#do you think Cardan watches them with her

[bogwitchbooks]

Jude Duarte canonically watching Yuri On Ice at the end of The Wicked King is something people don’t talk about nearly enough

[hattiewritesalot]

Poison

Azriel x Reader

Summary: At an event hosted by High Lord Beron, Azriel's closest friend Y/N seems to be incredibly wasted. The only problem? Azriel knows that she doesn't get drunk. Ever.

Warnings: Mentions of alcohol, poison, vomiting, a drunk love confession, a bit of angst but it is all in all quite fluffy

A/N: So this may or may not be inspired by the scene in Wicked King where Cardan gets poisoned... enjoy!! :3

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Y/N is, as always, on high alert as she follows Rhys into the ballroom. Something combined with her dislike for social events and her lack of trust for the High Lord of Autumn meant her eyes and ears were everywhere, keeping constant watch over everything. Azriel’s large hand gently splays over her bare back, the rough fingers a gentle reminder that he’s there, and possibly to tell her to stop being so tense. She shoots a glare at her best friend, who responds with a badly-concealed smile.

She’s dressed in black, they all are, as is custom in the Night Court. Her dress is floor length, the black satin offering a nice hold around her figure, the neckline a low plunge, and the slit on her left side allowing her some freedom. The fabric is littered with silver threads and diamonds, meant to represent constellations, and also to match the sparkly heels on her feet. She looks pretty. She feels it.

A servant welcomes them warmly, almost immediately offering the group a drink of champagne, which she takes. Cassian snorts, and teases her for taking the only glass that the poor servant had, but she rolls her eyes and takes a sip.

She rarely drinks. She doesn’t like it. She’s seen enough of the boys’ drunk shenanigans to be put off it for a lifetime. She usually stays sober, if not tipsy, whenever they go to Rita’s, opting for escorting a stumbling Rhys back to Feyre rather than being the one stumbling.

But one drink won’t hurt. Not tonight. Tonight, she’ll need it.

The Inner Circle split up around the room, Azriel hot on Y/N’s trails, scarred fingers just barely tracing her bare shoulders. She sighs, leaning against a wall, him doing the same. “Time check?”

Azriel snorts. “You’re the one with the watch.”

She clicks her tongue, and checks the time, leaning back with a groan. “Two more hours of… this.”

“Always a ray of sunshine.”

“Says the shadowsinger.” she grins. Azriel was the first person she’d met in the Inner Circle, and coincidentally, her closest friend. They’d been attached at the hip the moment she’d introduced herself. They know everything about each other, inside and out. 

She’d never admit it, but her heart longed for the Illyrian. He was always so clever, so considerate. And, not to mention, his sharp features and hazel eyes made heat rise in her cheeks; hot, blissful, lovestruck heat.

“I think Cassian wants me for something.” Azriel muses, tipping his chin towards where Cassian was very unsubtly gesturing for him to accompany him. Y/N narrows her eyes at the redhead he’s standing with, and laughs. 

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say that were Eris Vanserra. Good luck, Az.”

Azriel groans, playfully tugging her hair as he walks over to his brother.

All alone, now. She drinks her champagne, downing it almost immediately. She liked champagne. It never got you too drunk, never made you too irrational. “Enjoying the festivities, Y/N?” Beron’s voice purrs out from behind her. She forces a smile.

“I’d say yes, but it appears I’ve run out of champagne.” The High Lord cocks a brow at her words, and offers her another glass with a different, more vibrant liquid. “Try this. It’s exclusive to the Autumn Court. I believe you’ll enjoy it, it’s not too strong.”

She eyes the glass, before taking it, taking a sip. It’s a subtle flavour - fruity, slightly bitter. “Thank you, my lord.” His smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes as he walks away. 

Cauldron, this drink is good. She drinks every last drop, and places it down on the table next to her, looking for a bottle of the same-

Oh. Oh. This is fun. Fun, fun, fun!

Why isn’t she having fun! Tonight is amazing!

An uncontrollable giggle tears from her throat, the sound throwing her off slightly as wave after wave of lucid dizziness hit her. She laughs, clutching her chest. This is so fun!

Where’s Azriel? Is he having fun? Oh, she loves him. Loves him so much. Where is he!?

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Azriel cracks his neck, obviously not wanting to engage with the eldest son of the High Lord, who clearly would rather be anywhere else. Cassian is long gone, with the excuse of seeing Nesta, and now Azriel has been left to deal with Eris. This could not get any worse.

Until it does.

Y/N beams at him, tripping over her feet to get to him, stumbling as she slumps into his arms, snorting and giggling. He freezes. Eris chokes on a laugh. Her hands reach up to grab his face and tug at his hair.

“Y/N?” he murmurs, taken slightly off-guard by her strange behaviours.

“Azzy!” she squeals, laughing and kissing his cheek. Eris cocks a brow. “Looks like your little Y/N’s had too much to drink.” His words echo around Azriel’s head. No, that can’t be. Y/N doesn’t like drinking. And why would she get drunk here of all places? And why-

His heart sinks. Her pupils are dilated. Her body is trembling. Her skin is turning clammy. 

This isn’t alcohol. It’s poison. 

His eyes go wide as he pulls her form into his arms. “Y/N?” he mumbles, a little firmer now. “Y/N, what’s going on?”

“Nothing, silly!” she squeals. Eris laughs again, and Azriel’s head whips towards him. “What the fuck did you do to her!?” The eldest son’s eyes widen at his harsh, almost growling tone. 

“Me? I’ve done nothing. She’s just drunk, shadowsinger.” He sneers at him down his pointy nose. Azriel clutches Y/N closer, ignoring all of her babbles as she squishes his cheeks and tugs his dark locks like a child. 

“I love you!” she squeals. “I love you sooooo much. So much. I wish we were mates.” she slurs. Azriel takes a shaky breath at her words, and Eris gestures to her flailing form. “See? Drunk.”

“She’s not- she’s not drunk, she’s- fuck, where’s Rhys?” His tone is desperate as he searches for the High Lord. Y/N’s knees start to buckle, but he wraps her arms around her thighs. “Stay with me, sweetheart, you’re gonna be okay.” He manages to catch the attention of Rhys, whose eyes go wide at the sight of Y/N’s slumped form, and he rushes to them. “What-”

“She’s been poisoned.” Azriel chokes out, panic surging in his veins as he hugs his girl as tightly as he can to his chest. “We- we need to get her out.” Rhys takes a breath, and seems to send a message to Feyre, because she starts to round everyone up. “She’ll be okay, Az, just calm down-”

“I’m not going to calm down! She could die!” He snaps. Rhys backs off at the protective gaze in his brother’s eyes. “Get her back to the Night Court, I’ll sort out here.” Azriel hooks one arm under her knees and the other on her back as he closes his eyes, winnowing back to Velaris. 

She squirms, shoving herself onto the cold floor of the Moonstone Palace, and she pukes, gasping and gagging. He shushes her gently, his shadows swirling around her and stroking her hair back as she retches. “It’s okay, you’re okay. Get it all out.”

As she vomits, his mind can’t help but flick back to what she said in the Autumn Court. ‘I love you!’ ‘I wish we were mates.’ His heart flutters at the recollection, but he silently growls at it to shut up. She’s been poisoned. Her head isn’t right. She was probably just saying words for the fun of it. She doesn’t mean it. She doesn’t mean it.

But still…

No, heart, stop it.

He pulls her up against his chest when she’s finished, gently rubbing her back. She sobs, slurring unintelligible words. He kisses her sweaty temple and carefully carries her up to her room, murmuring sweet nothings to keep her calm, but her body thrashes. Her eyes are rolling back. His hands are shaking. 

He just about manages to get her writhing form onto the bed when Rhys arrives, Madja hot on his trails. “She’s been poisoned?” she asks. Y/N screams in response. Rhys winces at the noise, but the expression worsens at the fury on Azriel’s face.

“Azriel-”

“Go on.” He growls. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t storm back in there and kill them all.”

“Because first of all, that’ll be a lot of paperwork for me, and second of all, I don’t think Y/N wants you to leave.”

Rhys is, frustratingly, right. Y/N has taken it upon herself to latch onto Azriel’s arm, clutching him and mumbling profusely, cheek squished against his bicep. He sighs, and gently pats her hair, shooting a glare to the High Lord of Night in the process.

He sits with her the entire time Madja treats her, his fingers tightly intertwined with hers. The healer concludes that she’ll be okay, but not without side-effects. She says he was clever to get her home so quickly. It wasn’t out of intelligence, it was out of fear.

She gives Y/N a sleeping draught, just so her aching body can get some rest, and then she leaves. Azriel stares at his best friend’s face, and figures he should do the same. He presses a soft kiss to her forehead, smiles at her fluttering eyes, and moves to leave.

Standing in the doorway, however, his eyes flit back to hers, the hazel of his irises connecting with her soft hues.

And then he feels it.

Like a string pulled taut, it snaps within his chest, flooding his veins with the pure bliss of finally having something to protect, to care for, to love. It roars throughout his body, his heart burning with the golden flames of the bond.

Mate.

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PART TWO HERE!!

lol hmu I write for acotar now

[lqveharrington]

Feelings Mutual | C.G.

summary: Your forced to hangout with Cardan at the High King’s birthday celebration. Turns out, you both make stupid decisions when drunk. And what’s the fine line between hatred and love between two being who can’t lie anyway?

pairing: Cardan Greenbriar x half fae!fem!reader

includes: drunk Cardan, drunk reader, cursing, making out, suggestiveness, no use of Y/N, barely proofread (i think that’s it)

a/n: i’m on a reading spree, and working on my projects, so this should help get me out of a huge writing slump.

In Faerie, it was uncommon for a half fae, half human being to be a princess in the court. Your father — the King of one of the many lands — wed a human woman, causing you to become the land’s princess. Of course many of the court thought that you were lesser than them; For such a creation should never hold that high of a status.

Ever since you were younger, you often attended lessons with the High King’s youngest child. At first, you sought out to befriend him and his group of friends. But you soon found out that they loathed you. Because how could a halfling ever be a worthy princess?

So you gave up trying to befriend them. You let the group taunt you for not being full fae, but what was the worst thing they could do? You still were a daughter of a very powerful king. The very king that was the closest with the High King himself.

You and your family were constantly invited to all their gatherings, and this one wasn’t an exception. It was the High King’s birthday, which meant all of Faerie was invited to Elfhame palace to celebrate such a day. The only issue with that meant your father and mother urged you to talk to Cardan and his group.

“Mother, they don’t like me.” You wring your hands together, fidgeting with your silver jewelry.

She clicked her tongue, “Nonsense. Prince Balekin spoke of how much Cardan talks about you when he comes home from your lessons.”

“Wait what?” Your eyes widen at her in disbelief. “Mother, I’m sure they’re words of hate.”

“Is it because you don’t like your dress? Are you afraid they’ll hate it?” She tugged you to stand in front of herself. “You look gorgeous, angel.”

You purse your lips at her compliment. You truly loved the dress. It was a beautiful sage color that complimented your skin tone completely, and the corset really did wonders. There were gorgeous lace details of butterflies that were a shade darker, with a slit running down one side of the dress. It was beautiful, but you feared that it was much too modern for Faerie, causing your thoughts to wander to how Cardan’s friends would insult it.

“No, I love the dress, mother.” You give her a tight lipped smile, squeeze her hands. “If you truly wish for me to find Cardan, I’ll go and be friendly so you and father can enjoy your time here.”

“Thank you.” She pressed a kiss to your forehead and a real smile etched its way onto your face.

“Be safe, alright?” Your father squeezed your shoulder before leaning down to whisper words your mother couldn’t hear. “If trouble comes, you know what I’ve taught you. You have your dagger?”

Your lips twitch in excitement, “Of course.”

“Then you’re all set then, kiddo.” He gave you one last look before resting an arm around your mother’s waist. “I’ll come find you when it’s time for us to depart.”

You nod before taking a small bow. You watched them leave and make their way to the throne, immediately engaging with the High King and Queen. They seemed happy, which made you glad that they accepted your mother as their own. Shaking your head, you took a deep breath and blew out the air in one go. Carefully, you made your way over to Cardan. Luckily, he was on his own for once.

“Cardan.” You nod in his direction, watching his dark eyes with flecks of gold suddenly gazing into yours. Without fail, his eyes roam over your body, tail whipping behind himself after gaining someone’s attention.

“Princess! Don’t you look absolutely captivating tonight.” He slurred, red wine dripping out of his glass. “Welcome to my humble abode.”

You raised a brow at the prince. From what you could recall, he didn’t live inside the palace walls. And there wasn’t a chance he could lie either. “You don’t live here.”

“I used to.” He tipped his glass up to his wine stained lips, taking in the drink whilst taking in the sight of you.

“Where are your—“ You use your hand to gesture in the air as you grab your own glass of wine from a server passing buy. Unsure of how to word your question, you sip on the wine, immediately hit by its strength. “Where are your friends, I should say.”

“Off to bother some mortal or do something stupid.” He smiles in your direction as you down your drink and reach for another. “What’s upsetting you, princess?”

“Nothing.” You tilt your head toward him, eyes flicking down from his strange stare to his stained lips. “Just want time to move faster.”

“How drunk do you want to get?” He leans closer to you, fingers itching to pull you into him.

You place a hand to his mouth and push him further away from yourself. He hums as he traces his finger over his empty wine glass.

“How many glasses have you had, Cardan?” You tip back your third drink, missing his smirk while he watches.

“Enough.”

“Enough to forget?” You turn toward the table and grab the strongest drink, carefully downing the drink.

His shadow towers over you as his breath tickles your neck, “Forget what exactly, love?”

“I hate you.” You say against Cardan’s lips, arms loosely hanging around his neck. “I hate you so much.”

He continues to push you backwards as he slams the door behind him, hands finding their place around your waist. “Feelings mutual, princess.”

Letting your hand thread through his hair, you pull him in for a more heated kiss, tugging ever so slightly at his roots. Cardan groans against your lips, pulling your body closer to his.

“This is such a stupid idea.” You unwillingly part as he drops you down on a bed — hopefully one that used to be his. You let out a small gasp as he litters soft kisses on your throat and down to your exposed collar bone. Your hands find his shoulders, pulling him impossibly closer. “Cardan—“

“Yes, love?” He slowly makes his way back up to your lips, pressing short kisses as you try to make sense of the situation. He stops attacking you with his lips, staring and waiting for you to continue.

You shake your head, eyes glassy with drunkenness as you meet his gaze. “Kiss me.”

“You’re too perfect for me.” He groans again, tasting the red wine from your lips as he kisses you harder. “God, I hate you.” Cardan mumbles as he lets his hands wander over your body, refraining from the more private areas at the moment.

Cardan allows you to wander over his own body, feeling you fidget with the hem of his shirt. Letting your hands slip underneath his shirt, you let out a small sigh before flipping the both of you over. You quickly toss your dagger onto the floor before meeting his lips again, the kiss heightening all your profound feelings.

As minutes turned into an hour more, you both fell into a pit of no return. The shared kisses were intensified, and without either party having a clear mind or being sober, neither could stop the motions that lulled them both to sleep very late into night.

It wasn’t until early afternoon that the pair awoke to the sounds of pounding at the door and a splitting headache.

“Your highness, your father is looking for you.” The voice called from outside the wooden doors, causing you to groan and bury your head into the warmth emitting from your bed.

A beat passed before the pounding occurred once more.

“Your highness—!”

“In a minute!” Cardan shouted, eyes shut from the dizziness and hangover. “For fucks sake…”

Your eyes widen at the voice, head rushing up before falling back down at the impact of a jaw. “Shit, that hurt.” You mutter, wincing when you felt the hangover hit you. Slowly, you remove yourself from Cardan’s arm, slightly frowning when you saw him rubbing his jaw. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to slam into you…”

“I think that’s the least of our concerns.” He grumbled, glaring at the door again.

He pushed himself up from the bed, eyes raking over your appearance. He smirked over at you before leaning against the headboard. You crease your brows before looking down and realizing whose clothes you were in — crossing your arms over the loose shirt.

“Princess, I think your father will be a little disappointed in you.”

“Why is that?” You roll your eyes at him, keeping one arm over Cardan’s shirt while running your free hand through your hair.

Your bored gaze meet his amused one, watching him tilt his head. You look away as you weren’t necessarily hiding the fact that you were eyeing his bare chest either.

He pulled you into his chest, despite your halfhearted protests. “Because you have hickeys all over your skin.” Cardan presses a kiss to your cheek, causing your breath to hitch.

All the memories from last name came rushing in, warmth filling your body at the thoughts. Your eyes flit to your dress and dagger scattered across his floor, still thinking of the punishment to come.

However, you did not regret him.

“I don’t think we drank enough last night.” You twist in his arms, lips barely touching his.

“I don’t think so.” He lands a soft kiss to your lips. “I still hate you, love.”

“Feelings mutual.” You straddle over his hips and rest your forehead on his, both your heads still pounding from last night’s activities.

©lqveharrington - all rights reserved. do not copy, translate or share my work on other media platforms

[blottyink]

My August Reads Ranked

1. One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig: This was by far my favorite read this month. I love this book. I love it more than I love The Folk of the Air. More than the Dark Rise series. More than Captive Prince. Because it has EVERYTHING. The plot, the magic system, the characters, the writing, all of it is as equally good as the rest. Even though at the ending there’s a twist that’s sad, I was still EXCITED to see what happens next (more hype than sad). I root for the Nightmare too. “Long live the King.” The writing is show don’t tell and I fucking LOVE IT. I FUCKING LOVE IT. I am so tired of seeing a lot of telling in story books, and all my favs serve show.

2. Bunny by Mona Awad: This wasn’t as dark as I thought it was going to be, but it won me over with the writing. It’s clever, dark and hilarious. Samantha’s dilemma with the bunnies was relatable for me, especially the first smut salon she attends. It was a fun ride, and I enjoyed this book for reasons I wasn’t expecting to. The way Awad describes feelings is spectacular.

3. The Prisoner’s Throne by Holly Black: It was good to be back in Elfhame. I liked Prisoner’s Throne more than Stolen Heir because, of course, Jude and Cardan. I thought Wren and Oak’s story was cute and I had a fun time reading it, but I’m not over Jude and Cardan yet and that’s all I want.

4. The Stolen Heir by Holly Black: At first, I was a bit put off by how Jude-like Wren was, and how Cardan-like Oak was, but I had a good time. If Black wants to go back and write scenes showcasing Jude and Cardan falling in love, I’m all for that. Would love to see the two of them snuggling by a fire.

5. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King: I knew I’d like this because every time I watch King speak, he’s fun. He’s fun to listen to, he’s fun to read. He’s at his best when he’s shooting the shit. This was a good time.

6. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde: I love the dialogue in this, it can be interpreted in different ways and it’s exciting to think about. I’ve never read anything as quotable as this book. I lived for every time Dorian threw himself on a couch in a fit of angst.

7. The Corsair’s Captive by Ruby Dixon: Dixon never lets me down. It’s another cozy, fun sci-fi romance with the big blue dudes. I have to read her shifter smut; it’s going to be everything.  

8. The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr: I appreciated how blunt this book was, and the information provided was interesting. If you’re looking for a book about why humans tell stories as well as scientific reasons why you should have an existential crisis. This is the one.

9. Victor by Brianna West: The most egregious offense to me was the smut. Because. How are you screwing an Angel, and it’s vanilla? No mention of where his wings are? Nothing special about his equipment? Only fucks in missionary? They could fuck in the air, but we’re going to sidestep that? Other than that the world-building wasn’t there for me, and the writing was a whole lot of telling. The adverb intense descriptions didn’t land for me, and I didn’t care about any of the characters. The fmc was annoying.

10. Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton: Zade is so Neil Breen coded. Like, if I found out Breen wrote this character for Carlton, it would make a lot of sense. I hate this book. I don’t know why I do this to myself.  

The books I'm most stoked to read in September are: Monstrilio by Gerardo Samano Cordova, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett and Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig.

[rabbitholessk]

land soup (or ten year old Jurdan being kids in faerie before everything)

Jude stomps away from Madoc’s stronghold. Her and Taryn just squabbled ferociously and she needs to be as far from Taryn as possible. Taryn wore on her last nerve, especially after dealing with the cries of the new adoptive baby Madoc took in, along with a bride. Jude was due some much needed alone time and quiet.

The luster and frightening feel of Faerie has worn off ever so slightly after the three years her, Taryn, and Vivi have now lived here. 

Ten years old, angry with her sister, and with one of her fingers healing where the tip had been bitten off a few odd weeks ago;  Jude feels for the first time in a long time, like she is out of place. If she was in the mortal realm, she would have probably taken her bike and rode off somewhere to blow off steam. But alas, her bike is more than likely covered in a thick layer of dust in her family’s former garage. Or, maybe, a different kid was using her bike now. 

She shakes the thought and forges on. Careful not to step on any suspicious mushrooms or plants. Jude is ever weary of any creatures looking at her through the trees so she keeps her head high and her focus forward. 

She’s walked off farther than she ought to have, but finds herself grateful for it. After passing through the milkwood she happened upon a hidden lake, enshrouded by lazy willow trees and surrounded by flowers in every shade of blue and purple. No matter the horrors of Faerie, there were still these scenes that seemed to have come straight from one of the fairy tale books of her youth.

Jude decides to set up in this beautiful area for a while. Gathering rocks from around the small lake she skips them across the surface. Or attempts to. It’s been a while since she’s done this. It feels bittersweet. Her father had been the one to teach her how to skip rocks on their summer trips to the beach. 

“What are you doing?” A commanding, yet curious voice questions over shoulder. To her embarrassment, she startles and whirls around, narrowly missing the mystery person's head with a thrown rock. 

With quick reflexes she’s not able to study who the mystery person is, when said person is throwing the rock back at her. She ducks in time, then springs back up to find none other than the youngest Prince of Faerie’s piercing kohl eyes studying her. 

“You.” 

She’s familiar with Cardan. He’s in the academy with her and Taryn. They don’t interact all that often considering their difference in social standing. 

“I command you to show me how to do what you were just doing.” The prince says snootily. Jude has the brief instance where she thinks she wants to laugh in his face or tell him off, but instead she bites her tongue. It was a bad idea to make enemies of the royal family. Respect for the Greenbriar line has been drilled into Taryn and Jude ever since Madoc took them in.

More like he murdered their parents, and kidnapped them. But in faerie, Jude has learned that might just be any other Tuesday for the Folk.

Jude rolls her eyes and trudges closer to the shore of the pristine lake. 

“First we need to find some rocks.” She states, searching the bank and finding a small handful. To her surprise the youngest prince has gotten onto his hands and knees and is digging through the dirt. If a Prince of Elfhame digging through dirt is a shock, the tail emerging from behind him is an even bigger one. 

She says nothing and waits for him to collect his rocks. She tucks the observation away for a later time, a question for Vivi, perhaps. 

Jude shows him the motions and watches as Cardan attempts to skip them across the surface. She quickly gets bored when she realizes he’s going to be doing this for a while. His focus is seemingly stuck on perfecting the skill. 

Instead, to kill more time, Jude trudges over to a decaying tree stump and takes up an act from her childhood that has been long forgotten. The urge to collect various pieces from nature and make a ‘land soup’ with the stump as the cauldron consumes her. It may be childish for someone whose age is now in the double digits, but she is alone, save for the Prince still tossing rocks. Nonetheless, she indulges on this small ounce of her lost childhood. 

After collecting leaves, rocks, brambles, a collection of blue and purple petals Jude stirs them into the cauldron. She found a large stick to act as a stirring device and set to work. Watching with rapt attention as the different bits of nature become this hodge-podge of nasty within the stump, she fails to hear Cardan creep up behind her. 

“What is that horrible mess?” 

To her great embarrassment, once again, she jolts-- her stick cracks against the stump from the shock. 

“It’s land soup.” She mutters.

“Your pardon?” 

“It’s a game from my childhood.” She’s not exactly sure how much of her life the Prince knows about, so she only supplies the minimal answer. 

“Ah.” He gets closer to the slop. “Have you considered adding water?” Jude swivels to look at him, astounded by his suggestion. If she’s read him correctly, he’s being playful. Before she can answer, Cardan is already rushing the few feet over to the lake. He gathers water in cupped hands, spilling some on the dash over to the stump. 

Wordlessly, with two mirroring grins, they hobble back and forth from the stump and the lake with cupped hands of water. The smell becomes atrocious, a sure-fire sign you’ve made land soup properly. 

“It smells awful.” Jude remarks, watching as Cardan uses her stick to swirl around the murky contents of the stump. 

“It’s more appealing than most of my meals.” From the strangely serious demeanor he adopts, Jude cannot tell if the Prince is joking. 

The sun is beginning to set below the horizon. Jude hadn’t realized how long she’d been away. She had tried to retreat when everyone else would have been asleep, completely disregarding why the Prince would ever be awake at this hour as well. 

Cardan catches her studying the moon rising in the distance. 

“Do you know your way home?” He questions softly. She nods. It’s growing dark now though, and she can’t see in the dark like the fae. The two still stand around the stump. 

“I can’t see in the dark.” She admits. 

“Madoc’s stronghold?” Cardan asks. 

Jude pauses then utters an affirmative. Swiftly his hand wraps around her wrist, and he’s dragging her through the dark patch of forest, until she recognizes the heady smell of the milkwood, all the way until she sees the familiar torches of Madoc’s stronghold just beyond the tree line the two are tucked into. 

She’s not sure what to say, or what to do with Cardan. In turn, he decides for both of them. Jude knows the honey laced sound of a glamour. She feels briefly infuriated and hurt, until he begins to speak. 

“You will go to your room, sleep, and mention our meeting to no one. You will not remember what happened tonight, you were simply going for a walk and got turned around.” 

Jude’s feet trample through the dark until she makes it to the door. Oriana ushers her in and up to her bedroom where Jude flops face first into her mattress. Exhausted with the smell of mud and flowers laced in her hair and clothes. When she wakes she craves honey cakes. 

[thebestbrunettee]

cardan x jude pt. 4 (!) omg that’s a lot

in pt. 3 of whatever this (series?) is, i started to get at how cardan protects the human servants and hallow hall and often tried to rescue them, even taking beatings for doing so. so could cardan have also been trying to protect jude throughout the series?? as much as he ‘hates’ her, there are many times throughout tcp that cardan has *subtly* protected jude in one way or another. take the scene when valerian tried to kill jude by feeding her faerie fruit and nearly suffocating her with it and cardan KICKS HIM OFF OF HER. “abruptly, valerian is kicked off of me. i roll onto my side, coughing. cardan is looming there… “enough,” cardan says. he has an odd, wild expression on his face and a muscle jumping in his jaw.”

so not only does he physically remove valerian from jude, but babygirl is PISSED. and while jude is intoxicated this is stated; “for i moment, i think they’re going to fight, although i cannot think why.” like my mans was ready to FIGHT VALERIAN.

just some more evidence from that scene: “everyone is so dull today,” cardan says, but he doesn’t sound as if he’s bored. he sounds as if he’s barely keeping his temper in check.”

“noggle turns away from us, … cardan watches him go, hands fisting at his sides.”

and then a page or so later , nicasia tries to command jude comes and licks her hands clean of the faerie fruit. “no,” cardan days, stepping in front of me, his voice ringing and a little unsteady… “jude will come here and kiss my foot. she said she wanted to kiss us. and i am her prince, after all.” i think this could be interpreted in two ways, one being that this was him protecting her again, OR, that he was jealous. it could also be a bit of both. but cardan being jealous of others when it comes to jude intrigues me because he shouldn’t want something ‘less than him’ like jude, but he does. i want to point out another insight to cardan’s jealousy here, when jude overhears nicasia and locke talking. “are you enjoying yourself?” i overhear nicasia ask locke once, as he joins them for a lecture. “cardan won’t forgive you for what you’re doing with her.” so after reading, this is most likely about taryn and locke’s secret relationship, but it could also be referencing how locke is actually manipulating and toying with jude’s feelings by pretending to like her for sake of his ‘dramatics’. they could be really saying that cardan won’t forgive locke for hurting jude, protecting her again and also alluding to his jealousy as he probably believes only HE is allowed to mess with or hurt jude.

see, cardan’s feelings are very contradictory when it comes to jude. he likes her for reasons but hate her for those same reasons. he wants to protect her yet he also hurts her. anyways i thought these were interesting points to bring up.

btw this series will probably end up being FAR longer than i intended it to be as i’m only part way through my analysis of their relationship in tcp and plan on continuing this as their relationship become more developed in twk and tqon. my apologies for uploading on a pretty inconsistent schedule.

[likecanyoujustnot]

Cardan’s letters pov

Part 5: vexation

A/n: I wrote this one last don’t know why. Oh well. I really struggled for ideas for it. I had to make sure cardan didn’t sleep on his back in the court of shadows scene lol.

Part 4. Part 6

Another bloody revel.

I was getting sick of them. Which was saying something since I used to count down the days till the next one.

But Jude had been here then.

I still hadn’t heard back from her, and the roach was refusing to give me any information about her, probably knowing I would do something irrational. Which I would.

“My king.”

Jude?

I turned to the voice.

“Taryn.”

She looked like she hadn’t betrayed me and her sister a month and a half ago. She looked innocent. But there was a tiredness to her, evident by the bags under her eyes and her pale skin. Her simple green dress doing nothing for her complexion.

There was no news of Madoc other than he was somewhere north with the court of teeth. This unnerved me. He was undoubtedly biding his time until he stuck. He always believed me to be a weak and incompetent king. And I would show him I was not.

“What do you want?” I snapped.

“I wished to know if you had heard from Jude.” Her hands where clasped in front of her.

I kept my face as blank and my posture as relaxed as I could. “Why would I? I exiled her, put a death penalty on her head, if she sets foot here she could die.” She could die, if a guard found her and decided to kill-now-ask-questions-later, I didn’t even want to think about it. But Taryn didn’t need to know about the loophole.

“I wasn’t sure if maybe she’d asked to be able to come back.”

“It’s Jude, she doesn’t ask permission, if she wanted to be here she would, and she would first go for the people, who have betrayed her.” I put an emphasis on people, hoping she would get the hint that Jude was just as upset with her as she was with me. Presumably.

I got the reaction I wanted from Taryn. She flinched. “I really didn’t mean it.”

“You didn’t mean to pretend to be my seneschal, and trick me into releasing my general from his oaths, effectively allowing him to declare war on me?”

“He made it sound like it was the right thing to do.” She looked at her feet.

“That’s what manipulation is. Now get out of my sight.” I didn’t have time for her self-pity stories.

How could she just stand there and look so much like Jude, but be so wholly different? I watched her retreating back, her shoulders tense.

I stared at the wine in my glass. Horrid thing.

There were footsteps up to the dias.

“Cardan.” A soft feminine voice said.

Nicasia. My former friend, my former arranged fiancée, my former lover. Before she’d ruined that. Today was a day for bringing up past demons.

“What.” I snapped, not even trying to be pleasant. I was only going to stay another few minutes before I went back to sulk over my disastrous marriage.

She looked beautiful. Dark hair swept up and held in place with pearled combs, the cut of her deep purple dress low and inviting. Once upon a time I would’ve invited her to my bed, but the princess was as interesting to me as a rock in that moment.

“You’ve been acting weird.”

I sighed. “I don’t need you to worry about me.”

“You’re my friend.”

I raised a brow at her. “Didn’t stop you from cheating on me.”

She at least had the decency to look ashamed. “That was a long time ago.”

“Yes, and I’ve finally come to terms with it, I was never enough for you Nicasia, no one will ever be, you will tire of who ever warms your bed and move on like they never existed.” I was married now, and Nicasia needed to understand nothing would ever come of pining over me again. “I no longer have to deal with your presence to avoid upsetting our parents, I will never marry you, no matter what your mother may want. And that is final.”

She looked hurt. “Is that it? You’re ending our friendship over mistakes I made years ago?”

“I’m ending our relationship for many things, what you did to Jude when you kidnapped her being one, allowing balekin to control her, starving her.” The way she looked as she was half dragged out of the water would haunt me till the end of my days. She’d been so pale, so thin. I threw up that night. Cried for seeing her like that. My strong fierce Jude. “Allying with the man who killed my family-”

“Those were my mother’s choices.” She protested.

“And you went along with them.” I shut her down.

“Is that it? Jude? You care that much for her you would cut me out of your life?”

“I’m not cutting you out, I’m merely suggesting you stay away from the high court when it is not absolutely necessary.” I stood.

“It is Jude.” She laughed. “Of course it is, I knew you liked her, we all did, you’d stare at her, bring her up in conversations that had nothing to do with her, you’re pathetic.”

I kept quiet. I could not deny it. I loved Jude more than anything. And i was glad to be rid of Nicasia, had been looking for a way for years. Now I had one.

“I hope she never comes back. Or she does just so she can kill you. You’d deserve it.” She storms away back to her entourage of kelpies and merfolk.

Good riddance.

She had been a good friend, cruel, but never to me. When we’d decided to take our relationship further, it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Until it wasn’t.

I’d written another yesterday.

To the High Queen of Elfhame

Above me is the same silvery moon that shines down on you. Looking at it makes me recall the glint of your blade pressed to my throat and other romantic moments.

I do not know what keeps you from returning to the High Court- whether it is a vexation with me, or whether, having spent time in the mortal world, you have come to believe a life free of the folk is better than one ruling over them.

In my most wretched hours I believe you will never come back.

Why would you, save for your ambition? You have always known exactly what I am and seen all my failings, all my weaknesses and scars. I flattered myself that at moments you had feelings for me other than contempt, but even were that true, they would make but a thin gruel beside the feast of your other, greater desires.

And yet my heart is buried with you in the strange soil of the mortal world, as it was drowned with you in the cold waters of the undersea.

It was yours before I could ever admit it, and yours it shall ever remain.

Cardan

It was the longest one that I had written, one that bared what was in my heart, and left things unsaid, for me to tell her if she ever did come back.

I took the crown of my head and studied it.

It was heavy, made of soft gold, it would be so easy to just, break it.

But I wouldn’t do that.

I kept it in my hand as I got up to leave the revel.

I was stopped by a young woman, thick dark hair that offset the slightest green tinge in her skin. I noticed her fingers had an extra joint. Strange, but not unheard of.

“My king.” She bowed.

“Can I help you?” I sneered at her.

“I was wondering if you may wish to join me tonight?”

I huffed. “Not interested, sorry.”

She looked crestfallen as I walked away.

I caught a flash of orange hair as I walked away.

Of course Locke would swoop in to “comfort” a woman at the same party his wife was at.

He made me sick.

I hoped someone cut his throat

I stared at the ceiling from where I layed in bed. Hands folded over my bare stomach, wishing, as I always did, that Jude was here. She would chastise me for being so pathetic, for longing so strongly for her.

56 days. 8 weeks. 5 letters.

And I hadn’t even gotten a “piss off Cardan, I’m not coming back”

It was silence.

As always during this time of night, even before her exile, my thoughts strayed to Jude.

To her smile and mouth, her soft hair, her curves and the way she tasted when I kissed her. The noises she did her best to muffle. How every time she looked at me I wanted to make the world disappear so it would just be the two of us and I could live out my fantasies.

Great. Now I was hot and uncomfortable. But I wouldn’t do anything about it.

This was my self-inflicted punishment, the misery.

I couldn’t sleep on my back.

The position was too vulnerable. Reminded me too much of the horrors I’d faced from my brother.

Maybe one day I would tell Jude.

Maybe.

If,

She,

Ever,

Came,

Back…

[thebookdragonshoard]

The Wicked King by Holly Black: Review (SPOILERS)

Dearest gentle readers (sorry, I've been watching too much Bridgerton).

Anyways, hello bitches, bros, and nonbinary hoes!! (+10 points if you can name that reference). I will most likely be jumping around from scene to scene instead of reviewing them chronologically because like my thought process, I can't do anything in an orderly or linear fashion.

The Wicked King by Holly Black is a 30 chapter, 448 page (or 10hr 21min audio book) book and is the second installment in the The Folk of the Air trilogy. It is primarily a political fantasy with a subplot of romance centering around our main character, Jude Duarte. Given that this is the second book in the series and that you are reading this, I will assume you already know the characters.

First of all, I'd like to highlight the fact that this is a political fantasy with a SUBplot of romance. I love the fact that, although the growing relationship between Cardan and Jude is relevant to the story, it is not the main focus. I feel like lately, many books are either hinged on romance or completely cut it out, so it always feels as if it's all or nothing. And I appreciate that Holly Black, while still producing a well-written and convincing romance, gave us a complex and captivating political scene with the world-building to match.

One of my favorite aspects of this book was how we got to see more into the inner workings of the High Court and life inside the palace. It was something I often found myself curious about while reading the first book (The Cruel Prince). Plus, we also got to see more faerie revels, which are always fun scenes to read, in my opinion.

Speaking of faerie revels, the revel on the night of the Hunter's Moon. First of all, I deeply despise Locke, and I just had to say that somewhere. Anyways, I like to believe that Jude being crowned Queen of Mirth was not only coincidental in her being the only mortal girl there, but also foreshadowing for the end of the book, when Jude rises to High Queen of Elfhame. Especially how, with her 'coronation' as Queen of Mirth, she was mocked and ridiculed the entire time (as per the game). When Jude is named High Queen and declares as such at the end of the book, the folk around her have much of the same reaction and start laughing at her almost instantaneously, Just like crowing a mortal as Queen of Mirth is meant to be a joke, Jude being crowned as the High Queen is received as a joke by the folk, however true it may be. Furthermore, a part of me has to admire the way Jude handled herself as Queen of Mirth and remained composed despite all the insults and ridiculed, even going so far as to turn the situation in her favor towards the end of the scene. For instance, how she strips herself naked before allowing the folk to dress her in the tattered gown given to the Queen of Mirth. It's such a powerful move for her and it basically screams to the folk that despite, no, in the face their cruel intentions, she can still hold her head high and that none of them could strip her of her dignity, despite how hard they may try. She silently says that whatever they may do to embarass her pales in comparison of what she can do to embarass herself and that, even though she is mortal, she is just as faerie as the rest of them, if not more so. Which I have personally thought since her first scheme to get Cardan on the throne. I think this quote sums it up very well. "After all, if the insult to me is pointing out that I am mortal, than this is my riposte: I live here, too, and I know the rules. Perhaps I even know them better than you since you were born into them, but I had to learn. Perhaps I know them better than you because you have greater leeway to break them."

However, even though Jude was the main focus of the scene, I have to bring up Cardan's actions. Because oh my gods, Cardan. First of all, how he makes sure that Taryn isn't there that night makes me believe that he did it not only because Jude asked him to help protect her from Locke, but that he also did it for Jude's sake. Because what would have been the one worse thing for Jude than her being named Queen of Mirth? If it were Taryn instead. Because I fully believe Locke would do it with zero hesitation, even though Taryn was supposed to be his lover. Additionally, Cardan tried to warn Jude to leave the revel towards the beginning of the scene, effectively trying to protect her from Locke's torment. And then what Cardan said when Locke asked about his feelings for Jude. " I have too often been troubled by dreams of Jude... her face features prominently in my most frequent nightmares... But I believe it is only that her beauty is unique... Excruciating. Alarming. Distressing." We all know that Cardan, being faerie, cannot lie and therefore has to be telling some form of the truth in this scene. And at first read, it's all too easy to assume he is being intentionally cruel. I certainly thought so at first. But then I remembered how Cardan previously admitted his attraction to Jude, more specifically how much it terrified him. Taking this into account, we realize that Cardan is actually complimenting Jude here. It is not that her beauty is excruciating, alarming, and distressing. Or that her face haunts his nightmares. But, rather, that her looks are excruciating, alarming, and distressing, and that her face haunts his nightmares because Cardan finds her beautiful, which he feels like he shouldn't because Jude is a mortal. Also, I like how, at the end of their shared dance, Cardan tells Jude she is allowed to stay or leave as she likes, effectively leaving the choice up to her. Giving her the option to leave insinuates that he is aware of how unsettled she must be after being named Queen of Mirth and that she may want to be alone to deal with her feelings about it, but also giving her the choice to stay essentially says that he isn't going to assume that she is still some weak, mortal girl that cant handle the pressure. Basically, he gives her the option to leave for her own sake if she must, no judgement included, or to stay and tough it out if she feels capable of it, also no judgement included.

Let's fast forward to the end of Taryn and Locke's wedding, aka the first betrayal scene. I was guessing the entire novel who the traitor would be, but I was not at all suspecting The Ghost. I suppose after the beginning sparring scene between Jude and The Ghost, I should have expected it but, you know what they say. Ignorance is bliss. So, The Ghost and Vulciber manage to lure Jude away to The Tower of Forgetting via an attack against it from the Undersea. And once there, it is revealed that The Ghost was the traitor and Jude gets the faerie equivalent of chloroformed. Talk about losing father figures, am I right? That makes what, 3 lost father figures for Jude?? Depenfing on your definition of lost if Madoc counts or not. Anyways, Jude then wakes up underwater as a prisoner of the Undersea. I, again, really enjoy how well this whole scenario highlights Jude's uncanny ability to lie and play a role. Consider, she manages to trick Queen Orlagh and Baelkin into believing she was glamored into adoring them. Even though Queen Orlagh is a major power in faerieland and is older than High King Eldred himself. And even though Baelkin's Hollow Hall was full of glamored mortals, meaning that he definitely should have been able to tell Jude wasn't actually glamored. You'd think at least one of them would have been able to tell. Or that even Nicasia should have been able to tell, given that out of the three she had been around Jude the most. It just goes to show again that even though Jude is mortal, she is just as faerie as the rest of the folk. And at the mention of Baelkin and this whole ordeal, am I the only one who audibly gagged when Jude had to kiss Baelkin? I can't be the only one. Her murdering him? Fully justified, and not even for him slaughtering his entire family save for Cardan and Oak. Good for Jude.

Finally, let's skip to the end of the book (aka the five stages of literary grief) because this review is already much longer than I anticipated. First off, Cardan rgiving up the Court of Termites just to arrange Jude's release??? No one can say he is NOT a romantic. And when Cardan has been poisoned by wraithberry at the masquerade ball, completely and utterly inebriated, and yet he still manages to come to Jude's defense when she is being threatened by Baelkin? Chef's kiss. It truly shows that Cardan has come such a long way from despising her, and his attraction towards her, in the first book to openly doing things that can be interpreted as fondness for her, even in front of the entire court and even when poisoned. And from there, Jude manages to trick the antidote away from Baelkin and kills him in a duel, before returning to Cardan. This leads us to the second betrayal of the book: Taryn.

Taryn tricks Cardan into believing she is Jude while he is still sobering up from the wraithberry and asks requested half the army plus Madoc to be released from their oaths to the crown. To which Cardan agrees without question, due to how much trust he now has in Jude. I didn't see The Ghost's betrayal coming, but I had my suspcicions about Taryn from the get go. She was being overly nice to Jude the entire book, despite her betrayal with Locke in the first book. I feel like this betrayal hurt worse for Jude than that of The Ghost's, because Jude had decided to give Taryn a second chance, despite her broken heart from the first book. And then Taryn turned right back around and stabbed a second knife into Jude's back, right next to the one from the first book.

After that whole debacle, Cardan summons Jude back to his room later in the night. And this is when he asks Jude to give him control of himself back, in exchange for her hand in marriage, making her the High Queen of Elfhame. Obviously, Jude accepts because she stills feels like that helpless mortal on the inside, and what better solution is there for than feeling than acquiring more power and respect. The next day, Queen Orlagh demands an audience with the High King and reveals she is furious about the murder of Baelkin, her ambassador. She threatens war and almost goes through with it. Before she can, Cardan quite literally boils the sea and raises an entirely new island of Elfhame. Which, if you recall, the original 3 islands were raised up by Queen Mab herself. I also interpret this as foreshadowing, however for the next book and the whole Cardan prophecy, specifically the "...a great ruler will rise" bit. Because Queen Mab is regarded in faerie as the greatest ruler there was, having the Blood Crown forged for her descendants. I find it's only fitting that Cardan raises up an island of Elfhame, as Mab did, in his, arguably, first moment acting as a true High King of Elfhame. Orlagh then goes on to back down, still demanding justice for Baelkin. And Cardan gives it to her, by exiling Jude back to the mortal realm until she is pardoned by the Crown. (a loop-hole she could have exploited right then and there since she was the High Queen and therefore part of the Crown). Which enraged me to no end at the time, given that they had just gotten married (a fact that thrilled me.) Again I say: they are the definition of enemies to lovers.

That's all I have for y'all, folks. If this review erred too far on the side of essay, then too bad, so sad. I enjoy writing essays (clearly.)

[cynicalclairvoyantcadaver]

More Cardan regretting bullying Jude

You know what?

I love Cardan in the last chapter when he's forcibly, unwillingly crowned, forced to kneel by Jude's command.

Because honestly, the guy was such a bastard to Jude. And I'm not even sure if he apologises or grovels, and even if he did, he still deserves it.

GET YOUR FUCKING REVENGE QUEEN JUDE DUARTE, GO GIRL. TORTURE HIM LIKE HE TORTURED YOU.

I just want to see more scenes where Cardan suffers and regrets bullying Jude, because even if he did love Jude, he still bullied her, which was not ok, and it feels like the narrative just excuses Cardan's abuse of Jude because he himself was abused, and that's not how it works.

What, a few conversations, and everything goes away? And she develops feelings for him over time? After the everapple incident where she was forced to strip?

And for those idiots who say-'oH, bUt hE coUldN'T heLp it, everyone was watching!'

Excuse me, he was also watching. He could have dismissed them and told them that Jude was a filthy mortal girl not worth paying any attention to as a guise to help her and get her back. Even if the others objected, he was still a prince. He was higher than any of them. No matter how much peer pressure, he still sat there and watched. And that makes him a horrible person in that scene.

He watched, even if he was disgusted by it. He still played along with it, and Jude was traumatised because of it.

Cardan was really a bastard at times. I want to see more of him regretting making Jude suffer. And Jurdan isn't a healthy couple-they're fun and interesting to read about, but fun and interesting doesn't always equal healthy.

Also, can I just add, Cardan is not the fucking UwU soft baby tfota fans make him out to be. Literally, the guy was an intimidating king and subjects were fond of him. And he managed to run the entire kingdom with his council and prevent rebellion without Jude or Madoc, when Madoc was actively planning a rebellion and persuading people to his side! And that scene where the Undersea come and read the poem out loud, threatening him? How he acts in response? Amazing. Regal. Intimidating. Also, in TPT, when he swipes his cloak out to save Jude-actually, that was another good moment.

That being said, I do think that Jurdan got healthier in the sequel duology. I think that they talked things out and eventually grew closer to each other. And I think that it's nice. I enjoyed TSH and TPT Jurdan more than I ever did in the original trilogy.

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

Do you have any YA or new adult book recs with well done subtextual sexual tension + where you think the love interest is desirable but not forced

I’m not sure I’m really the person to ask about this because 9.5 times out of 10 I hate the love interests in most main stream books! And I usually focus on like complete throwaway characters and end up shipping those instead of any of the obvious options

Also YA/NA is… kind of just bad, and not something I’d recommend you try to learn from. (is NA actually a thing again? publishers tried so hard to make it happen like ten years ago but were unsuccessful and abandoned it. now in reader circles I keep seeing people mention NA but I don’t think it’s an active, formal genre within the industry)

I would suggest branching out tbh. A big problem with a lot of YA rn is that it’s simply so inbred and there’s very little in the way of fresh ideas or takes on them. But I’ll try to think of like adjacent popular works at least.

Anyway, fully recency bias but I think the Locked Tomb Series is really good about building character relationships. Griddlehark in the first book is a pretty good blueprint for obvious sexual tension when the characters basically never make any overtly romantic gestures towards each other

Some Desperate Glory has a pretty good example of absolutely clueless pining. It’s not a romance heavy book though

She Who Became The Sun has a good example of good relationship building and pining in the deuteragonist’s plotline, and then a very perfunctory one (imo) for the protagonist. So might be good for comparing

I do think Cruel Prince actually had its moments. That beat where Cardan staring at Jude while she’s kissing Locke or idk some rando is kissing him(?) I think is very charged, even though she is, to the point of it being annoying, completely unaware that he’s into her

Poppy War also had a pretty interesting dynamic. But again wildly not romance centered lol and lmao

Honestly like watch some code era classic movies. Watch some queer bait. Any media where there simply wasn’t the luxury of getting too overt and they had to instead build the dynamics and sexual tension between characters in more subtle ways. And live action imo is more useful to learn from in certain respects. In this case there would be actual actors with real chemistry in front of you and you can pick out particular gestures and behavior in addition to narrative tools

[slightlyrebelliouswriter23]

in chapter 3 of tcp, there was a scene of cardan attacking then tearing a boy’s wings because he didn’t bow, do you think there are more meanings behind this action? it’s my 2nd time rereading tfota trilogy and this scene still baffles me

(i'm gonna copy/paste a lot from this post because i did answer this, but it was part of a reblog, and tbh it deserves its own post cos it's a damn good question.)

i don't think Cardan had a reason behind his actions in that scene so much as i think Holly had a big reason for including it.

i would argue that, from a character creation standpoint, the ripping of the faerie's wings provides the most important context for Cardan's character in TCP. foremost, it is our very first impression of him. he is truly cruel in that scene. he is at his worst.

one thing they taught us in Creative Writing school: always introduce your characters in a way that shows them doing something that is fundamental to their character.

the book is called The Cruel Prince, ergo we can only assume Holly wanted Cardan to be perceived as cruel. so the first thing we see him doing? something vicious and irredeemable, for no apparent reason (other than to be a dick). it makes us trust Jude's hatred for him; it makes us hate Cardan, too.

if we take that scene out, however, Cardan seems all bark and no bite. sure, he actively insults Jude. and he may even participate in his friends' more malicious bullying. but he's shit with a sword and clearly takes a more subdued role in the bullying scenes (see: watching out for the nixies to make sure they weren't getting too close, telling Valerian to stop when he was suffocating Jude, pricking Jude's finger to sober her up).

so what does Jude really have to be afraid of without that first scene?

certainly not Cardan specifically, but rather, his cohort as a whole. and tbh that's not much more specific than just saying "everything in Faerie is terrifying", which she does indeed point out multiple times. but she needed to be afraid of him, and therefore, she needed a believable reason for that fear.

there's a difference between being actively cruel and passively cruel, and the ripping of the faerie's wings transforms Cardan from the latter to the former simply and effectively.

so yes. he is mean and cruel and cowardly. i suppose it's fine for people to have qualms with him for everything he did/did not do in TCP.

but i happen to think growth is very sexy so i will not be holding any of that against him 😌✨

–Em 🖤🗡

In Defence of Cardan Greenbriar

more theories and analysis

[ezziefae]

How did the virtual event with HB go? I didn't even know she was having these events until that q/a post from a few days ago. Did you have to pay to be apart or was it some kind of ticket that came along with buying TPT?

holly announces any events she’s doing on her instagram, most of them you need a ticket, whether it’s virtual or in person. the event was great, she only answered one of my questions since the moderators were the ones picking out questions for her, which sucked. (I wish she could’ve read off of the comments and picked whichever questions she wanted to answer)

So yes we had to pay for the virtual event ticket + the book (personalized signed book plate) + and some book goodies (like pins and bookmarks) I thought the event was going to be a zoom call event (like it usually is) but it was a youtube live. I remember thinking “so i could’ve just watched the virtual event without paying” but at least i’m getting some goodies and a personalized book plate with it. The virtual event was one hour, and most of the questions she answered were 30% about her faerie books and 70% about her writing tips/advice. I would have definitely preferred to see her in person for many reasons it’s just such a better experience. :) currently there’s a contest for each tour stop, the best cosplay/costume wins a crown, (im very happy about this bc it encourages more people to dress up) and then there’s also a contest where a random person gets picked to have an hour chat with holly. i hope she does this for every book event she does in the future!!

here are some things she answered in the virtual event that caught my attention:

1) She has a plan for an adult fae book, but she still has no idea what she’s doing, it could possibly be 3 books from now.

2) Holly would like to write a coldtown sequel. She hasn’t yet because of schedule issues, with her upcoming sequel Thief of night, and the stolen heir duology, and now another elfhame book.

3) holly has a spotify playlist for the prisoner’s throne, she just forgets to change the settings to make it public. (this was my question)

4) Holly did anticipate the Taryn hate train, her friend absolutely HATED taryn. Holly doesn’t hate taryn to that degree, she feel sympathetic.

5) If holly could hang out with any character she would hang out with kaz brekker

6) Holly’s favorite scene she’s ever written is when Jude had Cardan tied up in the court of shadows with the knife to his throat in the cruel prince.

7) Holly hates hearing her audiobook, its like torture to her

8) Holly had fun making the card game, and is excited for people to play it.

9) Grima mag questioned Lord Jared many times, and did not agree with any of their doings, she was also sympathetic of Wren, resulting in her being cast out of the Court of Teeth.

[v1olent-l1ttle-th1ng]

Alright y’all so I’m someone who likes to associate songs with character relationships so I figured I’d share some of my favourites on here. I have playlists for most of these so if you want more songs let me know!

Violet and Xaden:

Stand By You - Marlissa. This song gives me Onyx Storm vibes so hard. Like I actively squeal every time I listen to it it’s so good. “The hurt in your eyes” “I will stand by you.” Ugh. PERFECTION.

The Last Time - Taylor Swift. Listen to it. Need I say more.

Castles Crumbling - Taylor Swift. Again. Just listen to it. So. Good.

Sinners - Lauren Aquilina. “The world may disapprove but my world is only you.” Um hello. Yes.

Little Do You Know - Alex and Sierra. Pure. Gold.

High, high, high. - Camylio. This one’s from Xaden’s POV for me. “You get me high, high, high oh with just your smile, my love.” I mean ya. Basically all of Xaden’s feeling in summary.

In The End - Beth Crawley

I Did It For You - David Cook

Also, spoiler alert if it wasn’t already obvious, these two are my literally faves so apologies if I have more favourite songs for them than for others. I think my Riorgail playlist is several hours long at this point.

Feyre and Rhys:

Rescue - Lauren Daigle. “I will send out an army to find you, in the middle of the darkest night.” Cassian and Azriel coming to rescue Feyre and Lucian. Like hello. I swear this song was made for them.

You Say - Lauren Daigle. Again, just listen to it.

Right Here, With You - David Cook. Rhys accepting Feyre and her trauma and comforting her. Ugh. Amazing.

Broken - Isak Danielson. Basically how I think Rhys feels towards Feyre about Tamlin.

The Dark - Aracana

Kai and Paedyn:

Just Cause I Love You - Avery Anna. I just get SO MANY kaipae vibes from this. “Just cause I love you, don’t mean I want to.” UGH MY BABIES.

Hurts Like Hell - Fleurie and Tommee Profitt. If you’ve read these books and love these two like I do, seriously listen to this.

Jude and Cardan:

I like TCP, don’t get me wrong, but it’s definitely not my fave. I know it’s pretty popular on here though so I figured I’d add one.

Letting Someone Go - Zach Bryan. Honestly summarizes their feelings for basically the whole series after Cardan’s initial confession in my opinion.

Tris and Tobias:

I don’t know if anyone is still into Divergent, but this series (minus Allegiant because we pretend it doesn’t exist) literally gave me life when it came out. Like I re-read it so many times.

Just Give Me A Reason - Pink. Literally all of Insurgent. Like I don’t even think this requires an explanation.

June and Day:

Last Kiss - Taylor Swift. The ending of Champion absolutely wrecked me when I first read it but after I found out about Rebel (literally only like 2 years ago) I was saved.

I also have several TV show couples that I have playlists for too so buckle up:

Grey’s Anatomy:

I legit have like a 10 hour Grey’s Anatomy playlist so if this is something you want just message me. Early Grey’s Anatomy had me in such a chokehold in high school it’s not even funny.

Once Upon a Time:

I’m a sucker for Emma and Killian. I watched OUAT so much growing up.

Arms - Christina Perri

The Words - Christina Perri

Olivia and Fitz:

I have also been obsessed with Scandal for like ever! I’m also currently rewatching and ugh, Olitz, my babies.

The Only Exception - Paramore

Deep End - Birdy

Elizabeth and Ressler:

I don’t know how popular the Blacklist is on here, but I became OBSESSED with these two during covid lockdown. And no, I have not seen any of the latest seasons because I refuse to watch the last episode of season 8 so that I can pretend it doesn’t exist.

Break My Heart Again - Finneas. If you know these two, you know.

Don’t Give Up On Me - Andy Grammer

Start A Riot - Banners

Anyways, that’s all for now! Message me if you want playlist links :)

[jasminedragonart]

My goal for this year is to read more books. There were a lot of books I avoided when I was younger just because I thought they weren't for me. I'm starting to realise that a lot of books are and it just wasn't time for me to read them yet. Others I've found are as badly written as I thought they would be and it makes me question why I want to read books by author's I haven't read from before.

Anyway, so far the books I've read that I've enjoyed are:

The Wheel of Time: Books 1 and 2. I have book 3 and plan to read it, however I fond out that this is an unfinished series since the author died. While it is technically finished, it was finished by Brandon Sanderson and while I have his books on my reading list, I don't think reading without Robert Jordan's penmanship will really bring justice to the world I've invested in. THAT BEING SAID, the first two books are SO good. I picked this book up by chance when I was away last year and put it back because the blurb was the vaguest thing I've ever seen. Except, then it haunted me once I heard there was a TV show. I haven't watched it, nor do I plan to since they seemed to have taken it in a different direction. But if you're looking for a good fantasy series to read, even if it's just the first few books, this one hasn't let me down yet.

The Raven Boys: I haven't finished this one yet but the book is good so far. I have the other 3 on the way that's how invested in this series I am right now. I've read other works by this author before, the Shiver one, and while I don't remember hating it I don't remember liking that one much. This book is good though. I'm enjoying it.

The Neverending Story: This one I enjoyed reading but I found that it's definitely a children's book. I picked it up in the hopes to read this to my niece when she's a little older. I thought it wouldn't be until she was around 10 before I could read this with her, but I'm happy that it's simple enough that I'll be able to read it to her maybe when she's around 3-7 Not too scary, not too detailed and while the movie is phenomenal, I really enjoyed this book as well.

The Folk of the Air series: I read them all. There were things in this I enjoyed. I liked the world building of the faerie realm. I also enjoyed some of the politics. But the book had its faults too. It's very teenager-ish. Which isn't inherently bad. The Raven Boys is proving to be better at it though. Jude and Cardan were... at times hard to read. It was quite predictable at times and it's not the best enemies to lovers book out there but I managed to finish it and I did enjoy it. It's something I would recommend to people, but not something I would rave about like I would the Wheel of Time.

I'm looking for other books to read after this. So far my list is:

The rest of the Raven Cycle (3 books) The Way of Kings series (These are so long and there's like 4 books) The Wheel of Time (Book 3 and maybe 4) God of War Inkheart

If there's anything else you would recommend let me know. If anyone has read any Robin Hobb books let me know if they're any good, I'm looking for a good fantasy series.

Also also if anyone knows if someone has written a Davy Jones and Calypso book let me know. I wish Disney had decided to do a prequel on them or at least release a book but I have yet to find one.

[viivdle]

on today's episode of "taylor swift is SO jurdan coded" is "evermore feat. bon iver"

in my opinion, a lot of the songs can interpreted from both jude's and cardan's side and this one is a great example of it

"Gray November

I've been down since July" could very well be jude's exile - jude would be down because she was exiled (obviously), but we know cardan was extremely down too since he thought jude didn't want to return his letters

"Motion Capture

Put me in a bad light" - jude was put in an extremely bad light when cardan exiled her in front of everyone

"I replay my footsteps on each stepping stone

Trying to find the one where I went wrong" is one of the parts i think are fitting for both - jude has been raised as a mortal in elfhame, always having to watch what she's doing and make sure she's doing it correctly, i'm more than sure she'd overthink every single thing to find where she went wrong. on the other side, cardan has been raised as an unwanted princeling born under a bad prophecy, it clouded his whole being. for cardan's side i imagine both him as a child, trying to figure out what he did for everyone to ignore and hate him, and also him in the time between twk and tqon, trying to figure out why jude wasn't coming back despite his letters.

"Writing letters

Addressed to the fire" - i think this one is very self explanatory on cardan's side, but i think it can also be used as a metaphor for jude's efforts to fit in and prove her strength to everyone (ex: madoc) that she knows won't change anything anyway because she's mortal first, and everything she achieves is tarnished by that

"Staring out an open window

Catching my death" - this one isn't really something i can explain, i just imagine jude in vivi's apartment during the exile

"And I couldn't be sure

I had a feeling so peculiar

That this pain would be for

Evermore" again, fitting for both in a way - for both jude and cardan, they lived with something that shadowed everything they did. for jude, it was her mortality. for cardan, the prophecy. both of those caused pain (that they dealt with in very different yet similar ways, but not getting into that now) that they knew wouldn't go away. the second example, also fitting for both, is during the exile. jude was obviously homesick. despite the circumstances, elfhame did become her home and she was banished from it. on the other side, i imagine jude was the first person to make cardan feel at home, so in a way he banished himself from home by exiling her.

"Hey December

Guess I'm feeling unmoored" - again, exile (trying to speed this along)

"Can't remember

What I used to fight for" jude - through and through, it's her. she worked her way to not only being a spy and seneschal, but the actual QUEEN. and for what? to be exiled hours later? everything she touched and fought for turned into ashes.

"I rewind the tape, but all it does is pause

On the very moment I was lost" again, both - i could bring up the prologue of tcp, but i'm not doing that to myself. i think for cardan the most accurate moment was when jude tricked him and oak placed the crown on his head, those lyrics just FIT!! for jude the most important ones would of course be when she almost died but also when he saw cardan laughing with the folk.

"Sending signals

To be double crossed" - cardan. exile. letters. all i'm gonna say.

"Barefoot in the wildest winter

Catching my death" jude - i have to say it. jude when she almost died. you know the one i mean.

"Oh, can we just get a pause?" - i wish they would've gotten SO. MANY. PAUSES. this obviously applies to both. especially when cardan lost his family (it hit him more than he wanted to, i don't care) and, i'm sorry, when cardan turned into the serpent. i can see jude standing in front of him before she kills him so vividly when i hear this

"Cannot think of all the cost

And the things that will be lost" - i wish the two of them knew what was coming for them i'm sobbing

"I'm on waves, out being tossed" - pun intended

"And when I was shipwrecked

I thought of you" both fit - the amazing thing with jude and cardan is that no matter who was actually in danger, the other suffered too. when jude was held by the undersea, cardan went berserk. the time during jude's captive fits for many reasons (there was a pun intended by picking it). it also suits cardan when his family was BEING SLAUGHTERED AND HE SAW JUDE.

"In the cracks of light

I dreamed of you" again - both. i like to think of this as a metaphor, the cracks of light are the parts of cardan that were conscious when he was the serpent, not knowing anything but jude. and jude herself admitted that she dreamed of cardan, so i'm taking that one literally even thought there were no cracks of light during her exile

thanks for coming to my VERY long ted talk

"But I swear

You were there" cardan - again what i said above. he knew nothing, not even himself, but he knew jude.

[mysticmellowlove]

The Cruel Prince - Revelry

a/n; im not gonna lie and say this isn’t based on cardan greenbrair. swear to god you read one book and shit like this happens.

no I'm going back on it now, this is 100% about cardan. please someone give us more cardan content, I'm frothing at the mouth i tell you.

word count; 1594

warnings; asshole men, dom-ish reader, little slight bit of Jude/Reader, gaslight gatekeep girlboss, suggestive content, asshole reader, gn reader, pining obviously

It started with a revel, as nearly all things in Faerie start. The mood was high, there was wine being passed around like candy and small delicacies graced everyone's mouth. For people looking in it was the most magical sight to behold. The cries of blissed-out folk echoed around the hall, gems of all different colours glimmered like stars in the sky.

It was almost like a dream come true...

until I spotted the two non-folk's making their way to the dining table draped in rosemary and basil. An unsettled feeling rested in my stomach, wherever the two of them went trouble followed. I shook my head and tried to let my mind leave their presence but it wasn't quite working.

I was just like the rest of them, or at least I had been to those two. I was a folk, I was an asshole and I definitely didn't particularly care about them. That was until they reminded me of the birds at my parent's estate that would always get fed last as their legs were crippled.

Taryn and Jude were like those birds to me, weak and helpless and always last no matter what. So I decided one day to not glare at them so much, to not whisper under my breath or to entertain the Prince's circle when they tormented the girls.

"Y/n, it feels like it's been ages since we saw you." My head turned from my pondering towards the voice. In front of me, dressed in clothes as grand as the rest of us folk, were the two twins I was just thinking about.

If there was one thing about the two of them that was so suffocatingly unique it was the fact that they were twins, two nearly identical people.

"Having a good time?" I asked them, looking down at my chalice of wine, the green liquid stared right back as if asking me 'why are you still standoffish to them if you technically like them?'

"As good of a time as any." Jude, in her usual scowl, answered me as she took a bite of the green apple in her hands. I watched as the two of them passed the treat to the other, back and forth. At that moment it felt as if nothing could ever tear them apart. I hadn't had the chance to discover someone who made me feel the same way.

It made me a little jealous. Folk relationships were hardly ever like the love mortals had to give. A transaction was all that it was, hardly did anyone find someone who truly loved them. I would be no exception, especially as my family had their eyes set on the varying circles of the royal siblings. Doomed to be with someone viler, older or more dismissive. Such was life.

I heard the bird chatter coming from beside me, gossip that I likely had no interest in. Though I managed to shush them as the Prince and his friends drew closer.

The royal family was beloved, idolised and feared. Even so I knelt like everyone else and bowed my head in respect. In the background, I could hear the revelry continue onwards as they passed by.

Shined boots, encrusted gems, taut buckles.

"Hah, did you think you could blend in? So plain, baseless, a horrific sight really." I could also see what had to be Valerian's boots stopped in front of Jude. I just knew he was doing something unnecessary. Before much else could happen Jude's head was thrown and twisted to the side as my shoulder was roughly grabbed.

I jerked a little but came up without much hassle. Valerian's eyes bore into me as his face was spread with a grimace.

"And you, spending your time around such filth. Your parents wouldn't approve would they?" His words were harsh, his tone perhaps harsher but his tirade didn't last for much longer as Prince Cardan's voice cut through the tension between the two of us.

"Valarian, give in." We both looked over to him, myself taking in the glower that Prince Cardan had. His eyes seemed to put me under some sort of trance, one I pulled myself from quickly. Valarian dropped his hand from my shoulder and went to crowd behind him as the group continued to make their way through the other folk.

However, they stopped a few paces from us, right in front of a small moth boy who had not bowed to Cardan as he passed. I could see in frightening clarity as Cardan's jaw clenched, his hands as well. In a matter of moments, his fist was planted right in the middle of the boy's face. The much smaller boy went flying as Cardan's hand reached out once more.

My mouth pulled into a pained grimace as I watched Cardan tear the boy's wing in half, as if it were nothing but stray paper in the air. The boy ended up on the ground as Cardan's tense face briefly scanned the area around him. Our eyes met for a moment, his onyx ones to mine. They looked as if they were alight, the almost unnoticeable ring of gold around his pupil made it look as if they were.

Then he was gone, lost in the crowd of resuming partiers. I let out a breath of air, imagining that the boy's wings could've easily been mine if I had made a misstep. It was in the past though and if no one was going to comment on it more, which they wouldn't, then neither would I.

Jude's hand rested on the crook of my elbow, hesitantly but somehow strictly as if she was prepared for me to throw her off. I looked at her and noticed for the first time how soft her eyes looked under the light, was she worried or just unnerved?

"I think I'll get some air. You might not have to party too much but it's expected of me." And just like that a certain bitterness came over her. If this were any other situation maybe we might've gotten along better.

I left the two of them to their machinations as I waltzed and swung around the cluttered room. A few of my movements were shared with strangers as I gave in and let them wisp me into their dance ring but eventually I made it out into the clearer air.

The beginning chills of the night washed over me like a well-intentioned blanket, letting me breathe in something that wouldn't make me feel as if I were drifting in the skies. I let my eyes close as I tipped the last of my wine into my mouth, letting the tart taste sit on my tongue before I swallowed.

"Too much for you? I should've expected as much." My eyes opened belatedly as I realised who was in front of me. Cardan looked down, his face all sharp edges and darkened angles. I cocked my head in a small resemblance of a bow as I looked for somewhere to sit my chalice down.

"Not particularly my prince, I'm just making sure I can dance all night. As should be." I murmured, he hadn't particularly approached me often. He had no reason to. If he hated Jude and Taryn he only vaguely disliked me.

"Aren't you ever the boring one. Are you not ashamed that you're the weakest in our class besides those bumbling fools." There was a sneer on his face, though it did nothing to make me hate him any more. Cardan was... like poison. Bad for you but also somehow magnetic, just one sip would be enough to quell someone's thirst and yet they may as well be dead.

"It's not my intention." The conversation was going nowhere, in fact, I had no idea why he had even approached me at all. He was likely looking for a fight, to sink his fingers into someone weaker than him.

I tried to move past him, as long as I got back into the revelry I might be hidden from his nitpicking sight. However, he stopped me, grabbing my arms and drawing me right back to being in front of him. My hand feigned to drop the chalice but I managed to catch it just in time.

I was sure that confusion was spilled across my face now but it seemed to deter him no less. For a few moments we simply stood in the company of each other, his hands present and tight on my arms. I drew in a breath, my chest just barely brushing against his. As his eyes dipped down to rationalise the fleeting touch he had felt I brought my hand up to his cheek.

While he looked steely there was a softness to him. My fingers sunk into his skin deliciously, as if they were made to be there.

"I must excuse myself my prince. The night calls." I gave him a placating smile and tore myself from his grasp, finding my way into the fray of folk moving back and forth like a wave. For the rest of the night I was under the impression that I had left him behind.

Though as I left I could've sworn I had seen his feathered suit coat out of the corner of my eye.