Ep 2 Glow of the Everflame: Chapters 8-15

Summary

Fantasy Fangirls Podcast - Episode 2 Summary: "Glow of the Everflame: Chapters 8-15"

Release Date: June 16, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 2 of the Fantasy Fangirls podcast, sisters Nicole and Lexi delve into chapters 8 through 15 of Penn Cole's Glow of the Everflame, the second installment in the Kindred's Curse Saga. This episode promises an in-depth exploration of the evolving narrative, character dynamics, and intricate lore of the fantasy world portrayed in the book.

Spoiler Warning

Before diving into the discussions, the hosts issue a firm spoiler warning:

Lexi (02:25):
"Please listen closely to our spoiler warning because this has spoilers for all three released books in the Kindred's Curse saga, including Spark, Glow, and Heat of the Everflame."

Chapter Summaries: Consulting with Royal Advisors (Chapters 8-15)

Nicole and Lexi meticulously summarize and analyze the key events from chapters 8 to 15, offering listeners a comprehensive understanding of the plot's progression.

Chapter 8: Awakening Power

Nicole (05:45):
"Chapter 8 still reeling from her walk in the garden with Aemond, DM has a special guest visitor to the dungeons..."

• Key Events:
  • DM uses her magic consciously for the first time, leading to heightened tensions.
  • Luther confronts DM about her actions, triggering a powerful magical outburst.
  • DM begins to accept her descended heritage amid the chaos.

Notable Quote: Lexi (06:37):
"Finally huzzah."

Chapter 9: A Morning of Numbness

Nicole (06:46):
"Chapter 9 the next morning, DM wakes up feeling numb..."

• Key Events:
  • DM grapples with unanswered questions about her mother.
  • Luther promises to retrieve Orly if she doesn't return by year's end.
  • DM gains tentative trust in Luther despite the lack of answers.

Chapter 10: Palace Intrigues

Lexi (07:22):
"After a quick terrace tea party where Eleanor paints Sarai like one of them French girls..."

• Key Events:
  • DM navigates palace politics and overhears damaging rumors about herself.
  • An unexpected encounter with her fiancé, Henry, escalates tensions.
  • DM confronts Henry about his knowledge of her descent.

Chapter 11: Confrontation with Henry

Nicole (12:54):
"Chapter 11 Cats out of the Bag Henry knows DM's secret..."

• Key Events:
  • Henry confronts DM about her descent, leading to a heated exchange.
  • DM reveals crucial information about her heritage and Luther’s plans.
  • The realization strains DM and Henry's relationship, showcasing Henry's deep-seated prejudices.

Notable Quote: Nicole (28:41):
"She screams about how she has so many reasons to hate Luther and there it is. That is his ultimate opening."

Chapter 12: Awkward Encounters and Secrets

Lexi (13:22):
"Well, okay, so here's what I think..."

• Key Events:
  • DM contemplates potential alliances and the consequences of her actions.
  • A bonded bargain with Luther is proposed, sealing her allegiance to House Corbois.
  • The emotional toll of accepting her destiny begins to manifest.

Chapter 13-15: Rising Tensions and Bonded Bargains

Nicole (32:45):
"And while we're talking about all this bonded bargain stuff..."

• Key Events:
  • DM’s power continues to grow uncontrollably, symbolizing her inner turmoil.
  • Remus proposes a political alliance through a bonded bargain, which DM reluctantly accepts.
  • The emotional and moral implications of her newfound power and alliances are explored.

Notable Quote: Lexi (33:51):
"DM is out of her element but showing strength and cleverness in dealing with House Corbois."

Key Insights: Reaching for Our Forging Magic

In this segment, Nicole and Lexi delve deeper into the themes, character development, and foreshadowing present in the chapters.

Acceptance of Heritage and Power

• Nicole (16:45):
  "DM is realizing she is exactly who she hated her whole life. It's realizing her rage and her fury at the world is... it's this godhood within her right now."

• Lexi (20:37):
  "DM is emotionally struggling with her identity, knowing she will outlive her loved ones, leading to anticipatory grief."

Complex Relationships and Trust

• Nicole (21:28):
  "DM and Luther share a complicated relationship built on mutual respect and hidden truths."

• Lexi (37:19):
  "Luther's smile signifies his recognition of DM's true power and potential, aligning with his own long-held visions."

Foreshadowing Future Conflicts

• Nicole (32:34):
  "The explosion of silver fire hints at future confrontations and the immense power DM wields."

• Lexi (35:04):
  "Remus's actions and his bonded bargain with DM set the stage for upcoming political and magical conflicts."

Notable Quote: Nicole (44:48):
"They want us to feel small, but I think they're just terrified we'll stop listening to them and start listening to each other."

Sophos Library: House Corbois

In their in-depth exploration of the world's lore, Nicole and Lexi shed light on House Corbois, the most powerful and influential house in Lumnos.

Overview of House Corbois

• Key Points:
  • Long-standing dominance in Lumnos politics.
  • Strategic marriages to consolidate power.
  • Complex internal dynamics and relationships.
  • Corbois sigil symbolizes resilience and power.

Notable Quote: Lexi (133:23):
"House Corbois represents survival and unyielding power, rising from the ashes no matter the challenges."

Key Members:

1. Remus Corbois:

   • Head of House Corbois and regent.
   • Ambitious and power-hungry, prioritizing his status above all.
   • Strained relationship with his son, Luther.

2. Luther Corbois:

   • Younger brother of Remus, burdened with familial expectations.
   • Torn between loyalty to his family and his own moral compass.
   • Shares a complex relationship with DM, hinting at deeper emotional ties.

3. Lily Corbois:

   • Luther’s younger sister, a sweet and devout descendant.
   • Developing romantic feelings for Teller Bellator, adding personal stakes to political dynamics.

4. Gareth and Aemond Corbois:

   • Older brothers with conflicting personalities.
   • Gareth is prejudiced and power-hungry, while Aemond is charming but strategically minded.

5. Alix Corbois:

   • Expert illusionist and military strategist.
   • Ambitious and seeks to lead an army, aligning with DM's goals.

Final Thoughts and Future Directions

Nicole and Lexi conclude the episode by reflecting on the emotional and political complexities introduced in these chapters. They express deep empathy for DM's struggles with her identity and the burdens of her heritage. The hosts also tease upcoming discussions on pivotal scenes, character developments, and further lore explorations in future episodes.

Notable Quote: Lexi (150:07):
"DM's journey is not just about embracing her power but also about finding her place and maintaining her humanity amidst overwhelming challenges."

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Conclusion

Episode 2 of the Fantasy Fangirls podcast offers a thorough and engaging analysis of chapters 8-15 of Glow of the Everflame. Nicole and Lexi provide insightful commentary on character motivations, plot developments, and the rich lore of the Kindred's Curse Saga. Their balanced discussion, coupled with notable quotes and deep dives into House Corbois, makes this episode a valuable resource for both avid followers of the series and new listeners seeking to understand the intricate world Penn Cole has crafted.

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For more detailed discussions and updates, be sure to subscribe to the Fantasy Fangirls podcast and join their vibrant community through the Fantasy Fan Club.

Transcript

[Nicole]

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[Lexi]

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[Nicole]

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[Lexi]

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[Nicole]

Welcome, welcome welcome to the Fantasy Fangirls podcast where two sisters dive deep into beloved fantasy lore, characters, themes, theories and more.

[Lexi]

I'm Lexi, older sister and fantasy lore nerd.

[Nicole]

And I'm Nicole, younger sister and romantic at heart.

[Lexi]

And today is episode two as we deep dive Glow of the Everflame by Pen Cole where we are covering chapters eight through 15. Before we begin, friends, please listen closely to our spoiler warning because this has spoilers for all three released books in the Kindred's Curse saga, including Spark, Glow and Heat of the Everflame.

[Nicole]

DM uses her magic for the first time. Knowingly, I guess is the right word and it's delicious for us deep divers, so we cannot stress this enough. If you have not finished specifically he Heat of the Everflame, then please go finish the series. We will be here when you're done.

[Lexi]

Next, we at Fantasy Fangirls are adults who say adult things about adult books. In other words, friends, this podcast is.

[Nicole]

Rated R. Clothes slide away. This episode we get an almost bang and even though it's with Henry, we're still gonna go through every second of it. So do be mindful of the yes, please be mindful of those little listening ears. It's okay, we get the foot massage next episode.

[Lexi]

Oh, that's next episode, all right. Additionally, we are so excited to see you at upcoming live events. Nicole and I are hosting an Empyrean themed Trivia in Boulder, Colorado on July 10th. It is sold out, but there's a wait list that you can sign up for. We will be featured guests at Enchanticon in St. Louis, Missouri August 15th through 17th.

[Nicole]

We will be at the Everflame Ball along with Pen Cole for the first ever Kindred's Curse Saga Ball on August 30th in Castle Rock, Colorado. We will also be back at the Dragon Gauntlet in Boyne City, Michigan September 12th through 13th.

[Lexi]

Then Romanasy Bookcon in Orlando, Florida October 23rd through 25th where we are interviewing Rebecca Yarros again at Disney World.

[Nicole]

Check out our website or the links below for more information to all of these events.

[Lexi]

Last thing before we jump into this Glow of the Everflame Episode 2 if you love Fantasy fan Girls and want more events, more content, more community and so much more, please check out Fantasy Fan Club.

[Nicole]

We have three membership tiers that you can join the Descended, which includes access to our Boppin Discord live Q&As from Lexi and I, a book club, exclusive author interviews, community events like trivia, promo codes to live events, plus exclusive designs and 20% off all merch. That is for $6 a month. Or you can join the Royal Family which includes everything from the Descended level, plus early access to ad free episodes, our full episode outlines and special voting privileges. That is for $10 a month. And last but not least, we have our Crowns Council which includes everything from the previous two tiers, plus more behind the scenes content, a welcome gift giveaways, private Discord channel, and you get your name shouted out on the podcast. That is for $25 a month.

[Lexi]

Join the party at fantasy fangirls.com fanclub. The link is also in the show Notes and really and truly, thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts for supporting us as we've turned this podcast into a dream come true. It is our livelihood and it's all because of you.

[Nicole]

And now it is officially time to join housecourt Bois Bonded Bargain and all.

[Lexi]

To start off every episode, Nicole does us the honor of summarizing this stretch of chapters, so gather round as we consult with our royal advisors to discuss what happens in chapters 8 through 15 of Glow of the Everflame.

[Nicole]

Chapter 8 still reeling from her walk in the garden with Aemond, DM has a special guest visitor to the dungeons. Walking into the dark, dingy space, DM launches herself at her little brother. Not wasting any time, DM jumps right into the hard questions like what is the challenging? How many people is DM gonna have to But DM does not get any answers before a new voice joins in and Luther strolls out of the shadows. Still raging after learning that he murders half mortal children, the voice within DM is ready to fight. Fight, fight. Time for Teller and Lily to leave. Using his innate ability to get under DM's skin, Luther pokes at DM until she finally snaps using beaucoup amounts of magic. The Aang himself fighting Fire Lord Ozai would be impressed. It isn't until the magic is pouring out of her that DM feels finally accepts that she is descended.

[Lexi]

Huzzah. Kind of sort of final.

[Nicole]

Finally huzzah.

[Lexi]

Finally huzzah. For us readers at least.

[Nicole]

Chapter 9 the next morning, DM wakes up feeling numb. Even when Luther brings her breakfast in bed, it does not turn her frown upside down. But dm, it's the moment you've been waiting for. She's getting answers about her mother. Psych. Luther realizes he can't actually tell her anything of importance. Where's Lily and her uncontrollable babbling when you need her? But hey, DM did learn that when it comes to her, Luther's stamina is in need of some work. Even though she didn't get any answers from Luther, DM now knows that she was able to trust his promises. So at least there's that. Before leaving her room, Luther makes her one last promise. Though if Orly is Not back by year's end, he will go get her. Chapter 10 After a quick terrace tea party where Eleanor paints Sarai like one of them French girls, DM wanders the palace enjoying moment alone. But the cockroach himself, Remus, comes along and ruins it all, claiming that he just wants to provide counsel to Her Majesty. Nothing like a good game of who's more politically savvy. Shortly after, DM finds herself deep within the servants passages. In her sneaking around, DM overhears the current gossip about herself. She's sleeping with Aemond. She killed the King. Xoxo Gossip Girl. Not wanting to get caught eavesdropping, she turns around ready to get the fuck out, and runs straight into her fiance. Not a fiance. Henry. Chapter 11 Cats out of the Bag Henry knows DMs secret and he's not too happy about it. Before he can reach for his Fretosian steel blade. Woof. DM leads Henry away. Knowing they desperately need to talk, DM pulls Henry into the first room she sees and word vomits everything at him. Well, sort of everything. Luther is still her dirty little secret, but everything she knows about her mom and her heritage is out on the table. After hearing about the wonders of flameroot powder, Henry's focus shifts. Who cares about your almost mate, baby fiance's newfound descendedness and existential crisis when she's got the ultimate weapon dangling in front of him like a carrot on a stick? Testing the limits of DM's trust, Henry starts planning for the Guardian's next move, and DM reluctantly, sort of ish, agrees. What else does she agree with? I will be your wife, ruled by my side as king. Because handing a man who wants to burn down the castle the key to the front door was obviously the correct decision. And bang, bang, bangity bang, I set up chapter 12 awkward. Luther's in the doorway and now has to watch Henry redress himself. Yikes. With Henry gone, Luther goes in on dm. And not in the way we want to see it. Well, maybe a little bit in the fun way, if you count making her flustered with more promises that I will devote more time to than I should. Luther explains Aemon's requirements for keeping his lips sealed about Henry. She has to take Aemon as her escort to the Ascension Ball. Ah, who needs a cute Will you come to the ball with me? Ask when you have blackmail. But there's one tiny problem. DM already asked Henry to come as her betrothed. Whoops. Seeing this as good a time as any, Luther steps away and returns with a tiny little book in hand. Luther's secret Book of Secrets. Extremely incriminating evidence of his treason against the crown, him saving hundreds of mortal children's lives. With this treason out in the open, Luther is finally able to tell DM something about her mother. She helped Luther smuggle half mortal children out of Lumnos. Finally, some answers. Chapter 13 after sending a letter to Henry taking back her invitation to the ball that will totally be ignored, DM makes her way back down to the dungeon to see Teller and Lily. The two younger siblings dive into a lesson of all of Luther's titles, and it's enough to make Daenerys Targaryen say okay, are you done already? With the topic changed, Teller and Lily want to know all the details on DM's flashy magic. But DM having magic comes with some unwanted side effects that leave her and her brother needing to have a moment to hug it out. Knowing she can't do this royalty thing alone, DM asks Teller to research everything he can about the 20 houses, as well as keeping their father from far away from town and any knowledge that she is queen. Before he leaves on this new assignment, Teller asks for the chance to see DMs magic. But unlike Luther, Diem's magic has performance anxiety and almost nothing happens. Even though Teller was disappointed with her not a magic show, Diem couldn't be more relieved. Chapter 14 it's the day before Ulther's funeral and over another breakfast with Luther, she realizes oh fuck she likes him and like likes him likes him. On their way to a meeting with Remus, DM and Luther are stopped by Alix and a hot blonde welcome Ileana to the chat, who attempts to seduce Lou by belittling DM like it's just another Tuesday. Not wanting to watch the Lutheran Ileana show, Diem stalks away down the hall to the meeting room only to have Lou catch up to her. Thank God. Reaching the meeting room, Remus sends his son away, leaving DM alone with the big bad wolf. Chapter 15 with Remus Corbett region of Lumnos undivided attention, DM begins poking into the mind of the cockroach, testing his luck Remus assum that he will be taking on the role as leader of the houses. Meeting Bitch, you thought. Conversation moves to the topic of the mortals and what the other houses would like to do with them to get them the fuck out of the realm. However, Remus has a brilliant beyond brilliant idea. Diem plays dumb and defers to him during the house receptions. Sounds like something a dude who wants to keep power would say. Seeing the chance to one up the new naive queen, Remus proposes a deal. A bonded bargain, if you will. Diem agrees to claim House Corbois, and Remus keeps any Courbois from challenging her. Agreeing to the terms, Diem and Remus seal the deal, locking in her fate. Dun dun dun.

[Lexi]

Alright, friends, it is time to reach for our forging magic and unravel key insights, character analysis, lore, foreshadowing theories, and oh, so much more. First, let's do a quick timestamp. It is still the afternoon of DM's first full day as Queen of Lumnos. It was only last night that she was selected as the crown. This morning she woke up to Eleanor in her room, then spent the day with her new advisor before Aemond interrupted for his time with DM. So now it's afternoon, so we are nearing the 24 hour marker of DM getting the crown. This also means DM really needs to speak with her younger brother. Luckily, Lily successfully snuck him into the dungeon and is able to reunite him and dm. Side note, the dungeons haven't been used in years. That seems kind of odd that they aren't used. Is it because most people go to the fortress dungeons and anyone else is killed?

[Nicole]

This also ring ding ding on my mind. I took it as a nod to how Ulther was like a weaker king, and how it's like almost Hik couldn't condemn people to the dungeons. But then that doesn't necessarily combine with how Remus has been ruling for quite a while. So maybe it's even a nod to how he didn't want to put people in the dungeons. I don't think he would just immediately condemn people to death. I don't get that vibe from Remus. Are you?

[Lexi]

Well, okay, so here's what I think. I think with the descended, they send them to Fortos because it's like, okay, let Fortos deal with them. And then because I definitely see Remus being that kind of ruler. And unfortunately, if they're not descended, they are killed.

[Nicole]

Okay, yeah, I could see that from Remus.

[Lexi]

Yeah, yeah. Anyway, the dungeons are not in use. And before we jump into this reunion, here's what Teller has been up to. These past 20ish hours, he's been following his sister's request and reading up on anything he can learn about the transfer of the crown. Specifically, if there's any way to pass the crown to someone else besides dying in the process. Unfortunately, Teller has not come upon Anything like that. Yet they all say the same thing. That the crown can only be passed to another by death. But he will keep looking. It's moments like this where I wonder if it's foreshadowing for DM Passing the realm crowns to others without dying. She's special in her own way. Like I could definitely see this. We can assume Teller did what DM asked of him last night when the crown appeared on her head. This morning, Teller told their father that DM has left town to visit a friend and he doesn't know when she'll be back. I know that she had also asked him to tell Henry too, but I'm under the impression Teller did not tell Henry like dm I'd asked him to because I could see Teller purposefully not talking to Henry. And Henry doesn't mention the lie when they run into each other soon.

[Nicole]

I think you're right. And I think a little part of Teller, he does not like Henry.

[Lexi]

He exactly.

[Nicole]

He is not a fan. I could see him being like, yeah, buddy, this is our chance to get rid of this forever. Like, I could see him saying, this is a future. This is a future Teller problem if I need to tell him. But it didn't. It didn't hit the top priorities, exactly.

[Lexi]

Their father is definitely top priority. Definitely not Henry in his.

[Nicole]

No.

[Lexi]

Speaking of their father, Teller's also been keeping their father Andre, occupied by finding excuses to spend time with him at home, which in and of itself will make Andre suspicious. Something is going on. That's such a teenager vibe right there if I've ever heard it. Seeing her brother again is the anchor that DM needs be to so badly right now. DM trusts Teller more than any other person, and she knows he loves her unconditionally. No scheming, no wondering about ulterior motives or having to be on her guard with him. Plus, Teller is very intelligent and knows the descended ways far better than dm. And I'll go to say, most mortals too. She trusts his advice and his comfort. No question about it. DM can simply be herself with her brother. And she needs that so badly right now.

[Nicole]

But remember the last time Teller saw dm, she was panic. She was frantic about the crown being on her head. She was running into the sea to get the powder that would take it away. So I don't think he was expecting to see the same level of maybe that frantic urgency, but I definitely think he expected to see some same level of that panic in her eyes. But as he blinks up at DM she is smiling to much of his surprise. Have we mentioned it's not even 20ish hours later and yet a whole lot has happened for dm. She has an advisor now and the palace feels. Feels less intimidating. I'll say. She's got a badass gryvern. She's got a goal of taking down the descended from within and already has an inn with House Corbois. She's taking the control back in her hands and her demeanor is showing it. And Teller's like, oh, a lot's happened in 24 hours.

[Lexi]

This sibling reunion gets interrupted though by none other than Prince Luther. Huzzah. Huh. That's not the first time I'm going to say that he is interrupting something this episode. Turns out Lily was not as discreet as she thought. Shock of shocks. Apparently people are looking for her Majesty and Luther was the only one to think to look in the dungeons.

[Nicole]

Oh, Lily, sweet summer child.

[Lexi]

I know, right? But with Luther's arrival, the voice within DM goes from chanting as it fed off her stress during her conversation with Lily and Teller. Now the voice is screaming with Luther here. Which does make sense because we know how much her godhood responds to Luther both in good and bad ways. Sure, sometimes it's in a curious and ooh, I like you way. And other times, like definitely now, he gets under DM's skin more than anyone else. She feels very strongly about him, 95% of which is bad. Her godhood gets riled up from DM's heightened emotions. And I think too, because Luther is so powerful himself and her godhood innately responds to his magic. So put all that together and we have her pent up godhood about to burst. I bet it's even harder for her to not unleash her power since becoming the crown because it has its own powerful elements with the 4G magic. So it's just compounding her need to release her magic. That is just so much.

[Nicole]

Not to mention, the last time she saw Luther, she was about to go on her walk with Aemon. And what did Aemon tell her on that walk? Oh yeah, Luther murders half mortal babies. So I think her godhood is also like has a spike of livid because of this belief belief she has about him now. And maybe some of that descended wine also is still coursing through her veins because remember earlier today she was a little loopy drunk noodle like. So I don't, I don't see her head being totally cleared of that yet. But Lily's not the only one who isn't being discreet in this dungeon? Luther can see and probably feel through his own godhood that DM is livid and she needs to use her magic now. But wait, what do those two things have to do with each other? Ah, welcome to magic class with Professor Luther. Since we don't get an actual Professor Luther, I'm just gonna try to make any Professor Luther jokes that I possibly can. Their magic, AKA their godhood. It's that magical voice telling diem to fight and telling Luther to protect. It hates being trapped in a physical body. And the longer it's held in, the angrier it gets, the bigger the blow. And so much is starting to make sense. Damn. When she was a child and her magic manifested, she was unknowingly using that magic. But then flameroot dulled her magic, also dulling her emotions for years. When she went off a flame root, she was quick to get angry at the drop of a hat. She was consistently living like this bomb that was ready to explode, holding up her magic and thus her godhood for years. And only in the last few months since she stopped taking the flame route has she felt that. That edge that she's walking. And as she thinks to herself, this change in her, that joy that she used to have turned to complete anger. Quote, I despised her. Oh damn. Her anger toward herself. Is this never ending cycle fueled by this unreleased godhood. She's angry at the world, then it heightens her godhood. Then she's angry at herself for being so angry at the world. It heightens her godhood. And on and on the cycle goes. My heart just so goes out to dm. Here it makes sense as to why DM does come into her own. After the challenging, she starts using using her magic regularly. At that point, Luther is shocked by hearing she has not erupted recently. But he does tell her that quick anger, it is normal for untrained descended for most ascended. If they don't release every, you know, few days, they can be dangerous with their emotions and their godhood boiling over. And DM hasn't released in years. There's a sex joke in there somewhere.

[Lexi]

I also love how Luther assures DM that this is normal. DM has felt so other. She's been wondering what is wrong with her since the flame root wore off. And here is someone saying, it's okay, this is normal and there is a solution. As angry as she is at Luther, she does need to hear that for her own self esteem, I'll call it. However, Luther recognizes this is not as Easy as telling DM to unleash her power. And she does it. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Our girl is way too stubborn for that. And more than anything, she is still suppressing the truth that she has magic. So she is literally unable to release this magic because in her head, she's like, no, I don't have magic. She is not connecting with her godhood like we were talking about. So much in spark. Yes, the crown is on her head. But, like, she'll tell Henry the next day, she won't truly accept she's descended until she demonstrates this power.

[Nicole]

Well, I'll even throw out knowingly demonstrates this power. She has used this power before, but she's always had another explanation for it, right? Like we said with Lily. Or like, for instance, when. When the magic was absorbed from her, from Rangi slain, she was like, he missed. She needs to see it so blatantly clear, where there is no other explanation in order to believe that it's true.

[Lexi]

Exactly. Where it's not the external factors that cause her to have this magic, but it's literally within herself, right? DM has been shoving this voice down and ignoring it to the best of her ability. And exactly what you're saying, Nicole, the few times she has demonstrated power in recent months, it's because she gave in or agreed with the voice inside of her. So Luther's here to lure it out and coax DM into boiling over, where she must release the magic for her own safety. They're verbally sparring, and he keeps jabbing her. Stop pretending and face who and what you are. Defend yourself. Stop being such a coward. And, friends, he's not talking about right here in terms of fighting with magic. Using her magic means facing the truth that she's descended, and Luther knows that. And in his own I'm trying to help you way, he is preying on that right now. She lets out some of her anger, the hatred she feels toward Luther. He's the keeper of the laws and the one who executes the half mortal children. This accusation seems to catch Luther by surprise, and he naturally tries to defend himself, genuinely wounded she would think such a horrible thing about him. We know he actually saves the half mortal children and works with DM's mother to do so. But I think this will be his own little hint to him that DM doesn't know that part of what he did with her mother. He's trying his best to help dm, and she rebukes him and lashes out at every opportunity. So here he's like wow, now he knows why. And yes, that is his job, but he would never and he's figured out an alternative.

[Nicole]

I love this moment in the audiobook where Amanda Dolan, first of all, who voices Luther so well. I love how she voices Luther. She erupts. And like yes, I deny it. Like, it's just. I love that moment of both of them erupting and getting under each other's skin. Oh, it gives me chills. There are few things I love more than my patio in the summertime. It is so nice to just escape and read or write. It's just my favorite, favorite place. And there's just something about the beautiful outdoor spaces that is so satisfying. It's like your own backyard Oasis. Wayfair's got everything you need to level up your outdoor space. They have patio sets and lounge chairs, outdoor bars and hot tubs, fire pits, gazebos, and of course, string lights. My favorite. It's so easy to have a one stop shop where you can make over your entire space with the resort feel without the resort price tag.

[Lexi]

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[Nicole]

What?

[Lexi]

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[Nicole]

Oh my gosh. It took you forever. I know.

[Lexi]

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[Nicole]

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[Lexi]

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[Nicole]

The new Next gen formula offers a more advanced clinically packaged fact formula that fills common nutrient gaps and supports gut health all in the same easy once a day ritual. AG1's next gen formula even helps those nutrient gaps for healthy eaters. If you've been listening to the show for a while, you know how much Lexi and I love AG1. It not only helps really sustain that energy throughout the day, especially when we have those really long recording days, it helps so much with that. Plus, AG1 really supports our gut health, which Lexi and I both need.

[Lexi]

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[Nicole]

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[Nicole]

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[Lexi]

And DMs current state though there is no way she is listening to Luther.

[Nicole]

She screams about how she has so many reasons to hate Luther and there it is. That is his ultimate opening. He says quote do you or is it easier to blame your anger on me than look in the mirror and confront the truth? Oh ouch. To look in that mirror for DM is the entire crumbling of her world. It is realizing she is exactly who she hated her whole life. It's realizing her entire family lied to her. Maybe not tell her, but definitely her mother. It's realizing her rage and her fury at the world is. It's almost like it's not her own own Feelings. It's this godhood within her right now. She is putting all that anger, all that energy that she has built up from this voice into not looking too deeply in her life. She's putting it all on Luther and the anger that she has with everything else in the world, and now he's calling her on it. She has to look at who she is. And I'm not just talking about being descended. There's such a rawness with looking at yourself. Like I was saying earlier, DM says she despises herself. Right now, of course, she's not looking too closely at herself, but to realize that that's the only way past the anger, is that anger. Ooh. Right now, there is no more anger her body can hold.

[Lexi]

When DM snaps and finally succumbs to her godhood, it cannot be overstated how much power she expels. DM begins levitating, encircled by a glowing white sphere that crackles and hums. Spiked tendrils of light come out from the orb she's cocooned in, turning the dungeon into a quote, luminous jungle of gnarled sharp tipped vines. Ah, I love this little nod to the Luminos Crown's vines of light.

[Nicole]

Well, also, the word jungle here feels so, so specific, because Vonos. That's Vonos territory right there.

[Lexi]

Yes, exactly. From these vines, thorns, darkness oozes out of them, becoming a sea of shadows and waves lapping at the walls. I love magical descriptions like this. Also waves.

[Nicole]

See, Miros, this is mirrors.

[Lexi]

So it's like she's using her shadow magic and her mirror's magic at the same time. Oh, my gosh, I love it. A blast of pure energy bursts from her, and Luther casts a shield dome around her. But DM's power blazes through his shield. Easy peas. Luther keeps crafting shields around her to keep her from bringing down the whole palace. But then we get this. The silvery flames that shot from my skin burned through each one with ease, dissolving into a mist that froze as it landed and coated the obsidian waves with a foam of glittering frost. So much here. First of all, love seeing the Montelo's magic on display with the glittering frost and all of that.

[Nicole]

Well, and while we're on other magics that are on display, literally seconds later from this, there's a mention of how the floor has cratered beneath her, and between the cracks, sprouts were visible. That's our Boros.

[Lexi]

Yeah, yeah. It's so cool. And again, it's like all of these other descriptions, like they could be explained through her magic here with the shadows and the light and the cracking and all of that kind of stuff where you don't really think much of it. But in hindsight, knowing that she has these other magic, it's so cool to see that. Yeah, but none of that is even the most important part of this line. No, we get a silver flames mention. Remember that silver flames surround DM in her visions along with the bodies of many descended immortals. So I bet it will be this same power that happens and unfortunately makes all these people die. But the question is, will it be from DM or her father who probably has the same power.

[Nicole]

I am going to strongly assume dm. When I read this, I almost leapt out of my chair and then I wrote in my notes. Notes, lol. Remember when I said that silver flames were Afia Kai's gryvern? Well, I am definitely guessing it's dm. I also love how when the silver flames are mentioned, that's when she just starts ripping through Luther's shields like as if they're paper. It shows how much more powerful this Omnos power is than anything else.

[Lexi]

It does also make me very worried for dm, specifically of her well being because that would mean she kills a lot of people and that's the last thing she would ever want to do.

[Nicole]

So.

[Lexi]

So I could see her having to really come to terms with the destroyer that she has to be in burn. And it'll be very interesting how that plays out.

[Nicole]

I wonder if this is meant to throw us. If this is us supposed to think that this explosion of silver fire is from her, but actually like you were saying, it is from Ophiuchai. And then it isn't on DM's shoulders because I. Oh God, I can't even imagine DM having to deal with that.

[Lexi]

Or I could see her trying to protect everybody from him with that magic and. And it turns out to have different effects.

[Nicole]

No matter what I think it is, I think it's different from what we are expecting it to be. And I don't know what that looks like yet.

[Lexi]

I agree. I agree. That's what's so fun about this.

[Nicole]

I love this.

[Lexi]

DM thinks of herself as a dying star exploding and imploding. And even this will only be a fraction of her well of power. According to Luther. The next morning she's losing all sense of self as her soul becomes. Becomes thousands that flow through the realm, pulsing and rhythm within her, each one lending their power to hers. This is forging magic. And she doesn't even know it yet.

[Nicole]

Pen is a genius because I did not catch any of this until I read it for the Deep Dive.

[Lexi]

I love how Pen explains magic. Like, if you all have been following along with fantasy fangirls for a while, you know how much I geek out when magic is on the page and described and all of that. And it's moments like this where it's just, just so in the. Feels like you can feel it in yourself and visualize it so clearly. I love it. But then we get another interesting line about a spirit brighter than all of those others combined. While DM can't make out this individual's face, it does have two gray eyes so much like DMs. And this person smiles, quote, a smile of promise, a smile of fate. Nicole, you look like you're about to freak out here, so question for you. You. Do you think this was Lumnos or Omnos?

[Nicole]

Neither. I think it's. Oh, maybe neither. I think it's Ophiuchai. So I'm guessing Omno Son because of that. So much like my own. That feels like a father hint to me.

[Lexi]

I think at this point I was thinking of Feoke, too. I think at this point, I'm just, like, putting Omnos and Ophiuchai interchangeably. And I probably shouldn't do that as the Deep Dive detailed person that I am. But, yes, I absolutely agree with you there, Omnisopia Kai. Yes, exactly.

[Nicole]

Well, I think that this is him in his chamber, realizing and feeling that she has come into power. It's almost like when she finally uses this magic, it pulses throughout the realm, and he's able to feel it on Kuriel, even erupting across the sea. And he's smiling because he's like. It's almost like this is my time to re. Emerge. This would have been a really good question for Pen. I'm so mad I did this. Way too late to ask her.

[Lexi]

Well, well, okay. I, I, I love that line of thought. I am gonna poke two holes in it, though. One is that where he is on Korea, he should not. He's not able to feel the magic.

[Nicole]

That's true.

[Lexi]

And second of all is Penn did tell us that he's basically barely alive, so.

[Nicole]

But I feel like this would be enough to make him smile. I feel like this is him realizing his daughter's alive and the prophecy or not prophecy and the curse. I guess it's curse will come true.

[Lexi]

I'm leaning that way too.

[Nicole]

But someone else is smiling. Lufur is thrilled. He is a kid at Legoland right now. He is so happy his clothes might be barely hanging on. Singed and torn. He is. That's why I'm happy. He's beaming. He's not only it's not like one of his half smiles or like the little sly smiles. He is unmasked. Unreservedly happy. Every doubt, every moment, he has wondered if Lumnos was just testing him with this girl that flew into his life and just wreaked a bunch of havoc. He knows this woman now is is exactly who he's been waiting for. From Lumnos vision, he knew a gray eyed queen would come in and change the world. Fulfilling Lumnos dream of peace. He kept the large scar on his face and body as a promise that he would devote himself to that person when the time comes. And finally, he is seeing her execute that power he assumed she had. And he blatantly told her she had. Everything he's been waiting for for years has now now been confirmed. Yes, she is here. And she's every bit of fucking powerful as he expected. So much so that in her explosion, he tried to create a single shield around her. She exploded through it. Then he had to create another. And another, and another. He ran through his own magical reserves in minutes. And he's powerful.

[Lexi]

That is huge.

[Nicole]

I'm so happy to see happy Luther.

[Lexi]

Me too. Me too. However, this revelation that DM is indeed an extremely powerful descendant, it hits our girl hard. We've talked endlessly on the series deep dive about how DM has needed to believe she is mortal all her life. Especially recently. Because otherwise that means her life would be crumbling down as one big lie and she would lose her sense of belonging in this world. It would mean she is the evil monster she has always hated her whole life. It's always been an us versus them. And now it's a lot to process that she is one of them. She can't live in her Deluland anymore. Oh my gosh. Is this our rip to Deluludeum game?

[Nicole]

No.

[Lexi]

Okay. No matter how much she tries to deny it or explain it away, finally DM can't come up with an excuse to tell herself that follows the narrative that she's mortal. And for once she's not looking for one. Because even she recognizes that was a huge demonstration of power. And the voice within her that has crept up since she stop taking the flame route. Its pressure valve has finally been released. And it's quiet now. This realization that she is descended isn't just about the lies of her identity and grappling with who she really is and what she's been gaslit into believing all her life. It also means she will live for centuries. Her lifespan is suddenly not that of a mortal. Which means she will stay young and outlive every single mortal she's ever known. Her family, Moira, Henry, all the people she cares about. She will be the only one to carry their memory when people who knew them too eventually pass as well. Like she will outlive generations of mortals and diem will be all alone for centuries as she'll mourn the loss of these mortals she cares so deeply for. My heart absolutely breaks for DM in this moment when we dive into these fantasy stories. The sadness of these long lifespans in comparison to mortal ones are rarely highlighted as well as Pen does now. With dm, it's anticipatory grief and it's having to rearrange your own concept of time when it's a human who ends up with power. We know DM well enough to know it is difficult for her to be alone in the unfamiliar. She may be a fierce, independent woman, but she yearns for the comfort of her loved ones as we see repeatedly with Henry and her losing her way after her mother left. DM has such a big heart and cares so deeply for those she loves. She wants to protect them and keep them close to give her strength and stability. So now, on top of gaining the crown and being thrown into a whole new world of the descended, DMs having to grapple with the fact that no matter what, she will only have her loved ones around for a blimp of her long, long life. I hope that as we look ahead to the end of Burn and how this story may be resolved, that while DM will have to go through the pain of losing mortal loved ones, she will have her descended family with her. So she won't be alone to bear the burden that is currently suffocating her. All she can dwell on is that she will be alone as she outlives her mortal family. Which is when she agrees to accept the proposal to join House Corbois. Quote but only if you protect my friends and family for as long as they live. Even if I die. In the challenging, DM makes Luther promise because her loved ones safety means everything to her and her sense of time ability to be there for them. It's all hitting her big time right now. And while it's not on the page, I think DM's subconsciously reaching for any sense of belonging. So yes, she will accept and join House Corpois, because that's better than being utterly alone.

[Nicole]

One day later, when DM will see Teller again, she'll tell him and Lily that yes, she does have magic. And at first, Teller is elated. And then those same thoughts dawn on him. All of that loneliness DM feels, it hits him too. And it's from a mortal pov. His mother is gone as of right now. His father is going back to the army. And also now he's realizing his sister will outlive him by by centuries. When he goes quiet and the excitement for his sister leaves his eyes, I think it's entirely him feeling like everyone's leaving him behind. Even the girl he's falling for will have a much longer lifespan than him. Will everyone forget about him as they grow old together over the next millennia? I love you, Teller. I'm so sorry. But this does bring me to a theory. Because in Romantasy there tends to be this. This. I will match my lifespan with you at least 99.9% of the time. I think Lily, or at least this is my theory. I think Lily is going to do what Lumnos did and she's going to give up her descended lifespan for Teller.

[Lexi]

Ooh, I could see that. Or somehow Teller will be granted longer.

[Nicole]

Life if they are connected to the Ever Flame. Maybe somehow with that. I don't know how that would work because Aurelie definitely has immortal lifespan. I just want Teller to be happy. He has the goodest a. After Teller and DM share their moment together, he asks if he can see her magic again. This is a day later. I can only imagine this quiet jealousy within Teller. He's constantly surrounded by people who are magical in some way or another. And then of all people, so is now his sister. And he's asking her to see it. And it's like it's the closest thing it would get for him to using it himself. And as she tries to tap into her magic, unlike it does with Luther, nothing comes out. And she's so, so grateful for it. As a result, after her magic session with Luther and realizing that everything she fears, dreads and is disgusted by she is. It's as if she's created this complete block. It's not even like a wall. It is a 10 foot thick iron door between her will and her ability to tap into her magic. With her not able to use that magic, she can just be herself. She can pretend she's not descended or the queen. She can just be the same DM she was days ago. AKA she can just be mortal. Oh my God. The idea of using magic is so painful, but this is the moment it remains locked for DM throughout this book. This is the moment she locks it up with a There's like in Baldur's Gate, there's an impossible lock that you can't really open. This is that impossible lock that you can't really open.

[Lexi]

The next morning, DM feels empty, expending all that power drained. Her energy and the voice inside her, as well as her own thoughts, they're quieter than ever. For the first time in months, she's able to sit in silence and just be all the emotions she's been intensely feeling, they seem foreign. Now she feels exactly how she always imagined the descendant to be. Emotionless shells with magic where their heart should be. Oh poor dm. As she processes now being one of them, we know, and she does too, that not all dissented are like this at all. She certainly isn't actually like this, but in this moment she's in such numb despair where that's how she identifies.

[Nicole]

Knowing that she would be in no mood to be in public, Luther brings DM a private breakfast and the two of them discuss last night's happenings. In this book, there are many big moments that pivot or drive the story forward, but for Dean and Luther, these breakfast fists are such a quiet, important moment for their relationship and more specifically for their trust that often gets overshadowed by the bigger things. It's a moment every single day for them to be behind closed doors, just the two of them, and talk. They're able to ask questions, prep for the day, and most importantly, connect. Yes, they are wearing the queen and general roles in these moments, but I like to think of them as these are their only opportunities to like date date. You know, the dates that they don't really get to go on because they're too busy saving the realm.

[Lexi]

The conversation briefly turns to DM only realizing she is descended last night and I just want to make a quick note that wow. It's only now that we and DM find out that Luther really did think she knew that she was descended. Before he asks, you truly didn't know all of spark. He was trying to get her to admit it and it's this moment that he's like, oh, you really didn't know. But hey, remember how he assured DM that he would tell her what he can about her mother if she doesn't let him become griver and food. Time to talk, buddy. Except skrrrt. First Things first. Before Luther can tell Diem what he's able to share, he needs to know what he's able to share by knowing what she already knows. Because he promised Aurelie to keep things from Diem, DM's mother was adamant about keeping her away from the Descended, away from Luther, away from all of this. In hindsight, it was Orly's way of protecting DM and keeping her true nature hidden. So here Luther is being like, okay, what secrets have you already figured out? Because this guy knows a whole lot and he's not sure how much DM has figured out that Orly doesn't want her knowing. So that way it's not Luther breaking his promise and telling DM this info, but rather, he can provide clarification and further context to whatever she already knows.

[Nicole]

I love this so much on a reread because this is the first time he's realizing her and her mother were not working together as guardians. She doesn't even know her mother is part of the guardians. And he's like, like who's left this girl in the dark?

[Lexi]

So this means that learning what DM already knows so he knows how to navigate story time, it backfires badly because as it turns out, DM doesn't know shit. She does know that Luther arranged a bargain between the king and her mother. So Teller can go to the descended Academy, but only if she serves the king for the rest of her life with whatever the king demands. Okay, Luther will be able to clarify this part at least. And DM knows that the two of them were arguing the day she left and that or threatened to reveal his secrets if he didn't agree to her demands. But no, DM does not know what the secret is. We will soon learn that at least part of the secret that she's threatening him with is about saving the half mortal children. And apparently this is a common threat of hers, even though Luther knows it's always a bluff. DM also does not know how her mother found out about Luther's secret or who she was working with. Lutheran. Oh, this is so tough for dm, who has been fed up with being in the dark for so long. And here she is getting confirmation just how in the dark she was with her mother's activities. She's been trying to figure out what happened to her mother for almost seven months. And here she is feeling so small for not knowing more than the teeny bit she has been clinging to as a lifeline clue to her mother's disappearance. As it turns out, Luther does have to keep his promise of keeping her mother secret secrets since DM doesn't already know them. While I understand and even commend Luther for being a man of his word, my heart breaks for dm. I think. How many times have I said that this episode here is the person with answers to the mystery of her mother and he tells her there's too much she doesn't know and he can't share more. That would be infuriating and devastating.

[Nicole]

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[Lexi]

I really thought she was a Montios or something on my first reading with these clues about where Orly is. Luther agreed to smuggle her there because she told him there were rare medicinal plants that could only be found on the island that needed time for harvesting a large supply. So Luther, being the goodest good boy that he is, he agreed to help her to get these medicinal things she needs to help other people. He was not aware of Flame Root being on the island or he would have said no.

[Nicole]

2 he shares that there was no bargain between Luther and Orly and the agreement that they did come to the king did not even know of that. Arlie wanted Teller in a descended school, which we will learn is so that she could get information from him and use his schoolwork for the information for the guardians, which that is a tough look Arley, but Luther agreed and while here he says it doesn't really matter why he agreed, which I beg to Differ. I imagine he agreed because he wanted a mortal to get a good education. He wanted to bridge that gap for mortals starting to have a better life. Which I imagine, like Aurelie, you abused that good heart. And number three, he caught Aurelie spying one day in the palace. And while he wanted to ban her from, you know, the castle forever, which is super fair, he didn't because of their mutual goal, which we know now is smuggling half mortals out of Lipnos.

[Lexi]

So he knows she is working with the Guardians. And I also wonder if he wanted to be able to keep an eye on her.

[Nicole]

Yeah, I would if I was Luther. Last but not least thing that we learned from Luther, which is like, I'm shocked with how much we did learn from him when he was like, I can't tell you. Number four, he promises, you know, those big promises for Luther that if Arlie is not back by year's end, he will go get her himself. And yes, he has done the calendar math. Right now, the year end is only two months away. If Liam survives the challenging and goes to get coordinated, that'll be a little over a month. By then, he's expecting Arlie to sneak back on the boat and come back to Lumnose. But if she doesn't, he will sail to Kurile and go get her himself. Go, Luther.

[Lexi]

Considering how little he could tell DM without breaking his promise, this is actually a good little bit of information. But not nearly enough though, with the details DM needs, like where her mother is. She also does realize though, that she has to respect Luther's boundaries because she had just asked him to make a promise the night before to keep her loved ones safe if she dies. His words might be the only thing keeping her head above water right now, so she doesn't drown in despair. The rest of the morning is spent with Eleanor, though DM is understandably preoccupied with the information that Luther shared and the mystery of what he he wouldn't discuss. I'm going to save most of the takeaways from this conversation about the Corbois family members for today's Sophos library, so don't mind me as I skip over all that right now. All this intel that Eleanor shares about her family members is very insightful for Diem. As she figures out how to navigate working with these Corbois higher ups. It's another nod to how observant Eleanor is and that she has a good sense of character judgment. She also explains that because the descended fight with magic, it creates more of an evening playing field between men and women. A petite woman could overpower a big brute if she uses her magic well enough. I love that so much. And it definitely makes sense. Eleanor offers insight on Luther too, which feeds into this unlikely narrative that DM is understanding about him. Since they met, she has labeled him as her enemy, and even since getting the crown, she has gotten such mixed signals about who Luther really is. Is he someone who genuinely prefers to serve the crown rather than wear it, or is he a child murderer? She wants to lean into the former. He is proving himself to be, well, trustworthy, and yet he also has the most to lose with her being the crown. So this could all be an act from him, and she doesn't want to fall for it. Dean's best reasoning to keeping Luther close, that she's willing to admit to, is, quote, keep your friends close and your enemies closer, I suppose. And closer still if you don't know which is which.

[Nicole]

There's a specific passage from this conversation with Eleanor that needs to be highlighted. They want us to feel small, Eleanor. They want us to be quiet, be predictable, be unimportant, behave. Then they make us think we deserve it. But I think they're just terrified we'll stop listening to them and start listening to each other. And do you know why they're so scared of women like us? Because they damn well should be. This is a line that made me slam the pause button on the audiobook, shout yes at the top of my lungs, and then immediately press the back button because I needed to listen to it. Again, this they want us to feel small, but I think they're just terrified we'll stop listening to them and start listening to each other. So much of what fantasy and romance is for us readers is just remembering how big you truly are. Because this quiet revolution wrapped up in that one little sentence. It's not just about Eleanor. It is about every woman who's been told to behave, to be palatable, to be small, to take up less than space so someone else can feel more comfortable in theirs. And one of the reasons I love this book, and specifically dm, is because she says that being a woman, especially one who dreams big, who dares to be loud or messy. It's like this constant battle with the world telling you to be quieter. And when you choose to be silly, loud, bold, soft, angry, or anything like DM is here, the world calls you too much or too emotional, or too needy, or too dramatic or too aggressive or insert your two here. But moments like this remind us that being those Things loud, too much, taking up space. It's all these things that you deserve, and none of it is wrong. Instead, it is so powerful. And here is Eleanor, who for the first time is hearing that someone believes in her, believes that she is deserving of being loud, being powerful, and being at the side of the queen. We all may have felt like Eleanor at one point in our lives, but maybe we didn't have a DM to tell us that we're worth dreaming big. We're worth speaking loudly. We're worth being so unapologetically ourselves. So allow Lexi and I to be your dm. You are not meant to be quiet so someone else can be louder. You are worthy of being wild and silly and too much and complicated and a hundred other things. And if anyone is afraid of that version of you, good. They damn well should be.

[Lexi]

Oh, my gosh, I'm tearing up right now because this really is, I'll say for us, very applicable. Because going out and doing a podcast and really being unashamedly ourselves and embracing fantasy and all of that, it's putting ourselves out there. It's a lot, and it can be scary. And it is also this drive of this is who we really want to be. And by being authentically ourselves, it's been able to create this incredible community of people who feel similarly, people who feel seen. And that is the best part that this job has become, because it's not just a job. It is literally a way of shining the spotlight on people and making them feel seen. And it is such an unexpected joy that that came out of this podcast here, and I just. I'm very grateful for it. And it is also that little voice inside our own heads that we are. At least for myself, I'll speak for myself. It is a frequent battle, you know, and anyway, I didn't realize how much I need to hear that just now, so I love you too. Okay. While avoiding servants gossiping about her, which that's tough. Dm. I'm sorry. Our new queen finds herself in the palace's mail room.

[Nicole]

Was that Blue's clue?

[Lexi]

Yes, it was mail time. And that's when DM runs straight into Henry, literally. Who must have convinced his father, the palace courtier, to deliver mail here today. Oh, dear. This is bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. It's only been two days since Dean, Liam and Henry fought outside his home, where he told her how evil the descended truly are, that violence is the only answer to getting the mortals rights back. And he revealed the truth of her Father getting called to war. But it might as well have been a lifetime ago with everything that's happened in these past 48ish hours. Dean has been dreading an interaction with Henry since the crown appeared atop her head. What's more, now she can't hide from the truth that she is indeed descended. After her explosion of magic glasses night, we've talked endlessly about Henry's hatred toward the descended and deemed desperation to cling to the familiar. Of course, Deem's been terrified to reveal that she is the enemy that he hates and is actively working against Henry. Or I should say, the old Henry is her comfort zone. Before she became descended, she kept pushing off his marriage proposal because she knew in her heart that it wasn't her future. But after DM gets the crown, she's been holding onto that marriage proposal as a life line because from DM's perspective, if this proposal still exists, that Henry doesn't hate her and he still wants to be with her. In other words, he still loves and wants DM for who she's always been, even when her identity has turned on its head. The marriage proposal has been kind of like the concept of Schrodinger's cat. I can't pronounce that very well.

[Nicole]

I'm sorry.

[Lexi]

If she doesn't confront Henry now that she's descended and the crown, then his love and care for her still feels real. But until this moment right here, she both has and may not have a marriage proposal because she doesn't trust that he'll still want to marry her after everything that has transpired in these past two days. But she also needs to hold on to that truth for her own sanity.

[Nicole]

Right or not, the moment for Henry to find out everything is now. And it really might not be enough to the start that she had hoped it would be. Upon their literal bumping into each other, DM is a deer in the heads of lights. But Henry has a whole slew of emotions going through him. First off is shock at seeing DM here of all places. Then it's confusion with her being in a fancy dress. She's looking like a royal. Then it's realization that the crown's on the top of her head. Then it's this grief at losing. Because, yes, for Henry, it would instantly be losing his best friend and the wife he thought he would grow old with. And then there's angry anger. So, so much anger.

[Lexi]

And all of these emotions are all in literally a split second.

[Nicole]

Is he angry at what she is? Yes. It's Henry, who has so much prejudice against the descended, but more so it's the anger that he feels like he was lied to and like he's been a fool to not see who she truly is in his mind. His immediate conclusion is that he fell into the clutches of a deceased descendant who absolutely played him. He does not know that DM was just as shocked to receive the crown as Henry is to see it on his girlfriend's head. His first thought is like many of his first descended thoughts and that is immediately putting her in the bad guy box. Just like we did with DM last episode. I am going to give Henry some grace with his initial reaction until the next thing he does. So this is all in the seconds after he sees her because this is such a high jump in the food chain. She is not just a descended who played him, she's the fucking crown. So of course he feels like he was lied to and of course he's.

[Lexi]

Furious without being willing to hear her out. Henry reaches for his blade that he keeps concealed in his waistband, which the guards didn't catch while searching him before he entered the palace.

[Nicole]

I am giving the guards cards the L of not Is this a smiting L?

[Lexi]

This is just a you're bad at.

[Nicole]

Your job L. You need to be better. I will also say him grabbing his dagger first, very first thing. It feels like that Vance jumped to violence response. It's again showing how much Henry has been influenced. I'm not that is not an excuse for him pulling a dagger on his best friend, but I'm still just pointing it out.

[Lexi]

Well, I'm saving my actual Henry hat here for in a few minutes, but metaphorically putting my Henry hat on for the moment. Let's talk about this from his POV like you were saying Nicole, the woman he has known his whole life and proposed to turns out to be descended as far as he's concerned. You can't not know your descended, especially the crown who is the most powerful descended. So no, this descended liar does not get to try to explain herself because she's descended. He looks at this world in the black and white. Us versus them and all of them need to pay for injustices against the mortals over the centuries. These emotions are compounded to be 10 times worse because he's feeling betrayed by someone who he really loved and care about. So yeah, he jumps straight into must kill mode as he's driven by betrayal and fury. Not an excuse by any means, but that's aligned with Henry and his way of thinking.

[Nicole]

It is aligned with Henry and his way of thinking, and I am formally giving him an L for this choice.

[Lexi]

Oh, absolutely. I don't know how many Ls he's gonna be getting here, but yes, there are quite a few.

[Nicole]

This is start number one. This is the first L he gets. Switching to DM for a second, I can see why a lot of readers do struggle with DM's choices here. She sees Henness Henry pull a knife on her and she says, we need to talk privately. Again, though, I can understand where she's coming from, but I personally feel like this is so realistic and very in DM's character. Most of us have had a person in our lives that we were blind to how incompatible we were. That's a very delicate way of saying it, but when you're in the thick of it, especially when they're the closest thing you have to a confidant, and especially when they're the closest thing you have to a best friend your whole life. Of course, her initial reaction is to desperately try to get him back on her side. It's been less than two days since she got the crown. That is not enough time to rewire a lifetime of believing this person is your safe place.

[Lexi]

I'll even say the few months that they've had where things have been rocky. Don't rewire it either, because of how much they're trying to cling to the other and not let go.

[Nicole]

So she doesn't think about her safety, with being in a room with a person who literally has a knife to her. Because this person is someone she loves. Loves. Maybe not in the way he loves her, or at least I should say loved her, because I do think that was squished. But right now, in this surprised state of seeing him, without any prep of what she would think or do or say, she would try to get him to understand and keep him at her side in a white knuckled manner. I know for me, when I had a partner who was very much not a partner, who I should have been with, there were times where I wanted to do anything to keep him at my side because he was all that I knew. Very much the same thing here for DM and Henry. When they get to a room alone and Henry puts the knife away, they're finally able to talk about how the hell this happened. I commend Henry. You're going to get a lot of Ls my guy, but I'm going to commend you on this for believing her quickly once they were in private that she Truly did not know. It was a few back and forths and he did believe her, so I'm giving him that. But the question is, who did know? Who knew this? And all roads lead to Aurally. Oh, this is such a hard pill for DM to swallow. She always told us the big things, the things that mattered. And Henry looks down. Yeah Henry, you better look away. My guy, he's like ooh, not the biggest things. But then it is Henry who brings up the flame root which DM starts to deny. But the Pandora's box opens up wide. This is huge world shattering info for dm. She may have realized last night that she's a descended, but this is her her realizing her whole life she has been lied to in a lie that was curated by her mother. And her mother knowingly drugged her as a result. That's very different from just learning you have magic and a long lifespan.

[Lexi]

Yeah. Oh gosh. Once again it breaks my heart that it's only now that she's putting two and two together. Her mother made her take flame root every day for 10 years because she knew DM was descended. And this was how Orly could ensure her mother magic stayed hidden. It means her mother took advantage of her daughter's trust and lied to her all her life. The answer was right there last night. But she refused to see it even then. And it's only now with Henry where her mother like has to kind of come up, that she really does put two and two together.

[Nicole]

And the only person she can turn to right now for comfort. It feels like Henry Teller's not around. Her father and her just had a huge fight. Yeah, Henry's really the only person who's in her old life who she feels feels like she can talk to.

[Lexi]

Henry's priorities really show though here. Because instead of supporting DM as she real time realizes what the flame root was really for and that her mother lied to her about why she had to take it all her life. He gets hyper fixated on the effects of flame root which apparently nullify descended powers. These effects of flame Brute made the girl he loves for so long have no idea she is the most powerful descendant in Lumnos. This is the new Henry. Henry consumed by the Guardians mission. Fight back and make them pay. And here is a huge win about how they can take away the descendants magic. Even though this also means Orly already knew this information and where to get it. So Henry wants more ASAP for their short term goals. I don't think he knows where Orly is yet. Just that she's off on a mission for the Guardians. And until then, they're continuing to attack the descended. But wow. He doesn't really have any interest in what DM is currently going through. Only that.

[Nicole]

Oh well, wow.

[Lexi]

This is what Flameroot does. This is gonna be great for our rebel attacks against the Guardians.

[Nicole]

Oh, Henry, your girl is having an existential crisis. Realizing she's been lied to her entire life. And he's thinking about the Guardians again. It's showing where their priorities lie. And smite I smite your L here, sir. In her desperation to try to keep keep this one bit of perceived normalcy at her side, Dean looks at her three options. Number one, she could turn Henry and all of the Guardians in for all the info she has on them. She has a lot of dirt on these people. If I was any Guardian, not just Vance, if I was Lana, if I was anyone, I'd be thinking the same thing as Henry's initial reaction. Was she undercover the whole time? Is she going to turn us in?

[Lexi]

Are we.

[Nicole]

We all doomed and dead as a result? But it's dm and she is still sympathetic to the Guardians cause, so turning them in, leading to their death is definitely out.

[Lexi]

Also, if she was to go to Luther and be like, oh my gosh, like, this is everything. He'd be like, oh yeah, I know.

[Nicole]

Well, he'd also be like, yeah, I saw you go in with them.

[Lexi]

Yeah. However, he did not know about the Banette attack and things like that. Although he does know that it ended up being them. But she also doesn't have any other intel on their current missions or anything like that. So yeah, it would just be like, I know already, and then move on.

[Nicole]

Yeah, it would just be like, I hear these people and Luther's like, yeah, I'm already stalking them. Don't worry about, I got eyes on them. Her second option is that she could forget about Henry and let him walk out of her life forever. She could forget that the Guardians and her ever crossed paths. And she could, quote, pray their maneuvering never targeted me. Well, first and foremost, she's not willing to let Henry go. And I do not blame DM for that. She is desperate to cling to any familiar. It has not been even 48 hours since she got the crown. I really don't hold that against her. And while she doesn't outright think it, I hope a small part of her knew the idea of the Guardians not targeting her is hilariously impossible.

[Lexi]

She was so scared of them before she got the crown. Now she's a bigger albit, harder to reach target target but deems the one who helped them get weapons. She knows war is coming, she'll try to stop it before it gets that bad. But I don't think that even she is this naive that she would not be a target.

[Nicole]

Hopefully. That hopefully is doing a lot of work there. Her third option however is she can continue the cause of the Guardians. She is wanting to destroy the descendant from the inside out. Maybe it would be easier with the Guardians on her side. But most importantly, she can see this is the path that will keep Henry at her side. So she agrees to try and get more flame root. But those are not the words she's really saying. She is saying I choose you Henry.

[Lexi]

Albanon and that she'll do whatever it takes to keep him and prove her worth.

[Nicole]

Not like he's doing that to her, but okay, whatever. Testing her luck, she raises her oh this kills me. She raises her hands to his face face terrified that he would recoil from her touch. And while he doesn't, he does stay still as stone. So she pushes a little further and says the words she's never uttered to him. I love you.

[Lexi]

We know DM is outspoken and independent, but she's also a person who is emotionally dependent on loved ones as she grasps to any sense of familiarity. As much as we can all yell at her through the pages for falling into the descendant of Henry trap again. Again, we can't forget how broken she feels at her core and how much she's trying to prove her worth. Especially now that she's descended and not who she always thought she feels like she needs to prove her worth more than ever. And proving her worth to Henry equals helping the Guardians as we learned last episode.

[Nicole]

With Henry softening to her a little bit with realizing she is still on their side, an urgency within DM ignites. She has to keep him at her side while the window of Operation Opportunity is still open. Again, yes, we readers, we see the major red flag that this is. But I would be lying if I said I didn't do similar shit when I was in my late teens, early 20s and I didn't have the excuse of the Crown of Limnos and my entire world turning upside down on my side. And like her saying I love you to him was the breaking of a dam diem takes the opportunity to accept his marriage proposal even though he winces when she reminds him him that he asked her Henry, I'm trying my guy, but this is your third L. All.

[Lexi]

Right friends you know what time it is? Time to put on our Henry hat for today's Henry hat defense. A crown felt very fitting. And obviously it had to be obnoxious like this because oh boy, I got my work cut out for me here. Henry might be wincing like, oh, she. I did propose to you for all the reasons we already talked about, with our metaphorical Henry hats on. But then it dawns on him that marrying Diem means being King Consort. And together they can rule over Lumnos. He has a similar realization as Diem that this position of power is actually an opportunity for the mortals to bring the Descendant to justice and right centuries of wrong. However, let's not confuse this embrace of power as design desire for personal gain, because that's really not what this is about for Henry. Penn said, I think in our intro episode that he really is a selfless person. And this isn't about him being power hungry as the new king. This is a never imagined opportunity for all of Lunos's mortals and for mortals across Amarian. They are going to have a Realm Queen who is a Guardian. It doesn't get better than that with infiltrating the Descended. And when they leverage power from the inside, they can make the descendant pay once and for all. Like for instance, when DM invites him to be her escort to the ball, she's thinking along the lines of, you'll overhear something useful. Like the work she was assigned to do for the Guardians while treating Luminose City patients. Which was her way of tricking herself into thinking she was making a bigger difference than she really was. However, Henry's very first reaction is. Or we could attack. It's even a challenge for his girl. Sure, she's a Guardian, but she has already proven that she has faltering loyalties from the armory explosion the other night. With so many Descended in one place. Yes, including young ones like Lily, it would be the perfect opportunity to decimate their numbers. In other words, mass murder. Oh my God. This Henry hat is really feeling heavy right now.

[Nicole]

Oh my God.

[Lexi]

Dm. The Queen of Temporary Solutions is like, well, let's procrastinate on that whole mass murder thing until I'm coronation. Oh my God. Oh, damn. Oh, dm. Dm. Dm. She can't say no to Henry and step fully into the unknown because it's terrifying. And also, it's like she's waiting for him to change his mind, but he will still show up to attack. I wonder if he's plotting right now as she's saying no, no, no. Like, this is why we can't do it now. And he's like, oh, well, I'm gonna do it anyway. Or maybe it'll be after he gets a letter from her and he's like, well, waiting for her DM to get coordinated. Then I kind of think it's the former where he's actively right now thinking, well, I'm gonna do it anyway.

[Nicole]

Interesting. I think it's the latter.

[Lexi]

Okay. That's quite. Giving him the benefit of the doubt.

[Nicole]

Yeah, that's quite the benefit of the doubt for a guy with four Ls.

[Lexi]

The bottom line is these two are only hearing what the other wants to hear because they keep hoping the other is the person they still think they are and that they'll come to their side died soon enough. Like, oh, my God, the miscommunication trope. That is not the two right people that it's supposed to be is working overtime. I understand his perspective. Absolutely. We have talked about it so much with the Guardians and Henry's point of view and the mortals in this revolution needing to rise up against the descendant and big things to get them to pay attention to them and listen and give them their rights back. Or not even give them the rights back, but be have them taken away from the descended and given back to the mortals. I understand all of that. And he is talking about mass murdering some innocent people. And that is where the lines just get so blurred. That Pen is masterful at exploring here.

[Nicole]

Well, and it's like he believes that the mass murder is okay because the descendant would do that in a heartbeat because they have been doing that with. With mortals. And then it goes back to what DM was not saying, but highly, highly inferring last book. We can't fight fire with fire. Which is why she is so the. The queen that they need right now and why I love that DM is not someone who immediately goes to murder or not someone who immediately goes to. How can we take this person out? She does try to find that balance. And this is just showing how much Henry has changed. And I'm not. Again, I'm not saying Henry's not at fault. And I. It's. This is all Vance's fault. But I am saying he is right now idolizing someone who would jump to mass murder.

[Lexi]

Yep.

[Nicole]

And that sucks.

[Lexi]

All right. This is very heavy on my head right now. Not really, but metaphorically speaking. So I'm taking it off with the.

[Nicole]

Accepting of the marriage proposal and DM's promise of this new role for her betrothed as king. These 2 Ignite for DM. This is not out of passion or jubilation because they're finally betrothed. You know. You know that, like, we just got engaged sex. This is not that at all. This is DM needing reassurance that Henry still has feelings for her. Oh, my God. This is heartbreaking. She needs that relief that he could, quote, still desire me, even in my tainted, repulsive, descended body. Oh, my God. My God. I'm going to talk. I'm going to get on a high horse about Luther and how he feels from his pov, watching a woman he cares about and a woman he idolizes think herself so low that she has to cling herself to this person who gives her worthiness. And it just kills me. So these two move to a bed, and it's getting steamy in here. I can't believe I'm doing this. And Henry asks her to. To say it again. And DM doesn't go with I love you. She doesn't go with I'll marry you someday. Nope. She says, be my king again. What Lexi said, this is not from a claiming of power for Henry. Pen has made that clear. This is him realizing he will have the ultimate way of making the descended pay for what they've done to the mortals. And that's a sexy style of revenge for him. He is turned the fuck on by the amount of. Of revenge they're going to have on this group of people. This is one of the reasons Chapter 72 of HEA the everflame is so good, is because there's just such different dynamic. And DM feels so worthy and beautiful. She even has a moment. It's after giving Luther mad hot head. And she's like, I feel beautiful. And I'm like, you deserve it. After this, I had to think of something to bring because I needed happy diagram. But sadly, we are with Henry and not Luther. Yet with Henry's waistband low on his hips and DM's skirt raising up to bunch at her hips, a loud throat clears in the doorway. Thank God Luther's here. Turns out a guard saw the two of them go into this private room. And they were like, luther, Luther. And while Luther did not hear the entirety of their conversation, he definitely, definitely heard enough. And my heart just breaks for Luther right here. Here he is seeing the woman he's falling for with her skirts hyped up with another shirtless man. And this is a man who literally, that she didn't know if he would still want her Just hours ago. And here he is saying, I am to be your king. And Luther's like, come again? What are you talking? Like this would infuriate Luther, realizing that she just said yes to him. Him.

[Lexi]

More like begged him. He would still be interested in her. Oh, my gosh, T. And then you need girl talk so badly.

[Nicole]

She needs a wine night with no boys and cute pajamas and Disney movies on in the background with heart to hearts happening over a box of tissues.

[Lexi]

Yes, I honestly need that.

[Nicole]

That's something.

[Lexi]

Yes, we should do that.

[Nicole]

But then also, Luther is realizing that Henry's not joyous in the way that a man who just got the love of his life to say yes to his marriage proposal is. Henry's furious. So, Henry, it is time for you to go. But not without one more l making it five Ls. I think that is a record in FFG history. In a single scene, as DM reaches for Henry's fingers, trying to reassure him before he leaves, he jerks his hand away. Now, is he mad because Luther is the one kicking him out? Luther is this high general. Henry hates him. There's no doubting that. Yes, of course he's mad, but bad Henry, bad uppercase L.5 L's. I can feel Luther seizing.

[Lexi]

As is the pattern with diem. After Henry leaves her in the moment, desperation to hold on to him disappears along with him, leaving hollowness and specifically in this case, regret. She knows she just made a big jump with Henry that was entirely driven by emotion. And I'm not talking passion. This is the clinging to the familiar, at any cost kind of emotion. And she also knows that probably wasn't such a good idea, as much as she's not willing to reveal that to Luther.

[Nicole]

I love the moment where after Henry leaves, DM just completely shows her hand with Luther. She's angry with him for him saying her love life is his concern. And he fights back with saying, you made it my concern when you. And then she cuts him off with quote, I didn't kiss you. Where were your thoughts? Now, DM unconsciously, DM is 1000 million trillion percent feeling guilty about Luther, a man she just had the kiss of a century with, walking in, seeing her kissing another shirtless man who she was about to do the horizontal hanky panky with in a. In a private room. And boy, oh, boy, if I was Luther, I would feel so fucking smug hearing this. And I think that's exactly what gives him the guts to say this next line, which I'm quoting every single morsel of this quote. But rest assured, my queen, when I do kiss you, there will be no confusion. You will know that I have claimed you, and I won't have any desire to deny it. Not if I kiss you. When I kiss you. I am a sweating puddle right now. Now. But that smugness, it sadly does not last as long as I desperately want it to. Diem tells Luther she's officially accepted Henry's proposal. Now, Luther could have put two and two together based off of what he heard and what he overheard from Henry. Yes, absolutely. But hearing her confirm it is something else entirely.

[Lexi]

Especially when she expressed hesitation in an earlier conversation when she revealed that she accidentally told Eamon that Immortal proposed to her. And he was like, okay, like, I'm trying to get a little bit more information on this. And she's like, ah, I don't know. I don't know. It's really complicated. And now she's like, oh, my God, Henry, I need you. And Luther is like, are we sure?

[Nicole]

Is he really on the list of need? Are we sure? And, like, jokes aside, Luther, he's been through this. We'll be getting to Ileana later this episode. And thank God, I need someone else to put my anchor towards right now. But Ileana wanted him for the crown first and foremost. She and the rest of the Hanovers chased after him for years, trying to get him to agree to marriage because she thought she would be the Queen Consort. And here he sees a mortal stomping around calling himself King. He knows there's other motives for Henry, well, beyond. Beyond wanting DM and loving her. And I don't even think that those are in Henry's top three values right now for this. And as Luther points out, she didn't even know. And as. As Luther and we have pointed out multiple times in the last 15 minutes, she didn't even know if Henry would still want her after he learned she's descended. Seeing her give her heart to a man, she doesn't feel that absolute certainty in it must be killing him.

[Lexi]

And he knows she deserves so, so much better than this mediocre man. Not even in a she should be with me kind of way, but just that whoever she's with should worship the ground she walks on instead of her begging him to stay with her and love her.

[Nicole]

This is why I love a devoted mmc. This is the devotion shit I fucking am here for.

[Lexi]

And I also love the message that this sends for us as well. You know, about. About not choosing someone who you feel like you have to prove your worth to but being with somebody who loves and respects and cares about you just the way that you are. And I know that we'll be talking a lot more about that as we get further into Luther and DM's relationship. But just a nice little reminder for all of us too.

[Nicole]

Also later, when Luther's lecturing DM on Henry stomping around, calling himself King, Luther says something rather interesting to dm. He he says, quote, a descended mate is forever. We do not give our heart away unless we are certain beyond all doubt that the person we choose will stand by our side. No matter what fate the kindred have in store for us in this life and all that comes after. We do not know what a mate means in the descended world. We'll be covering that next episode. But we as RE readers do know that mating is so much bigger than just being a husband and wife. Any Corbois mating of themselves to another is technically forbidden for right now. But Luther doesn't say wife or bonded or whatever here he says mate. The irony is that DM was poking fun at him moments ago for saying, like, oh, I didn't realize you were such a romantic. And it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, he is. Look at him talking about mates rather than marriage. If she is going to marry someone, he views that as highly important, as it should be with the mating ritual. That's how he feels like a decision should be with bonding yourself to another person. Which is why pages later, when she asks him what advice he would give her if he was her friend and nothing more, his answer doesn't even skip a beat before he says, quote, that if a man made you doubt whether his love for you would survive anything, he does not deserve you. I love this man. Oh, my God. But above all, Luther wants to respect. Respect dm. He may be falling for her, but at the end of the day, this is her choice. And it just. It breaks my heart. Jumping ahead, he will admit that he was quite mistaken about kissing her and that he owes her an apology. He's taking responsibility so she can rid herself of that guilt with her new mortal betrothed.

[Lexi]

We now get a pivotal moment between DM and Luther as he decides now is the right time to show Diem one of his biggest secrets. Last night, DM accused Luther of murdering the half mortal children. Today he is advising her that maybe having a Mortal King concert isn't the best idea. He wants to prove to DM that he does care about the mortals, that he's risking his own life to save as many of them as he possibly can. So when he warns her about the dangers of Henry being King consort, it's not coming from a place of prejudice. It's coming from genuine concern for a mortal's life and for the well being of the responsibility realm. And more than anything, he doesn't want DM to go through the pain of losing the person that she does love. That is so hard knowing that Andre will be killed because of Diem and none of them knew to stop it. Here Luther is showing Diem that he trusts her wholeheartedly and maybe she can trust him a little bit in return. So he hands her the key to his death sentence.

[Nicole]

Luther hands her a small book barely larger than her palm and he encourages the her to start flipping through it. Inside is page after page containing a rough sketch of a child's face along with a name and a description of them. We get Emmeline, whose father is Piotr Binet. And Harriet Bilkins is her mother, a mortal and she was delivered safely to Meros. We get Diedrich, who has a mortal father, Carol Jenks and a descended mother Milmora of House Athena, and she was delivered safely to Umbros. While we might not know any of the previous names and yes, I searched every book that we have of the Kindred's Curse saga. The next one will definitely ring some bells. We have Zelleric. Hello. Taryn's future. Boo. Born to father Jeanne of House Hanover and Piana Graystel who is immortal. The seven year old was delivered safely to Ambrose. I remember rereading this and practically screaming. I I love that we get a Zeller mention so early.

[Lexi]

Me too. And I was trying to find the similarities between some of these other children mentioned and the children that we get at the inn in Umbros. I couldn't find any other ones but as we go through that part later on I will kind of keep an eye out to see if maybe I missed something. Same going back to Zaleric though. I think that we are going to get a father son face off and burn. If they're both already in Lumnos, which they both have been for like the second half of the heat. And Zellaryc isn't hiding. In fact he's proudly saying that his father is from House Hanover and he's a half mortal. How the hell has this not happened already?

[Nicole]

Do you think Zellerik is going to kill Jaune?

[Lexi]

Yes, same. I think he's more powerful for sure.

[Nicole]

Oh, he's definitely more powerful than Jon. Definitely more powerful. I Could see either Taryn killing him or Taryn and Zellaryc together killing Jon.

[Lexi]

I have no idea how Bern is good. I know we usually have like pretty good about theorizing. It's like I don't know what pin has a person.

[Nicole]

I'm really excited for whatever it is.

[Lexi]

Me too.

[Nicole]

While many pages include the two most important words delivered safely, at the end of the book, separated by a scarlet ribbon, lies a list of names, all missing those two words. As Luther puts it, those are the ones he failed. Last book we learned from Lily that Luther takes the safety of others incredibly seriously, putting all of their protection on his shoulders. The way he phrases this part of the book as his failures is so telling. He doesn't view it as they slip through the cracks. He views it as their lives were his responsibility and he failed. So why would he keep that section? I feel like it's him looking at all the red Xs across their faces. It's his reminder why. Why this work and the secrecy of this work is of the utmost importance.

[Lexi]

Remember how it's been teased since chapter one of Spark that Aurelie was working with Luther and they had mutual goals? Well, this is it. Aurelie and Luther partnered to smuggle these half mortal children out of Lumnos. Orly would frequently go on several day long trips, sometimes at the drop of a hat. And now DM understands why her mother took young or injured half mortal children to safety outside the realm of Lucy Lumnos, traveling to Luther's contacts and other more half mortal friendly realms like the inn in Ompros, which by the way is called Second Chance. And I just love how fitting that is. So much with this orally secret reveal, DM has to wonder why in the world her mother blackmailed Luther about exposing his role in this when they were working together to save children. And we get some insight into Luther and Orly's relationship, which was maybe to our surprises, not always the best. They didn't often get along or see eye to eye. But Luther respected her and together they knew their mutual mission was bigger than either of them. And Luther also knew her well enough to know that this blackmail was a bluff. Orly was a lot of talk. Like her daughter. The seas are planting for when we meet Orly next book and we see on the page just how much she and Luther don't get along. Luther's being so very polite about his strained relationship with the mother of the girl he likes.

[Nicole]

I. I cannot wait to cover those chapters because Aurelie is she's she is a protective mother, that is for sure.

[Lexi]

She is a gray character, for sure.

[Nicole]

Gray is a word for it. Later this day, DM sends a letter to Henry. I commend DM for nipping this in the butt so quickly and confronting. Not confronting, but facing that confrontation. I'll say it that way. With her now accepting Aemon as her act escort to the ball in order for Eamon to keep his lips shut about Henry, she needs to tell Henry immediately that he is no longer invited. So the note reads, quote, H It was a mistake to ask you to attend the event that we spoke of. It's not yet safe for you here. Please don't be angry. Protecting you is my only concern. My hope for our future remains unchanged. I'll send for you as soon as I can. D to drive home that this note is insincere and that she is still. Still them, which I just hate that she has. To prove that she's still the person he's always known, she attaches a piece of foxglove to the wax seal of the letter. When they were young, they would roam the forest collecting foxglove for the healer center. And their walks were always filled with tales of great adventures that they would share together. Someday. You know what's coming, friends. It's time for a plant watch. In folklore, foxglove is a tiny attached to fairies and magic. Looking at you, Acotar. I think that was episode one. I think that was our first ever play watch, actually. Oh my God. But foxglove also carries some darker meanings. In some cultures, the flower is an ill omen and is a symbol of insincerity or deceit. Ooh. With the words written out, they both feel like too little and too much at the same time. But you cannot risk any more blunt words in the message, which fair. Good idea. I can imagine why DM feels these words would do the trick. And maybe they would have with their old friendship. Maybe. Actually, I don't know.

[Lexi]

I don't know if they say yes.

[Nicole]

Okay, we gotta give their old friendship.

[Lexi]

Some credit because they've gotten to where they are for some reasons. Yeah, that's fair. Guess what though? Henry is not going to accept this message. Message? DM keeps relying on their childhood connection to make him see sense. She even thinks to herself in chapter 14 how grateful she is to have his support and how it makes her feel better. Oh, DM except he proves time and time again that he is too far on the other end of the spectrum. Consumed with hatred and violence toward The Descended. We'll find out how Henry actually takes his news at the Ascension Ball, where he'll show up anyway, and tell DM to her face that he doesn't accept her sending him away, as if she wants nothing to do with him anymore. And that if these Descended are dangerous and mistrustful, he should be here so they can learn how to bow down to their mortal king. Oh, goodness. I'll save all those thoughts for that.

[Nicole]

Episode, though I'm gonna say that is gonna be one hell of a Henry hat. And maybe even possibly Henry Hatsa. Because we also have Luther's bonus chapter when he goes down to the dungeons and says a little hey there, hi there, ho there. To Henry. That's right. And that's not a good look for my guy. With this letter being of the utmost importance, Luther is ready to hand deliver it himself. But DM is like, no. She still believes that Luther is the one who killed the boy with the giant horse as big as a house, enraging Henry and causing him to join the guardians. We obviously know that this was not Luther. It was Aemon. But that is not. That's hundreds of pages away from being realized by dm. So if Luther is alone with Henry, Henry might snap and want to attack the prince. And let's be real. Who would lose that fight? It's not. It's not Luther. But I also think a part of her really does not want the two men who in the last week she's kissed them both, to be anywhere near each other at this moment.

[Lexi]

I love how we're talking about these two, and it's like neither of us have ever mentioned a love triangle because we just don't see it that way at all. Yeah, yeah. Very light love triangle.

[Nicole]

There's a light love triangle. I guess it wasn't until this moment where I guess I even thought about it. But yeah, it's so funny, because I just. Luther doesn't deserve a love triangle.

[Lexi]

I know.

[Nicole]

So top tier. But DM does not want Luther knowing any of this reasoning. So flexing her. That is a direct order from your queen muscle. She orders a different person to deliver the note. After all, you're two recognizable Luther. Says the girl who had no clue who he was when she first saw him. That's not her fault. That was her mother. Education, orally.

[Lexi]

Skipping ahead to the day before the funeral. So one day later, Luther brings DM breakfast again to go over the status of the realm and for her to continue learning about the politics of Lumnos. I just love how this is becoming their morning tradition and he's supporting her however he can, like Nicole was saying earlier with the symbolism really and what this means for their relationship. Except apparently not all of Luther's ways of supporting hit the mark. Because while our boy Luther is 99% of the time fantastic at anticipating DM's needs, he fumbled on one part. It's okay, Luther boy. It happens to the best of us. Because DM had to find out from Remus a few days ago that she has to spend the next three weeks meeting with the 20 houses and she learned about the ball from balls expert. Amen and other words. Why is Luther not the one who is telling her about these house receptions if he's trying to be her helpful guide navigating the crown and these descendants?

[Nicole]

Understandably, Diem is not about this information being held for her own good as she brings up aurally did that her whole life. I'll argue she also drugged you, but it's definitely withholding information and it did no good to help prepare her for her current circumstances. Facts.

[Lexi]

His reasoning for not info dumping all of this on her was so not to overwhelm DM and give her a little bit of time to adjust before being like, okay, now you have to do this, this, this, this and this. It's like, you know, like your first day of work and you are just like completely overloaded with everything and it's like you're a deer in the headlights. Like oh my God, what did I just sign up for? While a nice thought, DM doesn't have time to be coddled as she's thrown into the deep end of descended politics and that's what she's really trying to convey here to him.

[Nicole]

And after all, as she says, she's not a child, Luther, she's a grown woman. And I quote, Believe me, your majesty, I'm well aware. He says with want flooding his tone. Gather around everybody. It's tension time. His gaze is singeing into her. Dia moves to squirm out of her chair, but the movement only bunches up her skirts to her thighs and Luther's eyes lingered there, branding my flesh. Which gives her an idea it's time to make him squirm rather than it just being her squirming under his gaze all the time. So she lounges back in her chair and she crosses her legs so her dress slides even further up, curving up to her hip and she arches her back, raising her chin.

[Lexi]

We talked last episode about how she's using these Dresses and this feminine nature as her own weapon. And I love how she's doing this right here as well. To gain the upper hand. She is using what she has at her disposal to take some charge of the situation.

[Nicole]

And I love that Luther doesn't break her gaze and start roaming her body. He just keeps her stare. But boy, oh boy, do his pupils dilate. Quote, I could see him fighting against his desire to take another look, or perhaps do more than look. Girl. This is why I love these two so much. It's that constant battle they have, and it always, always makes the tension so high, high, high. DM knows in the scene that she's playing with fire. And we get another one of those good fire references that DM always seems to have around their relationship where she wants to burn. This push and pull they have makes her realize something, though. She likes him. With their morning breakfasts and him starting to share information with her, even if it's not fully about her mother. And with how they're all always with this push and pull, they're challenging each other. The attraction that she feels to him, she can finally, finally put a name to it. I don't blame her for taking a minute fully to put a name to this feeling. First off, it's been like three days since their kiss, and a lot's happened in those three days. She thought he killed children for a good chunk of it because of what Eamonn was sharing with her. He held back vital information about her.

[Lexi]

Mother, still thinks that he, he is the one who killed the child that Henry saw.

[Nicole]

Yeah, yeah. It's like. It's almost like she didn't want to say she likes him because her moral compass was like, no, you can't do that. So for that reason, I do not blame her for just now realizing, fuck, I like this guy.

[Lexi]

DM may refuse to make Luther a formal advisor, but it clearly doesn't stop him from giving his two cents like that. He agrees Eleanor is an excellent choice for an advisor. DM has noticed, noticed in Eleanor what few other Corbois like Luther have seen in her. She is far more clever than the family gives her credit for. Eleanor may not have the power that was expected of her with two powerful parents, but she has the political prowess and charm by giving the underdog, so to speak, a chance. DM is already proving she's a unique and progressive leader. And I think Luther's really seeing that in her as this new generation is going to be taking over with her now on the throne and not one for the traditional patriarchy by any means. Luther makes a recommendation for someone else to be on the Crown's council who's trustworthy and aligns with the new Queen's values. Alix. This discussion about recognizing women, raising them up and giving them the credit they deserve is also such a beautiful echo of what DM was saying to Eleanor earlier. Alix is a well respected military leader here in Lumnos and in Fortos and corporations. Quote, should any kind of armed conflict arise, she would be a valuable asset. DM's mind may immediately go to Alix meeting Henry on the battlefield and the discomfort that that brings up, but I think Luther has a bit of a different meaning when it comes to this thinly veiled reference to the upcoming war with the Guardians. He knows DM has her loyalties on the other side and will have a conflict of interest in the future. Elix will serve her queen. Her loyalty is unwavering, which means she will follow DM as a valuable asset should conflict arise. But DM wants her father to be her military advisor because he's someone she knows she can trust. DM may have unresolved issues with her parents, but of course she still trusts her father. Even if she wonders if he knew she was descended all this time like Luther right here accuses him of. We'll find out next episode. That Andre did not know, but he did suspect and let her mother do what she thought was was best.

[Nicole]

Well, that's just another instance of DM craving the familiar and craving the safety. I don't blame. Again I'm saying I don't blame DM a lot because I feel like I need to stand up for this girl. I do feel like that loyalty and that safety that she equates to Andre, no wonder she would want him as her military council. Especially going into a era of military where she is going to try to fight for peace for so much. And that's really what Andre was saying to her at the very end of Spark. That that's why he is going back to the army is so that he can try to keep the peace. We all need a bucket of cold water sometimes though. So allow us to welcome to the chat. The cold water bucket of a person, Ileana Hanover with luscious golden waves flowing unbound down her back. A slender toned body on display with skin tight fighting leathers showing off her status as a member of the Royal Guard and a low cut top showing off her ample cleavage. And that's actually both for Elix and Ileana. Everything about Ileana radiates confidence. But I have to talk about this low cut top for a second because I cannot be the only person who immediately thought, how do you spar with a low cut top? Like, one would just pop out and flop out of nowhere. That would distract an opponent for sure.

[Lexi]

Descended boobs are probably so perky that they just, you know, stay in the marble.

[Nicole]

They don't move. I don't know.

[Lexi]

That's beside the point because I absolutely agree with you. That's what I thought too, where it's like, I'm thinking about how it would fight. It's like, yeah, we'll never get an.

[Nicole]

Answer to that question. But who has been distracted by her beauty? Maybe not by a boob popping out. Or maybe, I don't know.

[Lexi]

I would ask Tenness and just see the look on her face where she has to describe it to us and then put point. She'll be like, are you trolling me? And be like, yeah, just a little bit.

[Nicole]

She would be like, really? This is what your job is? Oh, my God. Let's talk about Luther and Ileana. Though. Being a friend of the family since Alix was a child, Luther and Ileana started dating, you know, on and off for years and years and years. As a result, everyone thought these two lovebirds would marry. Their union would have united two very powerful houses of Lumnos. I would love to know, and simultaneously never want to know, what Luther was like with Ileana. We get a little bit of a glimpse in next episode's chapter Stretch when he mentions how Ileana chased him for years and years and he thought not getting the crown would finally put her off. And luckily, we don't have to learn exactly what he was like when things were good with them, because about a month ago, he mysteriously broke things off with the girl for good. About a month ago, you say? What happened about a month ago? Ah, yes. DM came to the palace, healed Lily, and the mysterious gray eyes, soon to be queen, entered his life. I bet you anything it was around the time that DM came to the palace for the first time. That was when he broke it off with Ileana. However, I don't think it was for only the reason that he sees this woman and he's like, she's so hot. I. I can't be with anyone else. It seems that simultaneously his friends, I'm assuming Taryn and probably Lily, given that she would put spicy peppers in Ileana's food when she would come to the palace, so she'd sweat around Luther. I think that's the most little sister shit I've ever heard in my life.

[Lexi]

I love it. Teller could learn some notes from her regarding Henry.

[Nicole]

Truly? Yes. Oh my God. Some people talk to him again, we're assuming it's Taryn and Lily and shared that he was being a blind fool. So I also think that around that time his eyes were finally open to. Oh my God, I have so much bigger things to do in my life than be with this girl who sucks.

[Lexi]

It's so interesting because I was under the impression Luther never had feelings for her, but it's just what was expected of him that he went along with it.

[Nicole]

Yeah, that's exactly the same impression. But it did say that they were on and off for many, many years. But I'm assuming, assuming that's when he would give in and say, okay, this is what. What's expected of me. But like, I definitely think they fudged. I definitely think they. Yeah, like he. He was probably sweet with her because he. I'm assuming he wanted to try and like, see if there was something there. But no, he didn't because that's only for. Damn. But also, like I said earlier, when he didn't inherit the crown, he thought that that would put Ileana off of him for good. Oh, again, he's seeing people only wanting him for the power that he wielded or would wield as kids. King and not for the person that he is. But this also goes back to why he's so, I'll say frustrated about the whole Diamond Henry thing. He thinks that it's very similar. Now, Henry's motives, I don't think are as selfish as Ileana's, but the prowess of being powerful, that's still there in both of them. It's clear from the start of this conversation with Ileana that she thinks so little of dm. In fact, she ignores her when they first cross paths. She's the queen. You're supposed to bow. Instead, her eyes are fixed on Lou and where Diem is touching Luther's arm. Ileana may not know that Diem is a half mortal or, you know, the thing that the Hanovers desperately despise.

[Lexi]

Well, we do know that the Corpoise servants were gossiping that DM must be a half mortal, though it was cut off. But I do think that was what we can interpret. I think the Hanovers are more so under the impression she came out of nowhere and like everyone else is like, what the fuck?

[Nicole]

Yes, absolutely. But most of all, I feel like she knows Diem is Diem ain't Luther. That's not the guy that was supposed to be king. And more importantly, that was not the guy that was supposed to be king, who she was supposed to be the queen consort of. So she's looking at DM and thinking crown stealer equals immediate hatred. And then add in that it appears her ex, who she's not willing to give up on yet, seems to be cozying up to this new beautiful queen. Yeah, she hates her.

[Lexi]

Well, and Ileana still thinks that Luther is going to become the king because she's like, there is no way in hell that she is not going to be challenged and she will be killed. And then Luther gets to become king, so she still has to keep her in with him.

[Nicole]

Exactly. It takes Elix jabbing Ileana with her elbow to finally get Ileana to even look in Diem's direction. But when Luther introduces Diem as the queen, that's when Ileana says the unchallenged queen. Everything about her exchange with DM is to call DM out that she ain't queen yet. And the fact that DM doesn't even know about the royal guard and her very important duties that she does, which is actually just whatever the crown or Luther tell her to do. I feel like she's trying to remind Luther just how much he deserves the crown and thus her deserving to be his consort through every single moment of this interaction. And if Luther was actually fine to be king, I think it might have worked. But that just shows how little Ileana actually knows Luther and his heart. TL Dr. Fuck you, Illyana. I see why Elix is mortified by your behavior.

[Lexi]

And to absolutely no one's surprise, DM does not have warm and fuzzy feelings toward Ileana either. Ileana openly disrespects DM and her title, and she seems pretty convinced that DM will go bye bye in the challenge so she can swoop in and stay still, get Luther to be king and she his queen. And that's not even touching on all the Luther stuff that DM is trying not to feel. But she is very clearly jealous of him, apparently having a lover. Even if Luther does not consider Ileana to be his girl. She obviously has my, my, my in her head and it's making DM really insecure as she wonders if this woman also knows Luther's secrets or if DM isn't actually special enough for knowing this about Luther. It's also so significant. Get that dm, who has told everyone else to call her by her name as she feels so out of her element with a crown and uncomfortable in the spotlight. I love how she says to Ileana that she can call DM Her Majesty. In other words, I'm your queen.

[Nicole]

The fact that Ileana called her dm, like girl, are you stupid?

[Lexi]

But I also wonder if it's because everybody else has only been calling her DM because that is what DM told them to do. Oh, and she might be really grappling onto that and making fun of her in this moment, as the cousins will do in the dinner next episode.

[Nicole]

Okay, never mind. I could see that. Oh God, I can't wait to talk about Ileana and Eamon at the dinner. Next up. Oh my God, I'm gonna go off.

[Lexi]

Who wants to talk politics and have some fun scheming? Cuz I do. I really do. Which brings us to the formal meeting with Remus, who literally kicks Luther out of the meeting as a show of power and authoritarian. His own little reminder to his son that he is still in charge and a chance for Remus to politically prey on Diem. If he can't have the actual crown, you know he's going to do his darndest to keep his position as the puppeteer.

[Nicole]

Earlier this stretch of chapters, these two met briefly in the hallway, and it was their first really go time to see how they interact, at least in a individual setting. Remus wants Diem to choose House Corbois, and he's thrilled that she does, but not because because he's stoked to have a new family member. He is thrilled to be again closer to power. But when she tells him that Remus is just the late King's regent, not hers, I truly wonder if that's one of the first moments since DM came into his life out of nowhere that he realizes she might be more of an opponent than he was expecting, and he might only be regent for one month more.

[Lexi]

And that kind of changes his tactic and how he fake warms up to her. Here she dangles the carrot in front of him and it works.

[Nicole]

Oh Remus, you predictable motherfucker you. These two are at a constant game of who can have the upper hand, and I think Remus is quite surprised at just how well DM this girl who showed up in muddy clothes just a few nights ago suddenly is able to hold her own so well against him.

[Lexi]

Exactly. I know we've said so much how out of her element DM is and how it feels realistic and even related, relatable with the ways that she stumbles in this book. But it's also moments like this that we go, yes, girl. This is who Diameltor is at her core. Since chapter one of Spark, we've seen how she can banter. We understand that she grew up being unafraid to use her voice and go up against intimidating foes. She may flounder, but she is a woman who is strong, clever, strategic, bold, and just plain smart. In a few days among the descended and processing her dilemma, she's in a far better position than the night she earned arrived. And I love how we get these fantastic peeks into this version of DM when she and the reader really need it most.

[Nicole]

I've got some Ls for Remus, but I'm gonna focus on one of them right now. When he starts implying that DM is weak and that her very existence as queen diminishes Luther's strength in his magic, he's like, oh, well, I guess people really overestimated Luther's magic because you came in and just took the crowd. I guess he's not that powerful. L. My guy, you asshole. You know how powerful your son is? Don't be mean.

[Lexi]

Well, Luther's whole existence is based on the fact that Lumnos sent Remus a vision that his son would wear their Lumnos crown. He didn't have the pregnancy terminated, and he made his wife pretend to be Luther's mother. He ensured Luther was raised not only as a descended, but as the heir to the throne. And for what? Apparently, I think he's pissed that his son is not as powerful as he was supposed to be. Be.

[Nicole]

This goes back to earlier with what DM was discussing with Eleanor. Though Remus expects DM to be small, quiet, that timid girl. He expects her to not correct him. He holds the fact that he has information that she doesn't over her head. And DM is not someone who cowers. Again, this is why I love her as an fmc. She does not diminish her life so that others can seem more powerful or feel more entitled. She holds holds her own in the scene, and I really commend her for it. L, Remus. L. For even trying.

[Lexi]

I think also we really needed this scene for DM after what just transpired with Henry, where we are seeing just how different and how much of a range DM does have with being able to politically banter with the best of them. And she still has this sense of neediness to cling to the familiar when it comes to the mortals. She really has one foot in each of these worlds right now and it's tearing her apart.

[Nicole]

Yeah, now you might be saying, but Nicole, you're going off about how she's not this small, timid girl and he asks her to portray an empty headed girl for his own political gain. Yes, yes, he does. But I will say that that is not him expecting her to actually be small, quiet and demure. That is him saying, I need you to pretend to be that way. It's him saying, saying let's scheme together to gain our own down the line. That is feeling at least a little bit more like a bigger move because you're in the know. Which, let's talk about this doomed plan that Remus comes up with. He sees that DM is a spitfire. She can hold her own against him, is not afraid to talk back when needed. I love that he sees this temper of hers around the mortal. Specifically though. And I think he knows if she goes into meetings with the House receptions as is, they're doomed. Utterly doomed. She will be challenged at least once. Any chance of Remus having a hold over the crown is gone. I truly believe he's in support of her getting on the throne because he thinks that he can be an ear far, far easier than he can be.

[Lexi]

The ear for Luther 100%. And why he's trying to distance DM and Luther by not letting him in the middle meeting, urging for Aemond to take her to the ball and such.

[Nicole]

Absolutely. So how can they avoid this hot temper setting off the other 20 houses to challenge Palooza? DM defers to Remus in the house receptions. There we go. Problem solved. She pretends that she's got nothing going on upstairs in her brain and Remus is really the only one there that the Houses need to confer with. This will accomplish several things. Now, number one, the Houses are more familiar with Remus. He's been reigning since Ulther Fell, after all. If he is the one in charge, maybe things won't be drastically different in the realm under this new rule. Will they be annoyed that it's Remus again in charge? Yeah, of course they will. But as he says, in a way that is predictable and easy to control. Number two, if they have less FaceTime with DM because they're too busy talking to Remus, there's less opportunities to piss her off. Honestly, that's just fair thinking. And number three, if the other Houses are talking to Remus, knowing that he wants to keep the power in House Corbois, they will focus on their own asks and their own negotiations for selfish concerns. For them and their houses. They're trying to pick up the scraps is what Remus is saying. The House Corbois is leaving for them. And again, they've been working with him for years. It's predictable. And if they're asking for their own little scraps, they're not going to be talking about mortals, which will set DM off. And seeing how these pros massively outweigh the cons, and wanting to chew his head off for what it implies, DM agrees to this plan. Clever plan, Regent. Clever plan indeed.

[Lexi]

Too bad DM is dm, who might agree with him right now, because it is a good plan, but she has very strong opinions that are not aligned with Remus. And Remus is under the impression she cares more for her life and kids keeping the crown than for the mortals, because that's pretty much what every descendant thinks, with a few exceptions that we know and love. He is vastly underestimating DM and how she will be unafraid to stand up for the mortals and herself with NDAs.

[Nicole]

And contracts just not really being a thing in this world. They've got their own way of handling it. Welcome bonded bargains to the chat. Not the kind of bondage we like to see on this podcast, but we accept it for the super cool magic that that it is. First, the terms must be agreed upon, and you have to be very careful with how the verbal part of the bond is worded. DM is smart. She is very careful here. She stretches each of the words to ensure she won't be trapped. Good job. I wish you did that in next book. An unfortunate example is when Ulther's mate was poisoned and a member of another house was responsible. They told Ulther that they would give him a bonded bargain and as a result, they would give him an answer antidote if he promises not to punish her or her house. Well, she worded it an antidote, not the antidote, and gave his mate Raphael something that did not help him. Although she was not clever enough. Because the bonded bargain only bound Ulther to not punishing her or her house, it said nothing about the rest of House Corbois. And as a result, Remus and Gareth took out the entire house. Woof. The second step is once terms are agreed upon, an offering of blood is made to seal the oath when wounds aligned as the two bargainers clasp arms. This is unsanitary. And lastly, you must give up some part of your magic. Ah, yes, because did I mention that if either side breaks the bargain, they risk losing all of their magic. Dun, dun, dun. In this world, once you give up a drop of magic, you also never get it back. So it's also this. You're not only bargaining to literally lose all your magic, you are also giving a part of your magic away forever, which some.

[Lexi]

Well, it's only a little drop of magic.

[Nicole]

It is. It is. But descended are so power hungry that some don't like to do it because they want to keep it all to themselves.

[Lexi]

But that's also what you have to do when you pray. Like you.

[Nicole]

Exactly.

[Lexi]

A little bit of your magic. Yeah.

[Nicole]

Which is why it's rumored that Lumnos, or the other Kindred, give the their most devoted devout the most power because they're willing to give up kernels of magic in order to receive tidal waves of return.

[Lexi]

So here's the bonded bargain between remus Courbois and D.M. bell Tourbois. She agrees to claim House Corbois for the length of her reign. And in exchange, House Corbois will not raise a challenge against her. And as DM will ensure is also included in this bonded bargain. Good job, girl, for covering your tracks. House Corbois will not support or encourage any other Houses to raise a challenge against her. Well, friends, we all know how that is going to work out. But we will save that for then.

[Nicole]

Now I am on watch for something with these next two books. We know that DM's blood is extremely special. It heals Godstone wounds, it breaks heart stones, it cures curses that keep a man trapped in a Godstone tunnel for generations. And probably even more that I'm forgetting. So I wonder if whenever she does have these moments where her wounds match with someone else's, like Remus's wound is mixing with DM's wound right now, so their blood is like, intermingling. Does it do anything? Especially because of how DMs drop of magic seems to almost hurt Remus. I don't know if that's related, but she has this moment with Eleanor later. And I'll talk more in depth when we get to that part of the deep dive. But I wonder if Eleanor will be stabbed with a Godstone wound. And she will be cured instantly because she has a little bit of DM's blood running through her veins.

[Lexi]

I like this idea that there's something to Diem's blood that I'll say bends the magic and alters the rules of the bonded bargain. We know Remus will end up losing his magic, but if she fails to follow through with A bonded bargain? Like in Heat, does something else or nothing happen instead of her losing her magic? I don't know.

[Nicole]

Maybe.

[Lexi]

I don't know.

[Nicole]

Well, now this does bring up a question. Do you think that we're going to get the one of the popular fantasy tropes which is the main character loses all their magic by the end of the series?

[Lexi]

I could definitely see that for sure.

[Nicole]

I think that this is one of those instances where I wouldn't be mad if that happened because it was set up through a bonded bargain in this kind of way. So I think that this, since it was so set up and it wasn't just like a you're done, that makes me happier.

[Lexi]

Well, and she is so powerful. Like she is very much a a all powerful person. And so she has to have flaws in other ways. And anyway, we'll get to all that way later. By the way, as we're talking about all this bonded bargain stuff and having to offer up a drop of your magic, DM doesn't know how to do that, but her magic still comes out unbidden. And I just find that really interesting that her magic responds to this bonded bargain necessity without her necessarily doing it on purpose. In this magic field segment of the episode, let's tap into our Umbros magic and turn our full attention to important foreshadowing moments for the rest of this book and series, including speculations for book four, Burn of the Everflame.

[Nicole]

Luther finds it quite puzzling that DM was born with red hair and brown eyes and then it all went colorless. Me too. Luther. I wonder this also and I really want answers. I cannot wait for Burn where we finally hopefully get the the reasoning behind this. Because in Umbro's next book we're going to learn that when two descended have a baby, it's the more powerful of the two's magic that will come about. So what if this was like the Ever Flame and Omnos, they had the baby and then trying to figure out who was going to get more power and they duked it out for like a few years and then Omnos won. That's my headcanon. As of right now. I need to someone smarter than me to the guy.

[Lexi]

I think it's a reflection of DM being of mortal and the kindred. She uniquely is the only one who has been able to live both lives. And she is uniquely the only one who is able to lead this world into a new era of peace and balance. Because Luther will even say in Heat that she is the only One who's really able to say she connects with the mortals and she can connect with the descendant because she has lived in both worlds.

[Nicole]

I feel like there's some kind of magical element at play. Oh, absolutely.

[Lexi]

Because I think it's a representation of her being both mortal and kindred.

[Nicole]

But then why would they change? Like what caused it to change?

[Lexi]

So that she can uniquely live in both worlds.

[Nicole]

But why would it start off one and then change?

[Lexi]

I think because it is that more powerfulness coming through too, in the end. I think we're overthinking this.

[Nicole]

I think we're. I think you're underthinking this.

[Lexi]

Fair enough.

[Nicole]

When Luther is talking about her eye color, not arguing with the sister about it, Diem asks if any of the Amarian realm descended have gray eyes. Again, this just highlights how little she knows about the other descendant cultures. And again, it's not her fault. Looking at you, Aurelie. But Luther says no. And there's a but. Quote the words feeling unfinished because they are. They are unfinished. While no descended have gray eyes. Eyes the kindreds themselves had have gray eyes.

[Lexi]

I think in this moment, he's trying to figure out what to tell dm. I think it's on the tip of his tongue to share Lumnos vision with her, but he realizes he has not earned her trust enough quite yet. Luther and DM discuss her plans a few times in the stretch of chapters, mostly vaguely to raise the mortals up. And he is dedicated to proving himself to her that he can help. What am I doing? Favorite things about this couple is their shared vision and determination for a better future. And his wholehearted support to help this queen be able to follow through with her plans. Even though he knows far better than her how much of an uphill battle that's going to be, he will happily do it at her side. It's what he believes his second chance at life is all about. We get a peek into Luther's own trauma with his mother when DM begs that she needs her mother. Something in my words had awoken a buried trauma that haunted him as profoundly as my mother loss haunted me. Oh, young Luther needed his mother too, and he tried helping her. But then Remus killed her and almost him too.

[Nicole]

Eleanor mentions how Remus is probably plotting to marry Lily off the moment she comes of age. And sadly, these plans are already in motion. As we will learn in the meeting with House Burnham, Lily is set to marry Roderick Burnham, a union that she agrees she will go through on just to make her parents happy.

[Lexi]

And unfortunately that's exactly what Eleanor is predicting right here.

[Nicole]

But at the very end, right before the Challenging, she tells Teller that she said no to the marriage and he kisses her for the first time.

[Lexi]

When DM overhears the gossip about her, one of the servants says that the king wanted to go ever since his mate died. And Luther separately says that kings have been killed for far less than being immortal, referring to Alder's mate. I know Nicole touched the touched on this today, but we will get the full story about Ulther's mate's demise in the next stretch of chapters. But we're just getting those little teasers right now about what exactly came about with all of this.

[Nicole]

So sad. Henry seeing Aon and Luther fighting and he recognizes the boy's murderer from lumnose city. It 1000% makes sense why DM thinks that it was Luther given the horse ride and everything like that. But I remember reading this for the first time and being like it's a Yep, exactly.

[Lexi]

Also, the two of them are arguing probably about DM revealing her secret about Henry and this is them working it out how to keep Eamon quiet with him throwing Aan up against the wall.

[Nicole]

That checks out totally shadow band around Eamon's throat and not in a fun way. And he's got him like levitating up the wall. Oh my God. Fucking love Luther. In Luther's bedroom, Dean Diem sees a marble bust of Lumnos surrounded by candles and flowers in Heat of the Everflame. When Luther is dying of a godstone wound, Diem will go back to this bust and give it a sacrificial offering, even opening up her palm and trying to make a bonded bargain with the goddess which will mysteriously cause the bust to weep bloody tears. I can't wait to talk about that. Cause what? But this cut she gives herself with, you know, trying to make up a bargain, makes the wound that was will drip blood into Luther, curing him of the godstone wound. Luther mentions how he can remain unseen going into Mortal City. While he does not know it yet, he will be training his light magic at the beginning of Burn of the Everflame and even practices with Teller. We get that in our Burn sneak peek chapters which we'll put in the show notes.

[Lexi]

DM thinks about how she needs powerful allies and then she considers the half mortal children this realm has abandoned and how they can potentially be her allies. Allies like the ones in Umbros Zaleric. Specifically who she allies with and brings back to Lumnos. I could see more of the half mortals from Lumnos and maybe even other realms come more into the story. And Burn, unfortunately. I really hope that not everybody died with the end and the attack on Umbros. And maybe your cell was just saying that to get under DM's skin. I don't know. We will learn how likely it is that half mortals are typically more powerful. And I think this will be a great plot component in Burn.

[Nicole]

And I still am standing by my theory that it's what the Kindred wanted, the descended and the mortals to be together and that produces more powerful people. Like I think that that was their plan and the descendant fucked it up. DM thinks about how Teller would make a fine warden someday on her council. Question. Do you think that this will happen by the end of Burn if Teller lives? Which he better.

[Lexi]

Yeah, definitely. Definitely.

[Nicole]

Same, same, same.

[Lexi]

During her conversation with Remus, DM says that the last king did whatever he wanted without consequence. And we get this description, quote, his upper lip curled slightly at my words. Because the Glass King did not do whatever he wanted. And he was always pressured to be harsher on the mortals from other houses. Yes, but also his own counsel, which included his brothers, like Remus here.

[Nicole]

And last but not least, I really hate to be this person. But at the end of chapter 15, as DM learns about her new Courbois father, Harold Courbois, who supposedly died, DM says quote, well then, rest in peace, Father. Not the foreshadowing you want to see. Now it is time to enter the Sophos Library where each episode Lexi guides us through a world building topic to help us deepen our understanding of this world and its magic.

[Lexi]

Today's Sophos Library feels very fitting. It is House Courbois. House Courbois is the most powerful and influential house in Lumnos. And they are also the royal family who resides in the Lumnos Palace. While they're at the top of the Lumnos food chain, the Corbois are among five of the most influential houses out of the 20 houses in Lumnos. This is of course the house Diem agrees to claim she's from in order for them to back her in the challenging. House Corbois has held the crown for centuries and and the last five KBA crowns went unchallenged. They've held the royal status for longer than any of the living members have been alive, meaning they all grew up in the Luminos Palace. King Ulther's reign was marked by paranoia after his mate was killed by another House, soon after he got the crown, he removed all other Houses from his advisory council, appointing only family members to ensure loyalty. And he also made sure that no one except Corba lived in the palace as well. I think there's a few tiny exceptions. Exceptions, but overall, super mistrustful of the other Houses. And it really showed. While the crown is now not technically a Corpoise by blood, the House is still holding onto the title of royal family due to Remus being the Regent and continuing to formally rule until diem is coronated. House Corpoise sigil is a crest encasing the outline of a phoenix, its flaming wings spread wide as it emerges from curling wisps of smoke. Two tiny sapphires mark its eye eyes. And a dark ruby lays over its heart. The ruby represents the blood of Lumnos that runs in their veins, and the sapphires represent their blue eyes and the phoenix. Meaning changes depending on who you ask. The official meaning of it is a message to their enemies that House Corbois always survives, though many have tried. No one can destroy them, and in the end, they always rise again. The other interpretation is that it's a symbol of surviving. When the world burns down around them, it's a reminder. Reminder that no challenge can destroy the parts of them that truly matter. They're not reborn in the flames, they're revealed. House Corpois views on mortals are interesting because they don't like the mortals, but they're not quite as hateful as some of the other Houses. After the Blood War, several of the Houses wanted to ban mortals in the realm, but House Corbois wanted to declare amnesty and move forward. Then there was the pressure to forbid interrelationships. But King Arthur compromised on outlawing children of these unions, which is what led to the progeny laws. Overall, the mortals are a hot topic, and not in a good way. There's been a lot of compromising on the laws that are currently in place. Most of the Corbei are known to be power hungry, willing to do whatever they need to get the upper hand, even within their own family. Many family members are also very good at getting others to spill their secrets, whether they want to or not. For instance, Aemond can lure secrets out in such a way that it's become something of a rite of passage within the family. House Corbois cares about power and status more than anything. So to further solidify their influence, Courbois marry for strategic alliances. Which means they don't marry for love. Yes, this includes marrying cousins. To each other if it will bring them more power. To quote Taryn House Courbois has never let something as silly as being related get in the way of a good pairing. To put it simply, there's not a lot of choice in these strategic marriages, and you kind of are supposed to do what the older poor boy tell you to. If a family member with high power like Remus or Gareth says a marriage is going to happen, then the marriage is going to happen. And this doesn't stop with parents. It also includes when and if members of the Corbois house will have children. We see a perfect example of this level of control with Eleanor's parents. Both of them were very powerful magically, but they never wanted children. Gareth and Remus said they owed it to the house to pass along their strong magic. So they made a deal with Remus. They'd have a baby in exchange for prestigious ranks in the army. They left for their new fancy appointments after Eleanor was born, and they visited a few times throughout her childhood until her powers manifested and everyone realized Eleanor wasn't strong like her parents. And that's unfortunately when they stopped coming to visit her. This situation is just the way things are and how family and power are viewed in this house. The least inconsequential members of House Corpois are the servants, guards and other staff in the palace. They've been given a either serve the Corbot family or become an unhoused descendant. So almost everyone who lives and works in the palace is a Corbois. Because houses only trust their own house. There may be hundreds of Courbois family members, but let's go through the notable ones in our story. Who specifically are the closest relatives to the late King Ulther, starting with Remus. Oh boy. Oh, Remus. This power hungry youngest brother of King Ulther, is the head of House Corbois and regent of the realm. He cares most about staying in power, personal prestige and titles. So he's basically been ruling Lumnos since the king became too ill. Rumor has it Remus is the reason that he became ill in the first place. But he has also never been in a hurry for his son Luther to get the throne. Because then he'll definitely lose his stronghold of power. However, we will learn that long ago, Remus received a vision from Blessed Mother Lumnos that his firstborn son would be the most powerful Lumnos descended and the unquestioned heir to the crown and the mortal woman he was having an affair with. Floriel became pregnant first, not his Descended wife Ivana. This led Remus to make both women go to the countryside for a year so that it could be passed off that Luther is Ivana's son. In order to escape the progeny laws and for Remus's vision about his firstborn son to come true, Luther's mortal mother was sent away to a mental institution in Sophos to discredit her and Ivana. She had to grow up with Luther pretending that he's her son and she openly despised him. Floriel eventually found her way back to Lumnos and Luther, and this unfortunately resulted in Remus killing Luther's mortal mother when she threatened to expose the secret. Except Luther tried to step in and the magical attack would have killed them both if Mother Lunos didn't save Luther and and send him the vision about serving the Gray Eyed Queen. So, yeah, Remus really, really sucks. Continuing with Luther, I'll keep this brief because we know him so well. Eleanor reflects that it's like he was born a thousand years ago. He was raised with the expectation that he would be the heir to the Lumnos crown. He is weighed down with his obligations to the crown and their house. Though there is a carefree side of Luther deep, deep down that we'd love to see bubble up every now and then. He and his father, Remus, obviously Lily, have a very strained relationship. The whole thing with Remus killing his mortal mother a long time ago is, you know, one wedge there. They also have very different views on how the realm should be run. They're very cordial with each other because they kind of have to be. Then we have Lillian, Lily for short, Remus's daughter and Luther's younger sister. She's the youngest member of the main Corbois family. She's 16 years old and it's just a sweetheart, even if she rambles. There's a teenage romance budding between her and Teller Bellator. However, Remus will marry Lily off as soon as she's of age. She doesn't know it yet, but she's devoted to making her parents proud. And she will convince herself that it's what she wants for herself too. Moving on to the late King Ulther's eldest brother, Gareth, who is a prejudiced asshole who openly hates mortals and who is also power hungry. Like his younger brother Remus. He has never gotten over the fact that Ulther appointed Remus the regent. But the reason why is because Gareth, he has been major anger issues. As Nicole explained last episode, he used to abuse his sons, but after Their healing abilities manifested. It couldn't be proven. As we discussed last episode with his introduction, Aemond is the eldest son of Gareth, who is cunningly charming and knows how to court power, which makes up for his weak magical powers. He's very popular with the ladies and could be helpful to dm, as we'll see at the Ascension Ball, because he knows how to plague the courtly politics and know knows the other houses quite well. However, everything with Aemon is an exchange and he expects something of greater value. More than anything, he is ambitious and he's just as likely to sell gossip about someone as he is to sell it to someone. Then there's his younger brother, Taran. These two brothers hate each other and couldn't be more opposite. Taryn has never forgiven his older brother for not protecting him against their father. Aemond chose their father instead of him, but luckily Taryn had Luke Luther to look out for him, who he considers his real brother. Taran has strong magic, but he refuses every title and honestly doesn't care about court scheming. It drives Gareth mad that his son has no interest in power because Taran could be very high up with his strong magic and lineage working in his favor. Then there's Alix, who may be more of a distant cousin, but is still worth bringing up here. Her father is highly ranked in the Amarian army and her mother died young, so she grew up being taken along on her father's assignments. She's an expert illusionist with her light magic, she's a skilled fighter and military strategist, and she spends all her time with the Royal Guard, which she is highly ranked in. She's just as ambitious as Aemond, but they're very different people. Alix wants to earn her way up by merit instead of scheming and birthright like Aon. Alix aspires to lead an army, and I bet you we will see that in Burn. We already touched on Eleanor's life just a little bit ago and have talked so much about her in the deep dive. So please don't mind as I kind of skip over her and wrap this up because wow, this Sophos library is getting very long. I hope this was an insightful overview about House Corbois.

[Nicole]

Let us close out this episode with skipping around the apple orchard and discussing our favorite moments from this stretch of chapters. And oh boy, I got a lot of them. I love that even in descended high school everyone's an ass, as Teller alludes. And it's because descended teenagers don't know how to control their godhood. And. And then it boils over. But then we learn that Luther has been training Lily since before her magic manifested so she wouldn't be at the mercy of that godhood. And it's so sweet on the surface. It makes so much sense with Luther and Lily's relationship then looking a little deeper. My heart breaks for Luther because he was pulled out of school and tutored privately because he couldn't control his magic and he didn't want the same thing to happen to his little sister.

[Lexi]

Oh, the continued banter about titles between Luther and Diem and how he calls her DM against her wishes while he's egging her on to release her magic. It made me wonder, how many times has Luther called DM Diem? Because it's got to be at most on one hand. Like, I don't even know if it has happened yet.

[Nicole]

I feel like it's definitely happened, but I would need to go back and word search it. But I think you're right. It would be no more than five.

[Lexi]

Oh, no, I would say maybe once or twice before.

[Nicole]

I think three times. I'll go. Okay. Okay.

[Lexi]

Beth, if you want to word search the word DM in the book. Sure.

[Nicole]

Okay. Touche. I say over three. Are you saying under three?

[Lexi]

Yes.

[Nicole]

Okay, cool. We'll report back. When Luther shares that he ran through his reserves of power within minutes, DM thinks about how, if it were any other day, she would have been making sexually charged innuendos about his stamina. Girl, wait until chapter 72 of EDA the Everflame. You'll be saying nothing about that stamina.

[Lexi]

All right, so, awkward pivot to tell her when DM asks, when did they start trusting a kindred? He replies, quote, since she had the good sense to pick a Bellator. And first of all, the depth of meaning with that and this being the daughter of the forgotten, and also with this little brother raising his sister up and reminding her who she's always been and will be. I love that so much. During the same conversation, DM says that she's barely lived. She's only 20 years old, and she has no business being queen. I give you most Romanasy books. I say that lovingly.

[Nicole]

Most of them is 99.9% of them, definitely. All right, I'm going to call this section Reasons I Thought Eleanor Was Evil. On my first read, when DM mentions how she could keep her friends close but her enemies closer, Eleanor says, quote, you're catching onto the rules of court very quickly, your majesty. I Thought she was talking about their relationship. I thought she was like, oh, you're smart. When she's talking about Aemon, Eleanor mentions quote, his magic is weak, so he's had to make up for it with charms and wits, just like me. And then while she's talking still about Aem, she mentions how he has the best court gossip. Quote, other than me, of course. The amount that she compares herself to Eamon. And even next episode, when they're working kind of together during the Courbois dinner, I thought they are working. They were working together. So hand in hand to take down the queen, I'm still. I was pretty non convinced. Like after, you know, multiple rereads, I was good. But now this deep dive is really making me question it again.

[Lexi]

If she was, Pen would end up being the best actress of all time. Because when we told her our theory, she had this look of horror on her face, like, why did you think that?

[Nicole]

And here I am being like, maybe while I'm still talking about. Even though she mentions, like I said, he has the best court gossip. It is so my head canon that he spread the rumor about DM and him already sleeping together to the servants. And that's why. That's what DM overhears. I just feel like he would spread rumors about himself to make himself more important.

[Lexi]

Well, I have all the same thoughts that you just said. Like, we were both very much on the Eleanor is evil train. On the other hand, Eleanor is a very good artist. Then we gather that Luther captures the faces and expressions of the half myrtle children in his sketches in his journal there. So it's by headcanon that Luther and Eleanor share this hobby. And they like to draw together Eleanor's.

[Nicole]

Birthday wish about seeing Luther so drunk that he finally lets loose. And it sounds like quite a riot. I agree. I don't really wish uber drunkenness upon a whole lot of people. But this is one that I would wish that kind of like how I.

[Lexi]

Wish uber drunkenness on your husband, because he is absolutely hilarious when he has had a few.

[Nicole]

That wish will probably go unanswered for the rest of your life.

[Lexi]

I do wonder if Pen will treat us with a drunk Luther and burn this little bit from Eleanor. It feels like such a tease. And we all do also want to see drunk Luther just letting loose. He'd probably, however, go on and on and on and on and on about how much he loves dm. And to be honest, everyone would be annoyed, like in his circle, in the sweetest way possible. Kind of like when you first got drunk with Margaritas for the first time?

[Nicole]

When I was 21, absolutely yes.

[Lexi]

And you just cozied up to me and telling me how much she loved me and how I was a great sister and I was just like oh you're so sweet, Nicole.

[Nicole]

Sweet naive little Nicole. 21 year old Nicole. I mean absolutely 21 year old. Oh my God. My favorite Luther moments that we did not talk about above. Get ready because it's a long list. We get some Luther jokes. I love this about her and his banter when he makes a joke about Aemond being kept around and DM is shocked and pokes fun at him for, you know, cracking a joke every once in a while. And then he makes a second one about Taryn being in meetings only to keep Luther from killing Aemon. DM is elated telling him that he will need a nap to recover from all this too. Back to back joke excitement. And then he smiles at her with a new smile that she has yet to see. It is warm and humble and a bit triumphant. Fuck I love him. Another Luther favorite moment. I could honestly do an entire episode on Easy as these two are walking down the halls of the castle. Abdien plays with Luther about him not liking her dress as much as liking her in a towel. Or maybe he even prefers her in muddy pants and a borrowed tunic. And I quote only when it's mine. Stick a fork in me.

[Lexi]

I am done.

[Nicole]

Oh my God. Look, I am all about women empowerment. I just did an entire soliloquy on women empowerment this episode and then lines like this are thrown around. Speaking of lines, he calls DM quote My beautiful Queen. Oh I'm dead. Swoon. I'm dead. We also get Luther's full titles this episode. And while I love quote His Royal Highness, Lord Luther, Corps Boy, Most Honorable, Keeper of the Laws, Warden of the Light, High General of the Guard, Esteemed Member of the Crown Council, Personal Advisor to the Crown, and Prince of Lumnos, Realm of Light and Shadows. I much prefer Diem's version. His Royal Highness Prince Luther Courbois, Keeper of the Laws, Warden of something or other. Member of the Council of Self Important meant High General. Wait, was it. Was it Grand General Supreme? What a Taco Bell meal. My goodness.

[Lexi]

Oh, now I want a cheesy grand crunch. Text Jake Fun fact friends. Quite often Jake will go on these random Taco Bell trips because you know how that goes. And he comes back with a cheesy gourdy noodle crunch. And I love to eat it here like Right in between our recording breaks. And Nicole. Poor Nicole, who cannot eat anything in a cheesy gordito crunch, just watches me eat it.

[Nicole]

I, like, ask him. Describe it to me in every single word you possibly can. Last but not least, we've got the the rumor mill of Lumnos. And it is working over time as Eleanor comes back from her lunch with friends from a different house. She tells DM that it was rumored that DM had been kidnapped as a baby and raised by elk in the forest. Or that she was so hideously deformed that Remus locked her away in the dungeon. Woof. Tough luck for Remus.

[Lexi]

All right, friends, thank you so much for listening to today's second episode of our Glow up the Everflame Deep Dive.

[Nicole]

Next Monday, we are continuing with Glow of the Everflame episode three, which covers chapters 16 through 23. We're talking a funeral. We're talking mating bonds is finally on the page. And my personal favorite, we get the foot massage, y' all. I am. I am a different person. Next episode.

[Lexi]

Like, seriously, friends, I don't know if any of us, including myself, have ever seen this side of Nicole. I. I am so excited. We have been waiting for this.

[Nicole]

Get ready for it's going to be a long episode. I'm going beat by beat through that scene. I'm going sentence by sentence. Finally, letter by letter. Oh my God, I can't wait.

[Lexi]

We would love to give the biggest warm welcome, welcome, welcome to our newest Crowns Council members.

[Nicole]

Welcome, welcome, welcome to Sam L. Brie, Brianna P. Lynn, G. Karen, Joselyn and Rebecca A. Welcome, welcome, welcome.

[Lexi]

We are so happy that you are here again. Thank you so much for supporting the show. It means everything to us, really and truly. And if you're listening and are like, hey, I want my name shouted out on the podcast and to be showered with all the love and attention to join our fan club@fantasy fangirls.com fanclub. The link is also in the show notes.

[Nicole]

Thank you as always to our top SoFo scholar, aka our content researcher Brooke, and our executive producer, aka our sanity manager, Hayden.

[Lexi]

We are very active on social media with weekly trivia games and lots more. So please be sure to follow us on Instagram and Slash or TikTok at Fantasy Fangirls Pod. Also, if you are watching this on YouTube or you want to watch this on YouTube because of the Henry hats and all the other crazy expressions that we have and all that, please hit that subscribe button to keep following along.

[Nicole]

While you are hitting buttons, please Take a moment and hit that five star button to rate and review the podcast. It is so, so, so helpful not just for the show, but for any podcast that you listen to. Please, please, please. It's like giving us a little hug from a distance and it takes two seconds. And last but not least, please share this episode with your fellow Kindred's Curse saga. Friends, if your group text was reading the scene with Henry and blowing up with anger about why is he pouncing around the castle calling himself King? Hopefully this Henry hat gave you all a little bit of. Of, I don't know. Understanding. Sure, understanding.

[Lexi]

All right, friends, thank you so much for joining us today. We will see you next week. Bye Bye.

[Nicole]

There's like in Baldur's Gate, there's an impossible lock that you can't really open. This is that impossible lock that you can't really open. Can you tell? I'm bitter about it. I tried to get a sarian to go through it. Little asshole.

[Lexi]

Er, Schrodingers. Schrodingers.

[Nicole]

Not Schrodingers.

[Lexi]

Schrodingers. There you go.

[Nicole]

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