (J. Santiago).... OK maybe Naught... but it sounds like a fun chapter 😉
Jim A
2023-12-15 14:37:00 +0000 UTCDidn't he convince her to keep the book in the first place?
Stefanie
2023-12-15 14:15:13 +0000 UTCOliver’s expectations have been driving this though. Best example: Oliver split the tributes. He could have arranged these tributes as a favor to her, but he didn’t; she had to pay for them. He agreed to loan her money, if she pays interest. He agrees to help her, if she helps he Verdant Stag. And, BTW, he uses several a classic gang methods to tie her to him: oaths, crimes, and blackmail information. Yes, he gives her two gifts - the boots and the feathers. But, two gifts don’t make it a friendship. He’s kept secrets that absolutely mattered to her. Do you think S. should take the revelations that her father is not guilty with a smile? She’s likely devastated that her father didn’t do this intentionally, and she’s been cursing him this whole time.
Jonathan Gordy
2023-12-15 13:43:20 +0000 UTCMan, knowing some wealthy people, oliver is such a great representation of the bleeding-heart philanthropist who sees results as proof. This is exactly the sort of mindset that leads to student loans being so predatory bleh.
conkerer
2023-12-15 12:48:40 +0000 UTCRegardless of how their relationship effects them on a personal level I feel like the outcome of this argument is shaping her personally. The connection between magic and beliefs seems to have been established but can beliefs and magic also shape a person who has a cult growing around her? The more she leans into her role as the raven queen the more it seems to be changing her moreso than just a role she plays
Dominic French
2023-12-15 12:06:44 +0000 UTCOliver has shown he will take advantage of her in negotiations i.e in transactions. Oliver doesn't know he needs Siobhan to translate/decode the book. We don't know that there isn't another way to translate the book. If Siobhan is required to translate/decode the book then yes he should have appeased her even if her fury is unreasonable and he is right.
RedEyeLordofFire
2023-12-15 11:28:36 +0000 UTCThe reward was retrieving her mothers master level conduit. An item of significant sentimental value, worth thousands of gold and of exceptional personal value to Siobhan as a growing thaumaturge. As it turned out Siobhan made out like a bandit with the significant financial reward she received from Oliver on top of retrieving her mothers conduit. Out of everything Siobahn has done this is the operation she stood to gain from the most by a significant margin. In terms of Risk every second she spends as Siobhan is a risk meeting people as the Raven Queen is a Risk. In this case Siobhan has a significant advantage in surprise and preparation Ana's uncles weren't expecting Ana to move against them giving them the advantage of surprise and the operation wasn't urgent allowing them to prepare for it comprehensively additionally they had an information advantage through Ana and her younger sister which enabled such comprehensive preparations. She has done far riskier things for far less reward such as stalking Tanya Canelo. i don't really see how Oliver acted as a predatory loan shark. Moreover Oliver established a transactional relationship through the loan but he also established a friendship through buying Siobhan gifts, giving advice, provided both aid and lodging and trusted her with sensitive information. Siobhan has only ever reciprocated the transactional part of their relationship.
RedEyeLordofFire
2023-12-15 11:22:06 +0000 UTCSiobhan couldn't really afford to not be transactional imo, like she is in a precarious position with extremely few resources and even fewer allies, oliver has shown that he will take advantage if she let's him so she can't let him. She has to charge him or else she just fails. Like oliver is an extremely wealthy individual who doesn't need her anywhere near as much as she needs him. Oliver can afford to not be transactional, siobhan cant. It seems oliver has been too rich for too long and has forgotten how poverty affects someone, especially someone who needs to be in so many places just to survive.
HardcoreLace756
2023-12-15 11:11:46 +0000 UTCI'm not entirely sure if this is an appropriate channel to discuss this, if not please let me know and I'll delete this. But I've been interested with helping on the admin side for a while now ever since I became aware that you were looking for the help. That is of course, if the position is still available and I qualify and am actually able to fulfill the requirements. I've absolutely fallen in love with the story so I really jumped at the request for help.
Emma Mass
2023-12-15 10:48:23 +0000 UTCI disagree. Oliver established that relationship dynamic by being a predatory loan shark. S needs to pay back the loan somehow (she's unemployed and a student, so essentially a money sink really, all she theoretically can do is generate expenses) and the terms of her compensation were discussed even before she asked for them. This is not a casual friendship, Oliver has all the power in this relationship. And it's been repeatedly demonstrated that Oliver had and would've happily take advantage of S because she didn't understand her worth. He even admitted he was glad she finally caught on because it made him feel bad (not that he was stopping on his own). Also I don't think S reaction to Ana was disproportionate. She was under alot of stress and was in no position to offer more of herself when already spread so thin. Ana wasn't asking for something simple or easy either. Even though all went well in the end, the operation had an almost too high risk in my opinion, for something that could've given S very little reward when done out of the goodness of her heart.
Emma Mass
2023-12-15 10:32:21 +0000 UTCI agree on both of your comments. I think the first part that is about how Oliver thinks about Siobhan's actions should be closer to those actions. For the should Oliver apologize question, I think so far what I have seen from Oliver he does not seem to be the person to apologize, as he seems to be sure in thinking that what he does is right. Maybe if he has some time to think, but not in the heat of the moment. I liked the conversation between them a lot!
Sári András
2023-12-15 08:46:09 +0000 UTCNo. I agree with Oliver. They do have a transactional relationship when he wants her assistance. Even when Siobhan has gone above and beyond to assist him. She has asked for and received compensation. Siobhan's behavior here reminds me a lot of her reaction to Ana's initial request to assist her in removing her uncles from power. That was also an irrational and extremely angry response. Siobhan is reckless and irresponsible someone needs to be able to hold her to account and Lacer is currently incapable of doing so. Only Oliver can fill this role.
RedEyeLordofFire
2023-12-15 08:23:25 +0000 UTCAnother option is that with her deciding to embrace her identity as the raven queen, in all of her forms (Si./Se) combined with all the power of belief may start to affect the physical world. I already think it’s affecting her mental mindset, but that may be a natural consequence of the worship like treatment and respect the raven queen gets, opposed to S.
The Stars Align
2023-12-15 07:20:25 +0000 UTCPeople who think they are right don’t apologize easily. He would have to agree that he was at fault for setting this scheme in place; wealth tends to blind people to their own faults. And Oliver is, if anything, very wealthy. He doesn’t understand how much pressure he put on S., because he doesn’t know how much pressure poverty put on her. He might have apologized for lying though; in the conversation it seemed like he was about to, when he admitted so freely that he had. Whether he should apologize depends on his future role in the story. BUT if he did, I’m not sure that S. would realistically become more like the Raven Queen at the end of the conversation. I do think he is written as the sort of person that will, eventually, apologize. He seems guilty that he put S. in this position. Yet again, I feel like the ideas from the rumors and worship are making S. into the Raven Queen - everything may become a transaction - even if she does not want it to.
Jonathan Gordy
2023-12-15 05:57:10 +0000 UTCWhile I liked the chapter a lot, I think the book would benefit from an earlier chapter dealing with Oliver's thought processes - it's a lot to unpack in a short chapter and it seems rushed. Also, I have to agree that somewhere in the chapter there should have made mention of obtaining her book
Robert Betts
2023-12-15 05:54:26 +0000 UTCYes. His scheme trampled her underfoot, and his solution was to provide her with a huge debt and manipulate her into illegal behavior. Oh, and he’s so used to manipulating people, he thinks S. has done the same.
Jonathan Gordy
2023-12-15 05:36:46 +0000 UTCWow, I did not see that coming. I thought S would bide her time to find a more subtle and lucrative way to approach this but then again, she's stated that that's not her forte. “The one you have contains a method to transmute pure celerium from beast cores,” she said. She paused a moment for him to speak, but when he remained silent, she continued. “Do you know what the one I have contains?” S previously mentioned that she was perhaps the only person in all of Lenore that could decode Myrddin's journals and that that was a form of leverage. Whether knowingly or not, S did a great job here of implying that she can - if not that she already has - decode the books. Oliver's plan is nothing more than a faraway idea if he can't decode the books and he probably has very little at his disposal when it comes to resources relating to this. I'm sure it was just the heat of the moment, but once he settles down to think about the implications, he's gonna realise how seriously he fucked up not holding on to S with everything he had because now he just has a book that nobody can read - and what is that if not useless. On the other hand, S now has more power as she's set it up so that if Oliver wants to decode his book, he has to approach her as the Raven queen with a worthy boon, which I think is one hell of a task. Further, she gets double the reward since she actually gets to read the book meanwhile. Secondly, I'm not sure I quiet understand what's going on with the Gervin textile commision. Did something happen BTS that wasn't really discussed and will be revealed later on? Even S's reply to that statement by Oliver was vague. It could mean so many things: Did S secretly sabotage the textile contract and is now suspecting Ana of reveailng the secret? Was S aware of sabatoge but was unrelated to it? Was S unaware of anything and now suspects that something else it at play here? Like that Ana set the whole thing up to have a premise to ask for help? ( if so then it really is the season for knives in the back and blood on the floor. I really don't think S would take that well) But the timelines don't really make sense for any of these. It seemed pretty organic in my opinion but maybe I should go back to that part and inspect it with a more critical eye. Thirdly: Oliver cannot seriously be trying to guilt and manipulate this impasse to his favour after everthing that came to light. He can't earnestly say that S is always transactional when he was the one that established that relationship dynamic. Does he just expect her to enteract freely with somenone she owes 1000 gold crowns to with 50% interest, has a blood print vow of and knows about the only identity thats protecting her from scrutiny? That's a disprorportionate amount of power he has over her; the relationship was doomed from the start. Especially when it came to light exactly how much he was taking advanatage of her in terms of compensation and monetary interests. Like, be serious Oliver. I'm sure he realises but doesn't want to give S ammunition she doesn't know she has, but really everything is at least distantly if not peripherally his fault. The compulsion that was placed on the book that urged Ennis Naught to take it (I'm starting to suspect it because it just seems so out of character for him- not in the sense that he would steal, he's already an established Kleptomaniac- but that he would steal a book that he has no use for and doesn't really understand the value of, in a campus filled with highly trained and dangerous thaumaturges. I'd like to think he's a little smarter than that if his gotten away with petty theft for so long. It also makes sense since he's probably the first non-thaumaturge to come into contact with the book since it's delivery to the university, and being untrained means he has no protections against compulsions. It probably helps that it aligns with his own proclivities- it's not that hard to rationalize why your doing a particular action when it's not an largely divergent behaviour). He essentially derailed S life and everything that's happened to that point was because he severely limited the options available to her, making her essentially reliant on him (in true Olver manipulation fashion). And arguing how tenous that connection is also lets S do the same. He can't really come at her for all the collateral that occured because of her plan either, because he essentially brought the Raven queen into conception, fostered the idea, encouraged the reputation and even profited from it. His partially responsible for all those injuries and arrests for aligning he Verdent stag and therefore everyone in the terrotory with the Raven queen. Not that I absolve S of any responsibilty but he has to see that she is not an island and only really did the best with what was given to her. Further, how do you expect her to care about other people and the greater good when her life is essentially like a cluster grenade went off in her face? It's already been established that S has a deep sense of self-preservation and I don't see most people turning their noses up to some of her decisions she made when put into her situation. The ultimate reason she went through with it was to get rid of the blood sample that the coppers only have because the got cut up saving his life. If I was S I would of called him out for all of the unplanned and dubiuosly-consented operations she was involved in becasue of him. On a more positive note - her shadow?👀👀👀 On one hand, I've read the blurb for book four so I hope this is part of the burgoening power mentioned in it. On the other hand, if it's movement was unknown to her and she's unaware of it, it could pose a problem for her Sebastion identity because if it reacts to her emotions. It's an unwanted tell that could essentially blow her cover. Also how does she plan to co-ordinate Raven queen movements and set up meetings now that she's no longer alignied with Oliver? He was essentially her ears on the ground and she kinda has a lot less access without him. Or will they have some type of tentative arrangement? Maybe not, if she's planning to retire her persona short-term but that seems unlikely given the current circumstances. Also, will she make the breakaway from the Verdent stags public? How will it affect relations with the Nightmare Pack? Or even the Verdent Stags repuation? Will people avoid them now that they think they have earned the Raven queen's ire? How will it affect business? What about S's brewing? Was her contributions significant enough that it will be noticeable if she stops brewing for the Verdent stag? Will she stop? It seemed like great practice to me and might have contributed to her insane will-growth. Also, their relationship right now seems kind of hair-trigger. The both have a gun pointed to each others heads and are just playing Russian roulette. Oliver knows about S safe identity and true cabalities while S knows about the 5th journal. I think they just might be large enough liabilities to one another that they will ahve to co-operate one way or another. There is no way to truly end their relationship when they're essentially each other's kill swtch. Sorry this was so long and disjointed, I just hand so many thoughts after reading this chapter that I needed to get out. And finally, thank you for the chapter! P.S. Oliver should be lowkey grateful for the turnout of events of else they might have lost Theo forever.
Emma Mass
2023-12-15 05:30:33 +0000 UTCOne discrepancy I noticed that is kind of small but now that I'm thinking about it kind of stands out to me - sebastion is known for having a whip like tongue and not being afraid to use it, but she seems oddly quiet during this whole thing, maybe it's due to their past friendship that she is unwilling to cut Oliver apart with words but I felt like she could have really sunk him low if she wanted, easily providing counter arguments to shut down everything oliver said, but for some reason she let him get to her which strikes me as odd
PyritePlunder
2023-12-15 05:25:51 +0000 UTCI think it has already happened based on the fanaticism shown by a lot of the civilians and even some of the guards she's interacted with! She just needs to have a point of contact, a way for her to get her words to the people, and they will flock to her in a heartbeat
PyritePlunder
2023-12-15 05:21:12 +0000 UTCFirstly, I'd like to thank you for taking the time to write that well thought out and detailed response, the transparency really does help take away some of the sting of my reading hungers! Secondly, while I will say that I hope for more frequent posts, I do totally understand that well written stories don't just appear from no where, and at the very least... I have spent the last 4 hours thinking about this chapter! If I must starve a little between meals, I'm glad that those meals are at least delicious, to use a metaphor 😅
PyritePlunder
2023-12-15 05:14:35 +0000 UTCI don’t think it’s love in a romantic sense, but he definitely cares for her. I feel like this is how people in positions of power lose their humanity.
ParadoxFox
2023-12-15 04:15:23 +0000 UTCAs much value as Oliver is, from her perspective, he might also be the cause of most of it. If the person he hired did place a compulsion then the initial circumstances are his fault. Also, the first mission Oliver made her go on, is what made her lose blood and make the Raven Queen appearance necessary. We readers can see Oliver’s perspective and know he isn’t intentionally malicious, but Siobhan is right to be wary of a man that has practically been laughing behind her back.
darkmuch
2023-12-15 04:12:39 +0000 UTCNice theory! But during the fight when she used her shadow, she was still using her hands to cast the spell at that time. And in here there were no description of her trying to cast a spell so it seems unlikely. It is plausible though that the shadow rippling is a sign she's getting stronger on handling her magic.
2023-12-15 04:07:16 +0000 UTCMy theory is more mundane (well quite supernatural but you know what I mean). She probably just cast the spell she learned to free cast during the big fight as prep just in case things broke violent. She was obviously coming expecting a bad turn, so her one free cast spell she might have been holding the while time. Maybe with the circle maybe not even that.
Kaelik
2023-12-15 03:46:41 +0000 UTCThis is a good point. It's pretty fucked up to be like "you owe me more money then you've ever seen in your life. Anyway here's a couple expensive gifts now be my friend." Real boss bringing I'm pizza to work and expecting people to think they are super kind while fighting against giving raises energy.
Kaelik
2023-12-15 03:43:05 +0000 UTCA bit of hindsight 20/20 but the way things played out it seems really weird to try to throw "you weren't thinking of others when you planned your stunt" at S since if she hadn't planned her stunt theo and miles were still being kidnapped. Seems like your advice of "lie low" was in fact not thinking too hard about what would happen to others either Oliver! That said seems like Oliver is correct that S has been always quiet transactional, a criticism she's heard before from Ana which was just as true then. But if Oliver seriously thought about what S has gone through just since they've started their relationship he should realize that she's playing in a league way too big for her and regularly risking her life for him. I think there have been a lot of miscommunications that lead people down confusing ideas. For example I think Oliver has no idea that S was still getting hit by "fuck you, abandon your entire position and get out of the city" level divinations on the regular. If one of those ever happened while she was just like, in class, it would basically require her to abandon Sebastian entirely. On the other hand you have stuff like Oliver blaming S for stuff Ana did on her behalf or S thinking he gave her the silvering name as a plot. Think Oliver could stand to be a lot more reasonable about what S is going through, but S is being silly getting mad at him for not revealing his biggest secret to her at this point.
Kaelik
2023-12-15 03:39:35 +0000 UTCi don't think oliver is in the wrong, he has never propported to be a good person, he does everything to help others though, which is an interesting contrast to siohban who may not have had great options but had always been largely self centered.
Karma Baris
2023-12-15 03:27:08 +0000 UTC"should Oliver have apologized?"... good question... he should have, but for the story its good he didn't because it allows for them to take a break... she can find new places and alliances. Maybe it's time for her to get a place of her own... then somewhere down the road maybe he will figure out he was a bone head... just like the rest of us guys do after having a blowout with someone we love but put our foot all the way into it anyway..because we saw red...The rippling shadow is very ominous-I love it
Jim A
2023-12-15 03:20:39 +0000 UTCOliver seems a bit of a hypocrite - while, sure, he has helped her more than strictly necessary, the first thing he did was stick her with a rather large debt, and a binding oath. Sure, it wouldn't have made sense to just give a random person full tuition (I'm sure there are plenty of other amateur thaumaturges who would kill for that opportunity, and were not obviously less skilled than she, actually). But regardless, the relation was rather transactional on both sides from the start.
Flying Goat
2023-12-15 03:19:28 +0000 UTCI don't think she will. She'll likely assume Oliver wouldn't take that risk, assuming he'd even need to.
Hibou Ronchon
2023-12-15 03:18:15 +0000 UTCThere are reasonable arguments on both sides, but I feel like for the most part, Siobhan's actions stem from her lack of other options. A lack owed in a non-negligible way to Oliver, even though it's also true that he did save her and opened doors that would otherwise have been closed. The thing is, Oliver knew what it was all about, he made the choices fully knowing what they meant. Most of Siobhan's choices are either because she didn't have any other options, didn't imagine all the consequences they would have, or simply couldn't trust anyone...because of Oliver.
Hibou Ronchon
2023-12-15 03:16:04 +0000 UTCPyritePlunder, I just wanted to point out that there may be a bit of a misconception when it comes to The Catastrophe Collector. That's a spinoff story I wrote in the evenings, after I finished the main day's work for PGTS, over about 18 months from conception to publication. It's a bonus. Chapters from that book are going to run out and end soon, but when they do PGTS is not going to fill the empty Monday chapter spot. PGTS is one chapter per week because that's as fast a pace as I've been able to output. I too would like to increase that, but it's the thinking time required that slows me down. Adding on a secondary project meant that I wrote more in 2023 than I have in any year prior. Now that I have some help with the admin stuff I hope to have more time to write in 2024, but I'm not sure how much, if any, that will allow me to increase PGTS output. Fingers crossed.
Azalea Ellis
2023-12-15 03:15:17 +0000 UTCAlso: YES. THANK YOU. Make up the rules and get mad that someone else is following them? Play stupid games, win stupid prizes, Oliver...
Stefanie
2023-12-15 03:12:14 +0000 UTCMaybe? I'm not sure. He's spent an awful lot of on and off the page time with her, and has been through a lot with her. I would agree that his feelings are most likely for the version of her that he's built up in his head, but I think his view of her is closer to the truth than anyone has gotten so far.
Stefanie
2023-12-15 03:04:04 +0000 UTC"A few minutes later, she said a warm goodbye to Sharon, was forced to accept a picnic basket of food, and left." I hope the few minutes was the time it took to get her book from her old bedroom
Jim A
2023-12-15 02:41:46 +0000 UTCThen It's Time for the Clan of the Raven Queen... I think its happening wether she wants it to or not
Jim A
2023-12-15 02:40:58 +0000 UTCAaah okay, I'm the dumb one then. That *sucks* for Sebastian cause now she's finding out that her *other* friend also duped her. Gonna have some trust issues for a while after this. :(
begna112
2023-12-15 02:32:35 +0000 UTCOliver had it set up but it fell through mysteriously. Then Sebastian showed up and claimed she could get it back. Oliver obviously thinks Sebastian used Ana to stop it to extort Oliver. But the reader is supposed to intuit that Ana was the one who interfered in order to get a favor from Sebastian, a fact which Sebastian is just now figuring out when Oliver points out how fishy the timing is.
K. William Klaassen
2023-12-15 02:30:45 +0000 UTCUgh, also, the implication of "what will you give me" when we know what he really wants. She might not, but I think we do.
begna112
2023-12-15 02:25:36 +0000 UTCI feel like it's more infatuation than love. Realistically they've not done much on-sceeen bonding. And he's felt this way basically since they met. I feel like he knows her in the way most of her friends and teachers know her: just a side of her without much of insight into what really makes her who she is. I honestly put him just a step above Lacer in terms of personal relationship.
begna112
2023-12-15 02:20:31 +0000 UTCI think she’s mad enough to ensure he’s not requesting favors based on her good name that he isn’t paying for directly. Not if she’s requiring tribute for speaking to her.
Briar
2023-12-15 02:19:19 +0000 UTCAm I a moron for thinking Siobhan is at fault? It seems like she’s throwing away a valuable alliance out of pride. Though I do like the idea that the Raven Queen will be allied with someone other than the Stags, it’s more interesting if she colludes with the Architects, the Nightmare Pack, or with Lacer. Decoding her book should be Siobhan’s top priority, she can probably get through it in a few weeks if she can sneak the book into the library for referencing all the old glyphs.
James Barclay
2023-12-15 02:16:51 +0000 UTCCan someone explain to me the textile sub-commission thing? I thought Sebastian was the one who tried to get that setup for Oliver. Also, pretty low of him to not see that his own scheme to keep her under his thumb with the loans and such is exactly why everything was transactional. He was the only one in their relationship in a position to be generous. Oliver makes me so angry at him at times.
begna112
2023-12-15 02:11:07 +0000 UTCLosing control? Or she never really had it...?
Stefanie
2023-12-15 02:03:33 +0000 UTCYou replied right!!! And I get it. I think everyone would love more than a chapter a week, but that's not possible right now. I'm hoping the forum will help to fill in the time between chapters!
Stefanie
2023-12-15 02:02:05 +0000 UTCYeah. A shame though that their friendship had to end this way. They had a really good relationship, but Oliver's secret was too big for Siobhan to let it slide.
2023-12-15 02:01:28 +0000 UTCReplied to the wrong comment so deleting this.
Briar
2023-12-15 01:55:01 +0000 UTCI can't tell if I replied to you or myself ☠️
PyritePlunder
2023-12-15 01:52:28 +0000 UTCOh I'm with you on the Oliver chapter! I loved everything about this chapter and was really glad to see the mc finally go and speak to oliver about their issues, shame it went the way it did but its also extremely relatable and realistic, beautiful chapter! I just wish we could read chapters like this with more frequency instead of getting some kind of comic relief, meh side character chapter... One chapter a week that drives the plot forward is just insanely slow and the main reason why I cancelled my membership lil, I still love the story, but its not worth the money to me with such a slow release schedule, I will probably stack chapters for awhile and then re up my membership again
PyritePlunder
2023-12-15 01:51:45 +0000 UTCYou think she's going to sink that far? That would definitely have some very real consequences for Oliver. Less now, but definitely when their 5 year or whatever pact is up.
Stefanie
2023-12-15 01:45:54 +0000 UTCSiobhan's shadow rippling without having her cast the spell? Oh boy, might be the case of either the aberrant seeping through, Siobhan getting stronger, or the shadow gaining sapience. Fingers crossed though🤞 hope my gurl comes out of this well.
2023-12-15 01:45:49 +0000 UTCThis is realistic. He is too angry and distressed to apologise at this point. Hopefully he finds a way to do it later
David Brims
2023-12-15 01:44:52 +0000 UTCI've been waiting for an Oliver chapter for the whole book. I loved it. Apparently that's an unpopular opinion! 😂🤣
Stefanie
2023-12-15 01:44:40 +0000 UTCI can’t wait to see the fallout of this. Will she tell the nightmare pack he’s no longer an ally and so to beware of any favors that claim to be for her?
Briar
2023-12-15 01:43:47 +0000 UTCHe really, truly, loves her. But he's still so lost in a world where he thinks his only choice is to manipulate and control people. And he thinks giving her a pair of boots and room and board is enough to negate how he took away her choices and her personal safety? And he still can't see how he's the one who's forced her into sacrificing her own morals and integrity just to survive? He's too realistic of a character. Why can't he just apologize for using her and come clean?
Stefanie
2023-12-15 01:42:06 +0000 UTCAhhhhh! I hope the percy chapters end so we can have more mc chapters driving the plot forward! Waiting another week to read this is pure agony ☠️
PyritePlunder
2023-12-15 01:33:56 +0000 UTCFirst
ShadyTundra
2023-12-15 01:19:43 +0000 UTC
