LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City / Episode 22: Angel Cruise to Torture Town

Summary

LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City – Episode 22: Angel Cruise to Torture Town

Hosts: Natalie Jean and Jackie Zebrowski
Release Date: March 18, 2025

In this episode of "LPN Deep Dives: Crescent City," hosts Natalie Jean and Jackie Zebrowski delve deep into the intricate world of Sarah J. Maas's popular adult science fiction series, Crescent City. Episode 22, titled "Angel Cruise to Torture Town," offers a comprehensive analysis of the plot developments, character arcs, and the overarching themes that make this series a fan favorite.

---

1. Introduction to Part Four

Timestamp: [00:00] – [01:04]

The episode kicks off with hosts Natalie and Jackie exchanging playful banter and briefly mentioning upcoming events related to the Crescent City series. They tease listeners about the "Dreamers and Readers Festival" scheduled for spring 2026, highlighting activities like Fae balls, fashion shows, and exclusive swag bags for participants.

---

2. Navigating Angelic Themes and Personal Reflections

Timestamp: [02:32] – [08:35]

Discussion Highlights:

• Angelic Dilemmas: The hosts explore the portrayal of angels in the series, discussing the allure and the burdens of being angelic. Natalie muses, "I think a lot of these books have really put me off the idea of being angelic. I think it's bad." Jackie counters with a nuanced perspective, expressing conflicted feelings about heaven and angelic existence.

• Hair Extensions and Identity: A humorous segment unfolds as Jackie and Natalie discuss the use of wigs and hair extensions, drawing parallels to character transformations in the books. Jackie shares her apprehensions about dyeing her hair, equating it to irreversible changes, much like the characters' evolving identities.

• Dreams and Reality: Jackie delves into the concept of dream control, referencing techniques like flipping lights or snapping bracelets to discern dreams from reality. This segues into a philosophical discussion about memory, trauma, and coping mechanisms, with Jackie reflecting on her anxiety and dreams of being hunted, paralleling the protagonist Hunt's struggles.

Notable Quotes:

• Natalie Jean [03:11]: "Sounds boring."
• Jackie Zebrowski [06:37]: "It's supposed to make you more aware. It's supposed to bring you like, to snap you in to like, see if you are in control of your body or if you're not."

---

3. In-Depth Plot Analysis: Torture and Betrayal

Timestamp: [11:03] – [26:09]

Discussion Highlights:

• Hunt's Captivity: The hosts examine Hunt's grim situation in his holding cell, juxtaposing modern and medieval forms of torture. Natalie describes, "His prison cell is modern, and he's thinking about that because his captivity in Panjara was quite different. It was very much more medieval."

• Character Dynamics: They dissect the strained relationships between characters, particularly focusing on Bryce's realization that her best friend Danika committed murders. Jackie emphasizes the emotional turmoil, stating, "I'm very mad at him."

• Philosophical Underpinnings: The conversation touches on themes of guilt, redemption, and the cyclical nature of violence. Natalie criticizes Hunt's choices, pondering whether his desire for a peaceful life is genuine or a facade, leading to his moral complexities.

Notable Quotes:

• Natalie Jean [12:56]: "Whoa. Fugue State murder. The Natalie King story."
• Jackie Zebrowski [17:08]: "I'm a Leo. All right? It's really hard for me to turn back my trust."

---

4. Exploring Relationships and Emotional Turmoil

Timestamp: [26:36] – [49:23]

Discussion Highlights:

• Bryce’s Emotional State: The hosts delve into Bryce Quinlan's internal conflict as she grapples with Hunt's incarceration and the fallout from their relationship. Natalie portrays Bryce's struggle: "She's not exactly meeting Ruhn, more like crashing a hangout he's already having with Flynn."

• Sandriel’s Manipulation: The sinister character Sandriel is analyzed for her manipulative tactics and emotional cruelty towards Hunt and Bryce. Jackie reveals her disdain for Sandriel's actions, highlighting the antagonist's role in perpetuating pain and control.

• Love and Betrayal: Natalie and Jackie discuss the complex love dynamics, particularly the potential for Hunt to be an anti-hero despite his darker actions. They debate whether Hunt's love for Bryce can redeem his morally questionable choices.

Notable Quotes:

• Natalie Jean [34:07]: "But Hazel is such a hot name."
• Jackie Zebrowski [38:35]: "I'm a bad angel today."

---

5. Climactic Confrontations and Resolutions

Timestamp: [49:23] – [73:48]

Discussion Highlights:

• Sandriel's Aggression: The hosts analyze pivotal confrontations, including Sandriel's attack on Bryce and her incessant torment of Hunt. Natalie narrates the intensity of these moments, emphasizing the emotional and physical toll on the characters.

• Rune’s Intervention: The arrival of Rune introduces new dynamics as he challenges Sandriel's authority and attempts to protect Bryce. Jackie admires Rune's heroic stance, noting, "I own him."

• Bryce’s Desperation: Bryce's actions, driven by desperation to save Hunt, are scrutinized. Natalie reflects on Bryce's plea and the complexity of her feelings towards Hunt, adding depth to her character development.

Notable Quotes:

• Natalie Jean [58:17]: "Yeah, but, you know, she's still not believing that."
• Jackie Zebrowski [73:00]: "This is a fan theory, and you actually brought this up first, which would make sense."

---

6. Final Reflections and Episode Conclusion

Timestamp: [73:48] – [86:09]

Discussion Highlights:

• Emotional Aftermath: Post-confrontation, the hosts explore the aftermath of the pivotal scenes, focusing on Bryce's lingering emotions and Hunt's despair. Natalie captures the essence of Bryce's pain: "She's still angry with him and maybe they wouldn't ever recover their relationship."

• Themes of Sacrifice and Love: The discussion underscores the sacrifices characters make for love and redemption, highlighting the series' exploration of deep emotional bonds and the costs associated with them.

• Character Growth: Reflecting on the characters' journeys, Natalie and Jackie commend Bryce's growth from isolation to seeking connection, marking a significant evolution in her character arc.

Notable Quotes:

• Natalie Jean [82:53]: "Just, if you crucify me, I'll die in a couple days."
• Jackie Zebrowski [85:14]: "If you think about it, Steve Urkel was probably most likely going through some sort of mental."

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7. Hosts' Personal Insights and Theoretical Musings

Throughout the episode, Natalie and Jackie interweave personal anecdotes and humorous remarks, providing listeners with a relatable and entertaining perspective on the series. Their chemistry shines as they navigate complex plot points, offering both critical analysis and lighthearted commentary.

Selected Quotes:

• Jackie Zebrowski [08:35]: "I'm scared of you. It's doing a lot of work today."
• Natalie Jean [49:15]: "So Sandriel is getting inside of my blood. I'm ready to torture."

---

8. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Timestamp: [85:59] – [86:09]

As the episode wraps up, the hosts reflect on the intense emotional landscape of Crescent City, emphasizing the depth of character development and the intricate plotting that has captivated fans. Natalie and Jackie encourage listeners to continue their journey through the series, anticipating future episodes that will delve even deeper into the saga's rich narrative.

Final Quote:

• Jackie Zebrowski [86:09]: "We don't know. We don't know what to believe."

---

Summary:

In "Angel Cruise to Torture Town," Natalie Jean and Jackie Zebrowski provide an exhaustive and passionate examination of the latest developments in Crescent City. From dissecting complex character motivations to exploring the morally gray areas of love and power, the episode offers both fans and newcomers a thorough understanding of the series' intricacies. Through engaging dialogue, insightful analysis, and their signature humor, the hosts enhance the listening experience, making this episode a must-listen for enthusiasts eager to dive deep into the world Sarah J. Maas has crafted.

Transcript

[Natalie Jean]

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[Jackie Zabrowski]

Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. The Quarter Pounder with cheese had many great things. Maple flavored griddle cakes. Is it one of them? McDonald's breakfast comes first. We're excited to announce that we're going to Prythian and Valbara and Basgaeth.

[Natalie Jean]

If you're nasty and you can too.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Join us in spring of 2026 at the Dreamers and Readers Festival. A three day event chock full of choose your own adventures.

[Natalie Jean]

Multiple.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Multiple Fae balls, fashion shows, photo shoots, Hoteez, Everybody.

[Natalie Jean]

At least 15 different events at the otherworldly Gaylord Texan resort that you can customize to make the perfect trip fit your Fantasy Dreams.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Visit fantastiquecollection.com and use our code Faybays at checkout to receive $10 off of any of these events.

[Natalie Jean]

Dreamers and readers, Night one and two.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Mythical Creatures Masquerade, Fantastic Starfo Ball and the Farewell Fae Bash.

[Natalie Jean]

Not only that, but if you use our code fabs at checkout for those events, you will receive an exclusive swag bag from the weekend.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I'll do anything for a swag bag, Natalie.

[Natalie Jean]

Get me.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes, that's right. Use our code Faebase F A E B A e [e-mail] to get your $10 off of any of these events.

[Natalie Jean]

Dreamers and readers, baby. I cannot wait for this.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Gimme, gimme that swag. Welcome to Crescent City with your hosts, Natalie Jean and Jackie Zabrowski.

[Natalie Jean]

It's good for.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, I love doing my tongue work. Now I'm ready. Oh my God. You were recording. You shouldn't have heard that. Oh, no. I guess it's just because we're sexy bad angels.

[Natalie Jean]

Or am I? We don't know if I'm bad.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, we don't know. We don't know. I. You know, we can't say this in this world, but I think a lot of these books have really put me off the idea of being angelic. I think it's bad. I think it's no good. Who wants to wants to be in heaven?

[Natalie Jean]

Sounds boring.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I don't think so. I want to be in heaven.

[Natalie Jean]

Say they're going to heaven.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I know I don't want to be in heaven with all of them. I just realized that my wig is making a consistent sound as it rustles up against my wings, which, you know, it's hard out here for an angel.

[Natalie Jean]

I can't hear it. So in your own head, that's what.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It sounds like over here.

[Natalie Jean]

Wow. I guess I kind of hear that on mine too.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

A little bit. A little bit. I have on a silver bodycon dress right now.

[Natalie Jean]

This wig is.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you.

[Natalie Jean]

Are slaying this way.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you so much. And now I'm like, do I like dye my hair black and then put these like. Because this is like a lived in blonde. Like, I love this wig.

[Natalie Jean]

It does have really cute highlights, right?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Like. Like you barely see them highlights, but it gives.

[Natalie Jean]

Do you want to live your life a virgin or do you want to defile your hair as somebody? You've never once dyed your hair, which still is amazing to me.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I know. I'm scared of doing it. I feel like once you pop, the fun don't stop.

[Natalie Jean]

Well, I do think as soon as you start doing, you will be like all of the colors.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Every color. Are you going to go back to the deep orange that you were talking about?

[Natalie Jean]

Me?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes.

[Natalie Jean]

I don't know what I'm doing.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, God. Do any of us? I don't think so.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm not gonna go with this color and cut because I do not care for you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You know, I think that it brings out your wings. Like, I think it's good.

[Natalie Jean]

I look like a little 1920s boy stealing candy from a candy shop.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You do look like you need a cartoo foolishly large lollipop. And for you to go, missed us.

[Natalie Jean]

I swears I didn't steal it until you see my rippling pets.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. And then I go, of course. Those are the pecs of a criminal. That's what I think. I mean, anytime I.

[Natalie Jean]

Or an anti hero. We don't know.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, we don't know. We don't know yet. Oh my God. I had a dream that you were a sexy baby and I'm a monster on the hill. Yeah, that's for my swifties out there. For the song Anti Hero.

[Natalie Jean]

Was that a lyric or were you saying you actually had a dream about me?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, I didn't have a dream that you were a sexy baby, but I do have you in my dreams fairly often.

[Natalie Jean]

I think that's normal. You can't. Apparently the Internet told me you can't make new faces up in your dreams. But that could just be like on a thing where somebody said on Reddit.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And you see no faces that's the word on the street, is that you see no faces. And now I try to actively look at the faces, but I wish I had dream control. I need to start. What is it? You snap. Snap the bracelet, snap the bracelet. You flick the light. You flick the light. You got to do these things. This is how we start dream controlling.

[Natalie Jean]

What's it called? Astral project.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, that I don't think has anything to do with the bracelet snappings and the. And the lights flipping.

[Natalie Jean]

I have no idea what you're speaking about.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Whoa. So apparently there are ways there things you're supposed to add into your everyday life so that you can start becoming more aware if you are in a dream or if you're in reality. So it's the like. The idea is in real life, when you enter a room, flick on and off the lights, flick on and off the lights. And you see the lights go on. You see the lights go on, go off. But in your dream, if you go. So if you start adding that into your everyday life and then in your dream, you'll go in and flick on the lights, flick off the lights, flick on the lights, but they won't do anything. So then you'll know that you're in a dream, say with like, same with your braces. I'm sure there's more science behind this than what I'm saying about it, but this is what I loosely know about it.

[Natalie Jean]

What is it supposed to do?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's supposed to make you more aware. It's supposed to bring you like, to snap you in to like, see if you are in control of your body or if you're not scary, I mean, scary everybody.

[Natalie Jean]

That's the beginning of like every sci fi movie that's ever existed. I feel like you're not supposed to fully be able to control your brain in that way.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, but we should be controlling our brains because Lord help us. I'm just over here dreaming about you as a sexy baby, apparently. Well, very difficult for me.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, I. So, yeah, in my dreams I know it's people. If I can't, I don't. I guess maybe I'm not seeing their faces, but I know it's a person. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I know who that person is. So you just assuming your mind is just like putting somebody you already know on the character.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So yeah, that. That's what it's supposed to be. But also, I get hunted a lot in my dreams, which turns out his anxiety, I do as well. See, and so I'm not really? Usually looking at the faces. Usually I'm just in, like, abject horror. So I get a lot. It's fun, though. It's fun this way.

[Natalie Jean]

Do you get a lot of. I. I get constantly trying to run up that hill, but can't.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You're just like.

[Natalie Jean]

It's really like you can't move fast.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like you're under. Like you're in mud glasses.

[Natalie Jean]

I get. I hate it. I hate the feeling so much. And it is so frustrating and upsetting.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And that's like, the point of it or something. I don't know. I guess that I should. Should I be smoking less weed so I remember the dreams more, or is it for the best that I'm not remembering them?

[Natalie Jean]

I don't know. I don't know if there's a better way or not. I don't know if there's, like, a recommendation, but I remember my dreams too much a lot of the time.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Maybe you should be smoking more weed, because this is the thing is, I used to be a drunk, and then you. I would never remember any of my dreams because I don't think I was dreaming at all because I was blacked out. And so I would just didn't know. So when people say, oh, you smoke weed, that means you don't remember your dreams. Like, I think it kind of helped me remember my dreams more. Okay, so it's not the weed, everybody. I don't have a problem.

[Natalie Jean]

You have a solution.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you. This is big. Upping each other. And I appreciate you. And I appreciate. You know what? I'm going to say it. I appreciate the wig. I am scared of you.

[Natalie Jean]

It's doing a lot of work today.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You start calling you Fault Leroy. Oh, Fauntleroy. What do you have to say?

[Natalie Jean]

You can't. Can you tell who I am?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, you don't know?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, come on.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes. No. I want to find out how many.

[Natalie Jean]

People have white wings in this.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I just let me let it wash over me. Let me feel it in my bones. Natalie.

[Natalie Jean]

I feel as though actually this could be multiple characters in this book.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Whoa. So now you're trying to juke me?

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Are you trying to. You're trying to wait, trivia my brain and then juke me? I guess I don't trust you at all. I trust you as much as I would trust any angel in my life. And that's not.

[Natalie Jean]

Not at all. You shouldn't. Anybody says that they are that you run away.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So you ain't no angel. You a devil. And I know it.

[Natalie Jean]

No, you want a devil around. They're better.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. And I say yes, I should. I should put a little extra in my drink. And by extra, I mean THC drops. I didn't these sober. This is a sober coffee. And my sober tropical fruit Waterloo. But I won't start talking about how obsessed I am with tropical fruit Waterloo. But I will open.

[Natalie Jean]

Seems like you are starting.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's just good.

[Natalie Jean]

We're in a ravine, baby.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, take us to the ravine.

[Natalie Jean]

Part four. We're in the ravine. The. The deepest of the holes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Quite a chasm for us to nestle into.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. Strangely, no. I guess chapter called the chasm. Or no part called the chasm. Yeah, right.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But I guess I dare say the ravine. Pretty close to a chasm.

[Natalie Jean]

A ravine sounds pretty big.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I think you're looking out over a cat has them. I don't know necessarily what that means, but if I were to assume geography, and I do it all the time, you would stand upon ravine and look out over a chasm.

[Natalie Jean]

Really interesting.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I see.

[Natalie Jean]

I was thinking it was the hole.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I may have made that up.

[Natalie Jean]

I don't know.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I'm gonna. I'm gonna be again. I know everybody comes here for my science, for my doctor skills, because I say, oh, put a hole in the neck. That's how you make them breathe. That's what everybody says. Oh, they're choking. Put a hole in that neck.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, God.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I see. I. I had to go through this. I got really, really scared. A couple years ago, I wanted to get Jeff some like, really good medical supply, like, medical emergency kits, like, if he had to like, make a splint. And we couldn't get to, like, that stuff. He likes that stuff. So I had to do a bunch of research into, like, what kind of stuff you need to have. And I found this company that makes like, really great, like very in depth. And it also explains you, like, what if last minute somebody's choking and you have to shove a pen into their neck? So he knows how to do all that stuff. And so in my brain I'm just like, get the pen. Make them breathe. Get the pen.

[Natalie Jean]

You thinking about this a lot?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Nobody's asking me for help in an emergency.

[Natalie Jean]

Well, everybody reach out. Let us know if you would ask Jackie for help in an emergency. And also let us know if a ravine is the hole or if a ravine is the place you stand upon to look into the hole.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's almost as if we've got these devices in front of us that we could look up the information.

[Natalie Jean]

I will not.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, I absolutely will not. You can't take away from me what a ravine is. And I'm looking out over into that chasm.

[Natalie Jean]

Okay, well, there we go.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And I say there's a hole in this planet.

[Natalie Jean]

All I know.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Earth. Mother Earth.

[Natalie Jean]

It's a reverse hill. Upside down.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You're right. Titties on the Earth.

[Natalie Jean]

Everything in part four is not great.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, it's bad.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. Worse. Even more, because though maybe Bryce had to go through the agony of the murders already, she's now been told that her best friend committed the murders.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You better not be hiding any murders over there that you have done and you haven't told me about, because I'm gonna be really upset with you, Natalie.

[Natalie Jean]

Not that I remember. Hopefully that's the end of the story.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Whoa. Fugue State murder. The Natalie King story.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm covering Satanic ritual abuse on my other show.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And so it's silly.

[Natalie Jean]

It's.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's wacky.

[Natalie Jean]

I'll call it wacky.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You could bring the facts into here. I'm sure I can. I'll be like, wow.

[Natalie Jean]

During the Satanic. During the Satanic panic, people got falsely accused of satanic ritual abuse. And some of them, who were very devout people, were just finally like, I. Maybe I don't remember, but maybe I did do it. Maybe I did have a Satanic cult. I don't know.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Just like Love is Blind when it's very similar. Because she thought after she saw him for the first time that he had already slid into her DMs and that he knew the entire time what she looked like when she was supposed to say love is blind. And then she's like, I know that I saw him. I saw a picture of him in front of a Christmas tree. Was him. He knows I love family and faith. He knows. So he looked at my Instagram, and then she gets her phone back, and he never did. And she's just like, I could have sworn it was you.

[Natalie Jean]

That's kind of mental in that portion.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Though, with the Satanic panic. If you're being told you're being Satanical all over the place. Don't you kind of just want to give in at that point? I feel like then you go, then go do it.

[Natalie Jean]

They're bastardizing what Satanism is, and it's.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

They're.

[Natalie Jean]

They're saying they're doing bad stuff. Oh, like, stuff you don't want to do.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, I don't want to do that. But I like the principles of Satanism.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

All right. I guess everyone should learn a little bit more then.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, probably.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Think about that.

[Natalie Jean]

So she's learned that Danika is allegedly the one who killed the entire wolf pack.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No good.

[Natalie Jean]

And the person she thought she was falling in love with seems to have been lying to her and using her for his own selfish needs.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You betrayed us.

[Natalie Jean]

I hate this part so much. I can't believe this fourth part. There's so much that happens. It's kind of crazy. It's like the small. The shortest part, I think. Or close to the shortest part. And it is jam packed.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's juicy.

[Natalie Jean]

It almost ends twice, kind of.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes. And I do like how part of me will always wonder. It's like, was she rushed in the end and that she had to, like, get in all this stuff? Because I feel like it could have breathed a little bit, but, oh, hell no. We are on a just, like, sluice. Is that what it's called?

[Natalie Jean]

I think so.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Toboggan sluice?

[Natalie Jean]

I think so.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We're on it, and we're moving fast.

[Natalie Jean]

And I feel like maybe we don't need more pages of the book.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You're right. You are right. I just, you know, there's just a lot in there. They're big books. They're big books.

[Natalie Jean]

They're big old books. We start off being with Hunt in part four. He is sitting in his holding cell and seems pretty resigned to his fate, which is going to be not good.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, that's what happens when you play with fire.

[Natalie Jean]

I mean, he did not make good choices.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No.

[Natalie Jean]

His prison cell is modern, and he's thinking about that because his captivity in Panjara was quite different. It was very much more medieval. Though he hasn't begun getting physically tortured yet, they are broadcasting the fate of his cohorts, which we talked about last week. It's nasty work. He also mentions that Justinian's wings have been cut off and left under his bleeding body.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Cool. So they did both of it. It was a double punishment. Thanks so much. Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

Angels, I think also, just logistically, if you're gonna be crucified.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, I guess. How do you get it up there? Yeah, they're kind of in the way there. You're not gonna lay flat up against the cross, and, I mean, that's really what we're looking for. I want it flush.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, you got to get it right up in there. So. Although it's a horrific sight, he doesn't turn away from the images, instead watches his companions suffering, as I'm sure he believes it's what he deserves.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Maybe it is.

[Natalie Jean]

I mean, I'm not saying he deserves to go through torture, but I'm mad at him. I'm very mad at him.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I'm a Leo. All right? It's really hard for me to turn back my trust. Okay. And right now, I don't have it for you.

[Natalie Jean]

To me.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No. I'm gesticulating towards Hunt in my computer.

[Natalie Jean]

It's fun to watch you as Sandriel being upset at Hunt because she wouldn't ever be.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, no.

[Natalie Jean]

You need to turn on your bitchometer.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, I need to be bitchier. And I should be talking more like this.

[Natalie Jean]

Is that her voice?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, I guess. No. You know, it would be so little thing.

[Natalie Jean]

It would be seductive as well.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It would be so seductive. And even with this. When I opened up this wig, Jeff was like, that looks a lot like your hair. I was like, no, no, no. This looks like an angel's version of my hair. I mean, I appreciate that it looks.

[Natalie Jean]

Very natural on you, but it's, you know, it's got highlights and stuff in it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So I just. I've been watching all these reality shows.

[Natalie Jean]

Well, you definitely look like a bit of a real house. Like, the best way possible. Yes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I appreciate that because they all have these extensions, and I've started, like, in the way that Jeff has started after physical 100. Jeff would explain to me what natty versus not natty is. I feel like I am now doing that, but with hair extensions. And I'm trying to seek out who has hair extensions, because I've never had them before, but I imagine that they're. How do you not think about them all the time?

[Natalie Jean]

They're very uncomfortable.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Are they?

[Natalie Jean]

I feel like I think they are.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Don't you, like, feel. I feel like I would, like, in the way that I feel fake nails on. Don't you feel them in your, like, attached to your head all the time?

[Natalie Jean]

I used to wear glue tracks all the time in dating.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

By yourself? Oh, yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

No, I didn't have money.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Whoa.

[Natalie Jean]

It was not health.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So you're just pouring glue on the top of your head?

[Natalie Jean]

Well, no, you glue the trick. You put glue on the track, and then you part your hair, you glue it on.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Okay.

[Natalie Jean]

But I was doing not a good job. Like, I was ripping every time I pulled them out. Like, hair was just being ripped out of my scalp.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, because it turns out if you don't do that, because I've been talking about. I was like, I wonder how crazy extensions, in case you never looked them up, they're a little expensive.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. If you want nice ones.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Oh my God. I was like, oh, well, didn't realize there was. I guess it's not gatekeeping though, because you can get cheap ones if you know how to put them in.

[Natalie Jean]

Also good extensions you can use multiple times. Like you can take them on and off and they can be reused.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Maybe I can start living in an extension where I won't.

[Natalie Jean]

It's fine. Come on, you gotta have some fun with your hair.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I'm just so. I'm scared of the hair. Scared. And you have. I'm just so nervous about. It's like what is done cannot be undone. As if your hair can't grow out. And it definitely can be undone.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, it will. It will grow.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So talk myself into it by the end of one of these books, you know, who knows?

[Natalie Jean]

So he's watching all of this play out on. On the screen in front of him.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And Nice that they have TVs in the torture rooms. Now. That's a modern torture room.

[Natalie Jean]

But it's just showing other torture.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, it is definitely like the public access of moida.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Which lots of people like. True crime. I believe that's what this network is built on the back of.

[Natalie Jean]

Try not to deal with it in real time, but.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

What are you talking about? We've got torture TVs everywhere in here. How are we supposed to get through the episode? I hate seeing them squaming. I ain't getting to the yapping.

[Natalie Jean]

I couldn't even get through Faces of Death or anything. I can't.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, no, I. Yeah, I'm making my japes. I don't even like to torture porn. And that's like overtly like not real, you know, I hate it.

[Natalie Jean]

I can't watch nearly any of it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I was even upset during the Baldwins when they showed the scene.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, no, we're not talking about the Baldwins. Cats have always acted like their don't stink. Now with Fresh Step heavy duty's new 30 day odor control, it actually doesn't. Fresh Step's new heavy Duty litter fights odor three times longer than the leading brand. This is Fresh Step's strongest litter ever. Giving your litter box 30 days of odor control. Step it up to Fresh Step with the new Heavy Duty litter. Three times claim based on fecal mallarder versus the leading regular clumping litter. Strongest litter ever is based on odor control. Febreze is used under license from the Procter & Gamble company or its affiliates.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Charlie Heller is the CIA's most brilliant computer Analyst whose life is turned upside down when his wife is murdered in a terrorist attack. Wrought with grief, Charlie decides her killers must pay. Without any field experience, Charlie must trek the globe and use his biggest weapon, his intelligence, to enact his revenge. Because the most unexpected threat is an amateur. Starring Academy Award winner Rami Malek and Academy Award nominee Laurence Fishburne. The Amateur, rated PG13. Only in theaters in IMAX April 11th. I should say that I don't need this. We have to talk about footage.

[Natalie Jean]

But wait, they talk about rust.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, it's all about that. Oh, it is so disgusting.

[Natalie Jean]

That is.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Literally all of the headlines are a new low for reality television. Go check out page seven if you want to hear us screaming about it. Wow. It's a new low for reality television. I don't need to bring Alec Baldwin into every single thing that I do. It's just. It's at the forefront of my mind right now.

[Natalie Jean]

That is bleak.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Very bleak. Very, very upsetting. And honestly, sadly enough, I do kind of weirdly feel bad for him at the end of the first episode. And you know who I hate even more? Ilaria. But that's it. That's all I say about it.

[Natalie Jean]

Get it out. Got it out.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I just got. I just needed to let it all out. Sorry.

[Natalie Jean]

So Isaiah ends up showing up in the middle of this first chapter that we're getting into. He appears in front of the cell wanting to speak with Hunt. And he's not mad. He's just disappointed.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's like, do we need this? When I'm in the middle of a torture, it's like, I know he's not getting tortured just yet, but it's like, I don't need disappointment.

[Natalie Jean]

He asks Hunt the questions we are all having, which is, why would you do this right now? What?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

What good could have come from it in the end? But Hunt just brushes him off. He kind of just says, I didn't want to kill anymore for Micah. I wanted it to be over. Almost as if his desire for. In my opinion, maybe his desire for Bryce was like, I don't want to do this life anymore. I want to have this life. I want to start this life now. Except doing this would only cause it to be more difficult to get to that. So he's like, yeah, I up. I. I did okay.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, dude.

[Natalie Jean]

So he is now just like, yeah, I screwed up.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I'm here now. You're not Micah.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Okay. You are Micah. Yeah, I guess the hair. I was like, I mean, blonde Angel. I guess you're. But I. I think that I'm so busy thinking about you as, like, Daisy from the Great Gatsby.

[Natalie Jean]

Well, you're wearing, like, 1920s woman's way.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That. Okay. That it's given Paige boy. Okay.

[Natalie Jean]

I didn't want to buy a wig for my.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I. I understand. I completely understand.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I think in my brain he just looked more like. What's Draco Malfoy's father's name?

[Natalie Jean]

Lucian.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Lucian. Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh. Off. I didn't realize it's the same name. You. You. Not you. Jk.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh. Oh. As. As another character.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I know. SJM came after Harry Potter. Don't. Don't. I'm still saying it.

[Natalie Jean]

Me. Don't come at me. Isaiah does not accept this answer from Hunt. He demands to know why he couldn't have just finished his sentence out. When Hunt shouts that he'll never accept the bit in his mouth, Isaiah suggests that he thought he had something that he was fighting for. Now. As in Bryce, dude.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Not cool and not fair.

[Natalie Jean]

Everyone. Of. Even though they haven't announced their feelings. Everyone can obviously tell and smell it and all that. He tells Hunt that Micah. He's lucky that Micah will not harm Bryce. Even though Micah probably considered it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Uh. Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

Which seems to be another thing Hunt should have considered when he was reaching out to the Viper Queen in the first place.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's just all very like. He didn't. It's so interesting for someone that is so good at what he does that, like, leave the organization to somebody else. I feel like this is not your strong suit.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. And I feel like maybe it's also just getting, you know, his first hard on for a while is like, making his mind go all cuckoo.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Cuckoo bananas, mate.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. He also informs Hunt that the reason that he himself, Hunt, is not being torture porn to death in the lobby is because Micah did see the text between Hunt and Justinian. That was Hunt telling him they need to back out. They don't. We shouldn't do this. This. With the wind out of Hunt's sails. He simply tells Isaiah to tell Bryce that he's sorry while thinking that Bryce's face will haunt him for the rest of his days.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I love you. I'm sorry.

[Natalie Jean]

A little late for that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It is a little late for that. I'm upset with you, Hunt. Isaiah's fingers lifted toward the bars as if he'd reached for Hunt's hand, but then lowered back to his side.

[Natalie Jean]

I will. So this. Everybody's sad. We cut over to Bryce a few days later from this interaction. She's in the Griffin Library, we learn through Lehiba's watching the news at this moment that Justinian has died.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We'll say that's really probably great for a crucifixion that you bled out so fast.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, yeah. You don't want it to, like, you know, linger on, I guess.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

How long does a crucifixion last? I mean, it has been days. I don't know.

[Natalie Jean]

Let me get Jesus on the phone here.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Ding dong donk. What's his number? 420. I said, thanks, Jesus, for making the weeds.

[Natalie Jean]

That was John Travolta, 1998.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

Comedy right there.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I contain multitudes. So start wearing like a Kermit Calvin Klein shirt where you can see his underpants. And he's. He's got his little arm, his little frog arms cross.

[Natalie Jean]

That's adorable. That's. That's timeless.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you.

[Natalie Jean]

So we learn, yes, Justinian has passed on. His corpse is being left on display for the time being. Bryce notes that the news has not revealed why these Triari soldiers have been killed. So they are being displayed and being publicly, you know, degraded, but that they're not revealing what has happened at all. And she notices that Hunt is not mentioned whatsoever on the news. Nothing about him. She doesn't know at this point if he's dead or alive. Lehaba keeps attempting to broach the subject, asking what happened, where and where Hunt is. But Bryce is not doing well, obviously.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Why? It's like, get over it, right, guys?

[Natalie Jean]

She snaps at Lehiba, eventually slamming the book she's reading closed and stomping upstairs to answer the door. It's not a customer, as she had assumed.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

The Autumn King surveyed the gallery, the showroom stocked with priceless artifacts, the door that led up to Jesiba's office, and the window in it that overlooked the floor.

[Natalie Jean]

She has the irrational thought that the Autumn King can somehow spot the God Slayer rifle that is displayed in pieces behind the closed door of Jesus office.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's like he's the last thing she needs right now.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, it's. Nothing good's coming from.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Nah, dude.

[Natalie Jean]

She awkwardly stands there as he silently observes the room. When he doesn't speak, she suggests that maybe he's there to steal something, which he ignores the joke. Though she hates him, she marvels at his beauty. Muscular, with long red hair. His color is where she gets her wine red tresses. His Fae aging gives him the appearance of being just a few years older than her. It's interesting to note his wardrobe. I always Imagine him wearing silk robes and fancy suits and stuff. But he's dressed in black jeans and a long sleeve T shirt. Like he's in a band.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes. And this is also. This is another one of these characters that. In my head. Because he's ugly on the inside, he's ugly on the outside. But we. No, he's not. He's also just really hot.

[Natalie Jean]

Smoking hot.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You know, he's so hot. And oh, you know, I wilt for a ginge. Gosh, but you're mean. You're mean. Ginge.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, muscly. Finally he.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, muscly into that T shirt.

[Natalie Jean]

Finally he deigns to speak. He tells her that Run has informed him about everything that happened on the barge. It's Ruhn's job after all. I don't blame him for having to report to it. The Autumn King informs her that the Fae government has assured her safety. She doesn't seem to think it was necessary to do that. But her father quickly asserts that, you know, her torture was on the table, presumably as a punishment to Hunt.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It is very interesting that, you know, the Fae government has assured her safety towards the Autumn King. Like I. The part of me is like, okay, so oh, now you give a shit. You haven't given a shit this whole fucking time. But. But you wanted to make sure. And it's like, oh, this is just another like little like control, little manipulation of like see, I'm good when you're not.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. And also, of course you could assume it's for selfish reasons. Of course I would also just take the safety.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

I mean please go on and save me.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Please ask about me.

[Natalie Jean]

So just his name being dropped out of his mouth is crushing to her. And she tells him she doesn't want to talk about it. Of course she doesn't. She hasn't been able to bring herself to tell even her mom about what's happened. Her feelings of humiliation at being used by Hunt to get back at to the rebellion are. The feelings are almost unbearable.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. And she's already back at work. You can't really process all the hell of a lot if you got to be thrown right back into work after finding out all this.

[Natalie Jean]

And also, yeah, she. She kind of wants to go almost into a robotic mode just continuing on with her days.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Which I get. I've been there before.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh yeah, but that's not the only reason he's there to tell her that she's protected. No, he wants to know if she's made any progress on finding the horn. She's somewhat surprised that he still cares at this point, informing him that the horn was just a red herring, that Danika was just skeeted out and stole it to piss off her mother. It has nothing to do with anything. He casually, maybe a little too casually, mentions that they. You know, maybe they should find it anyway, because, I don't know, it's like, it's fake stuff. So we're.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Faye.

[Natalie Jean]

She find it. She's all like, whatever, fine. I don't know. He then takes a turn. I. I wasn't interested.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No. He paused, and then his power buzzed, warping every audio feed before he said.

[Natalie Jean]

I loved your mother very much. You know.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Okay, all right, bro. Fine.

[Natalie Jean]

Do you like. Bryce has just got to be like, today.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We got to do this right now. All the other times we could have.

[Natalie Jean]

Done this, he's been in the text. He's been nothing but a straight villain this whole book. So it's kind of confusing to me, especially the first time I read it. Like, where did this come from? She's not impressed and points out that he left a scar on her face, so he must not have loved her very much. And so, like, immediately you're like, is he going to somehow prevail as an anti hero kind of guy? But he physically abused her mother, so how would that happen?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Or is that how you show your love, you psychopath? You know, it's like, oh, I. I know that we've heard this from pieces of like, that before.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh. Oh, well, then I don't want you to love me.

[Natalie Jean]

No, thank you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

If that's how you're showing up.

[Natalie Jean]

Hard pass. Thank you. So, yeah, so she. She points that out to him.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She could have sworn he flinched.

[Natalie Jean]

Do not think I have not spent every moment since that regretting my actions, living in shame. I'm a little perplexed here.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Y.

[Natalie Jean]

Like, is he going to make an unexpected character arc? I don't know.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But.

[Natalie Jean]

Okay, this is a fan theory, and you actually brought this up first, which would make sense.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you. I am very smart, but only as an angel.

[Natalie Jean]

The fan theory is, are they mates? And that's why he has those strong feelings and still quitting shame and all.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Of that of, like. Like losing what you found. Which is, like, an insane thing, because even though it does seem like, oh, mates happen every other day because of these books, we know that that's not the case.

[Natalie Jean]

No.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And that it's actually, like, a huge thing for them to find each other. And I think that would make a lot of sense.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. It does make a lot of sense, you know, that he would feel this like, draw to Ember and still the. Even though he's a prick, he couldn't help but fall in love with her. And this, by the way, if you'll recall, it's not that far from Reason's parents origin story.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Right, right, right. But also, Ember is such a hot name.

[Natalie Jean]

I love Ember.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Such a. No, it's a great name. I just feel like I, I, if like I saw an Ember on an app, I'd immediately swipe and she's like, I'll just try to you just because of your name. And that's very few and far between.

[Natalie Jean]

It's a lot to live up to. You better be spicy.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Spicy.

[Natalie Jean]

He then reveals another shocker. He had planned to make Ember the Queen of the Autumn Court. Bryce. She never knew this until this moment.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But again, right now. Yeah, right.

[Natalie Jean]

She doesn't let her surprise show too much. She tells him that Ember would not have wanted it anyway, which is usually.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

The people that should be in power. But we don't want to go down that road.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, but the Autumn King insists that. Oh, she absolutely would have. She loved me that much. Witch. Okay, okay. So we have to see their story at some point. It will make me nuts if we don't because I'm just like, did Ember actually love him?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Right. I want to see it. I want to read it.

[Natalie Jean]

Give it after the next Acotar book.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes. Yeah, please, please. We're just waiting for that release date. It's got to be this year, right? It's.

[Natalie Jean]

I think it's supposed to be right.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

The end of this year. Everybody's waiting for the Acatar release D date. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be another one of the people that just, you know, is another monkey on her back. But everybody knows that if I woke up tomorrow as a monkey, I'd be very cute and I'd be very loud. Hey, SiriusXM podcast listeners, you can now unlock seven day early access exclusive bonus content and ad free listening to new episodes on some of your favorite podcasts. Subscribe to Sirius XM podcast plus on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com podcastplus today.

[Natalie Jean]

Bryce is not in the headspace to get sentimental with her dada.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No. Especially again, middle of the workday. It's hard enough for me. I have therapy on a Monday.

[Natalie Jean]

I'm writing a script right now.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Middle of something. It is sometimes so difficult to put down everything, have therapy and then pick it all back up and jump back in in the middle of a day. But doing this, it's like I am at that work also.

[Natalie Jean]

Max capacity of intense emotions right now. Yes, she's over this. She wants to know what he came for and insinuates that he needs to move it along. He looks at her and sharply tells her that she is like her mother, but that she's also like him.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Okay.

[Natalie Jean]

More than she thinks that she is.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Ah. It's like again, too, where it's like all this, like, elusive. It's like. Just say it. Say whatever you've got in there that you want me to know.

[Natalie Jean]

Well, I guess at least he's self aware enough in that moment to say. I'm not saying that as a compliment to you, right? With those words, he leaves. She stares at the closed door and then maybe somewhat compulsively, looks up Hunt on the computer. There's still nothing. No update, no news at all.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

As if he had never existed. As if she had dreamed him up.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, God. We're back with Hunt. As the days pass slowly for him, he's aware of his friends fates again, having access to the camera footage of the lobby and some news filters down there. Justinian's body will be dumped into the Istros after seven days. Very biblical.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

All right. I just feel like it's like you should give the people in the torture chambers phones. It's like he's just sitting there all day. Like, let him, like, text price or something. Or, like, play snood.

[Natalie Jean]

That's not.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, it's gotta take. I mean, it's gotta make the hours feel like days.

[Natalie Jean]

I think that's part of the torture of it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, I'd be so bad at no cell phone torture. Give it back. Just one more selfie. Come on.

[Natalie Jean]

I guess you shouldn't try to start a revolution.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, I'm not gonna. It's really. It's not for me.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Go get them, everybody. Come on, everybody.

[Natalie Jean]

Victoria is already at the bottom of the ocean.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Jesus.

[Natalie Jean]

Hunt is puking his guts out, thinking about her suffering.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Good.

[Natalie Jean]

I guess he's not feeling bad enough about it because. Spoiler again. Nobody finds her.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Nobody's getting her. But again, these stories are not over yet. Maybe it's a future.

[Natalie Jean]

You know, a lot of stuff has happened. Time has passed.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Sometime has passed.

[Natalie Jean]

Could somebody potentially go look for Victoria?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I mean, we ain't gonna do it because we bad angel.

[Natalie Jean]

No, we're not doing it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We ain't doing it.

[Natalie Jean]

Nearly wings. I Can't.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We can't be getting our wings wet. Although, do you think that it's like. Like, you know, you're like a water bird, where it would just, like, just slide right off?

[Natalie Jean]

I think so. Or maybe you have to wear like a wing cap.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, that would be difficult to get on. I think that would be even harder than putting in the glue tracks.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, I think so. Oh. Nearly a week has passed and he's gotten no more visitors. His hours are spent, itching and in pain as his wings begin the growing back process. He tries not to think about Bryce, wondering where she is as he fights off waves of guilt and sorrow. His isolation ends when he sense a female that sends chills to his blood and body.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

The archangel of Northwestern Panjera smiled as she appeared before his cell. He'd never get used to it, how much she looked like Shahar.

[Natalie Jean]

This seems familiar.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Sandriel said, I think that's the big.

[Natalie Jean]

Beautiful.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Beautiful. I think the only difference is she probably makes those kind of like every time she intimates something.

[Natalie Jean]

Just trying to make her less sexy.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, I mean, because she's so hot. But I feel like you have to distinguish her in some manner.

[Natalie Jean]

Well, he says in this passage that they look so strikingly similar, but the biggest difference is what's behind the eyes.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I got daggers in these pupes.

[Natalie Jean]

Her eyes are dark and cold where shahars were full of light and life. It'd be really wild to have an evil twin. Someone who looks exactly like you, but like, drives like a custom cybertruck.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

God, it was he. But I always. I mean, I always wanted a twin. It was something. Oh, I did too.

[Natalie Jean]

I was so obsessed with that as a kid.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Obsessed with it as a kid. And I don't know if it's because of Mary Kate and Ashley also. That was like, probably that was like put into our brains so desperately. But I always wanted. See, I wanted the Stefan. I always wanted more, that kind of other spectrum twin.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, you wanted a twin that was like.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Like me, but real sexy. Like really mysterious, really elusive. Just like. Oh. But then, of course, it would be difficult because I would have to wait for her to pass. Not that I want her to pass, but that would be called Jack A. And I, you know, I big ups to Jack A. I really respect Jack A.

[Natalie Jean]

Wait, you're saying you can't be that until she dies.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, I can't. I mean, I can't try and call. Start calling myself Jack A while the Jack A. A. Still lives.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, okay. What if you call yourself Jack. A two.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Boogaloo.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes, I'm ready for it. No, that's only if. Oh, God. Would you. What would you do if all of a sudden, like, I had like, a mental break and I was only identifying as this fake version of myself? Because if you think about it, Steve Urkel was probably most likely going through some sort of. Of mental. Talking about a mental chasm that I think that he was dealing with. Couldn't have just been the science.

[Natalie Jean]

You mean the character Steve Urkel or the Jaleel White?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Not Jaleel White. Only the character.

[Natalie Jean]

Okay.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Everything I've heard about Jaleel White, apparently he's delightful.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. Seems. He seems like solid guy. I don't know. So you're saying if you completely went into this other character, would it be the sexy, suave character? Would it be the evil twin character?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, it would be the sexy, suave character. I don't think I've gotten enough evil seeping in my pores.

[Natalie Jean]

You wouldn't want to, like, add me to your downline or anything?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, I just feel like that's so much work. Like, I feel like my other ego would be sexy but very lazy because I'm very hard working. So I feel like then the other side of that. So, like, if I just sat here and was like, natalie, Jack, hey, doesn't want to do the episode. I would also be referring.

[Natalie Jean]

Sounds sort of like Penny Marshall.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. And you could be the Gary to my Penny.

[Natalie Jean]

I wish.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Right? Oh.

[Natalie Jean]

I think there was just. I think Maybe in the 90s there just was an influx of twin based, like, YA novels and stuff. Did you ever read Sweet Valley Twins?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

I remember some mystery books that I. And like, ghost books I read that were about twins. Twins, like haunted twins.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That was really put into us. I've never really thought about that before. Is that why we were so obsessed with it? God, I wanted one so badly. And they also run in my family, so I also was hoping someday I would biologically have twins as well, which apparently it's difficult to have twins. Yeah, I mean.

[Natalie Jean]

You mean the process of birthing, though.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Like all of it, like, and the after aftermath where you have them, you.

[Natalie Jean]

Know, one of them becomes evil.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

They have to. Or sex.

[Natalie Jean]

And then they kill you to take over your. Your, you know, your money.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You have to. It's the only way to succeed in this world.

[Natalie Jean]

It quickly becomes clear that she has come to his cell just to torment him.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I'm evil.

[Natalie Jean]

As she taunts him, he only holds her gaze. She pulls out his phone from her pocket.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh. Oh, it's not gonna be good. It's a bitch move.

[Natalie Jean]

She does some sort of Bluetooth magic and his phone appears on the TV screen across from his cell, where he's been subjected to the security footage from the lobby, grinning like it's her birthday. Sandriel pulls up the text thread he'd shared with Bryce where who has changed her name once again, this time to Bryce, thinks Hunt is the best.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, just think about the red. That red on her couch. I just, I can't undo thinking about that stained white couch and how she has to see it every day because, you know, she hasn't spent the time to like sit and really get that out.

[Natalie Jean]

No, but even just in this moment with Hunt, she. All of her other titles for herself were sort of taunting him and this is just complimenting him. It's like sort of exposing how. Think about what you did.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oof. Think about it. Hunting. Hunt.

[Natalie Jean]

She had texted him, I know you're.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Not going to see this. I don't even know why I'm writing to you.

[Natalie Jean]

Hunt's mind empties out just knowing that she even reached out to him at all.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh God. Not to bring this up, but I feel like it is a very similar of like I keep voicemails from people in the pat. Like I keep that kind of stuff from people that we don't have with us anymore. It's just like having that or just like having the ability to text someone's number. But you know, at some point it's the number is going to be given to somebody else and it's just, God, the like screaming into the universe of this. It hurts.

[Natalie Jean]

It does. But Sandriel's just getting started. She taunts him, pulling up his phone's photos, remarking how he looks so common in them. A slideshow begins on the tv. Hunt thinks about how he's never looked through these photos, but. But as time went by, more and more just kind of normal photos appear, interspersed with all of the crime scene photos that he had. Photos that might represent love or home, moments of humor, interest, happiness.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Probably have a work phone and a personal phone. I would say if you got all those like moida scenes. He never did your fuck pics.

[Natalie Jean]

He didn't have any until like recent.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Get a burner or something.

[Natalie Jean]

He remembers that the photos had begun as a way for them to tease one another. But also, no, it wasn't. They were just showing. They were like, oh yeah, I'm taking this picture of us because it's so stupid. They became more real to him over.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Time, even playful, and then some by the river. Again, he had a vague memory of her asking a passing tourist to snap a few. One by one, the various shots unfolded. First, a photo with Bryce still talking and him grimacing. Then one with her smiling and Hunt looking at her. The third was of her still smiling and Hunt still looking at her like she was the only person on the planet in the galaxy. His heart thundered. In the next few, her face had turned toward him. Their eyes had met. Her smile had faltered, as if realizing how he was looking at her. In the next, she was smiling at the ground, his eyes still on her, a secret, soft smile, like she knew and didn't mind one bit. And then, in the last, she had leaned her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around his middle. He'd put his arm and wing around her, and they had both smiled.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, it just rips my heart out.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's so sad, especially just sitting in the torture room, because I also am the kind of psychopath freak that will, like, randomly record Jeff, like, talking to me or something like that, making little videos. And you know that I did this. I do this when we go on vacations. I say death video. And I like to make videos to remind us of, like, the good times that we have, but also so that you have the videos so that you can play at the funeral. And then I'm like, everybody, this is gonna be really sad someday. But right now, we're all having fun. And everybody loves when I make the death videos.

[Natalie Jean]

Yes, yes, yes. To think about death on a vacation.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You have to be. You have to make sure you've got the content.

[Natalie Jean]

So this is a really, I think, a beautiful way to describe their changing relationship through him watching these photos and just, like, how devastating this truly is.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, yeah. And for Sandriel to be the bitch doing this, looking at his private shit and his private feelings.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. He realizes with his entire being that he had wanted a life with Bryce. A simple kind of life.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, my God.

[Natalie Jean]

Sandriel.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

He was never gonna have it. No.

[Natalie Jean]

He. He. And Sandriel thinks. She seems to find this hilarious.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Obs. I have a bad sense of humor. I'm a bit like a, you know, Jay Leno at the Flappers.

[Natalie Jean]

That's an actual comedy club that he goes to all the time around us. He. She finds it funny that he would ever want to just live happily ever after with no kind of blazing glory. Well, well. Sandriel informs him that's not the hand he was dealt, sadly.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Nope.

[Natalie Jean]

He knows now that this is a form of torture. Because she has news for him. She owns him once again. All because.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Good move, though.

[Natalie Jean]

All because he couldn't play by the rules. He could have had his stupid little life and he blew it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But don't even say that, because we all know that he never would have. He never could have. He had to kill thousands and thousands and thousands of people just to not be a slave anymore. You think that's gonna begat a simple kind of life?

[Natalie Jean]

I mean, she's. That's true. But I also do think that he did blow it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, of course he did. Because, like, I know that he wanted to get so much done, but you're moving too fast, son. You should have thought about all these things.

[Natalie Jean]

The thing is that he was promised this shortened deal. He was almost at the end of it. That's the thing. If Micah hadn't offered him that deal, I could see him wanting to make that move. But because he was promised this other end, it's not the best idea.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You're right.

[Natalie Jean]

We cut over to Bryce, and she's meeting Ruhn in a bar that night. She can't help but feel this empty space behind her, a void over her shoulder. She had grown so accustomed to his omnipresent presence. She's not exactly meeting Ruhn, more like crashing a hangout he's already having with Flynn, who is off seducing a female while she, Bryce, takes a seat next to Ruhn at the bar. She wanted to thank him in person for, you know, helping her after the whole course. Not because she's dying to see Ruhn, but because she is truly grateful and also knows it's the right thing to do. To go to him and just say, I appreciate that, but also proud of.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Her, because she is not usually the person that reaches out. And, like, the fact that, like, I really think that this shows how much, even though obviously she's hurting because of her relationship with Hunt right now, but how much the, like, melting of her frozen state was starting to take hold. And I'm so. Like, this really shows how far she's come, even just from. I don't wanna say the beginning of the book, but, you know, from everything happening to the wolf pack from then on, I feel like this is the first time that she's like, oh, I need people. I need to. I need to, like, somebody connect.

[Natalie Jean]

Like, everybody is just fucking her over left and right. He tentatively asks her how she's doing, and as far as we know this is the first time that she opens up about Hunt. After everything, she tells him she feels like an idiot and that everyone warned her about him and she ignored him. It. They chat for a bit and then she goes to leave, but he stops her. He invites her over to his house to watch the upcoming sunball game. She tries to shrug it off, but he wants to know why she won't open back up to him. He gets her to admit that before Danika, he was her best friend and the pain of losing all of that is just too much for her.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Her.

[Natalie Jean]

She then goes on to think about as she's still sitting in front of run what's she's just revealed to him and decides, well, everything else has gone to it. She agrees to go watch the game with her brother.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Good for you.

[Natalie Jean]

He is obviously overjoyed and he smiles at her and tells her he'll save her.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh my God. He's reaching out his hand and she's taking it.

[Natalie Jean]

It's very sweet. At chapter 70, Bryce walks back into her apartment from the bar and is surprised to find Fury there sitting on the couch. She asks what she wants while stripping off her work clothes. Fury breaks some news to her. Hunt is being sent back to Pangera with Sanrio.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I own him.

[Natalie Jean]

Bryce's heart heart stops for a moment. Her mind is tangled with emotions. She tries to tell herself that he deserves this, but knowing what level of torture is awaiting him probably is not really an easy thing to swallow or like, accept.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, because she still loves him. Just because this happens, it's like, yeah, all trust is broken. But I think some of the worst part about when your trust gets broken is that you wish it all. So. So sometimes it does. But when it doesn't completely shatter the love you have for a person on the inside, it's like, I'd almost rather it all be shattered at once, you know?

[Natalie Jean]

Totally.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

To make it easier. You'd rather hate the person than feel like, oh my God, he's about to go be tortured for like ever.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. And I mean, to be honest, even the people who I have the worst feelings about, I wouldn't want them to go be tortured in a dungeon forever. I just like feel like that would be a lot of to think think about, you know?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Me neither.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I would never want that. I think that there is something to the whole, like, but I can mend all of you and then do it all over again. That happens in all of these worlds, that I do think some people are destined for it. Whoa. Yeah. I'm a. Sorry. I guess Sandril is getting inside of my blood. I'm ready to torture. This is what happens, Natalie, when I start dying my hair. Natalie, maybe you shouldn't encourage it. Natalie, I'm ready to torture. No, no, no. I look cute with short hair too, though. So it's true. You do.

[Natalie Jean]

So she's having all of these feelings about Hunt, but she's trying to appear apathetic to Fury, who continues to talk to Bryce's. She makes herself busy in an attempt to avoid looking at Fury while they talk. She's like, you know, moving around the apartment kind of as Fury, revealing all of this stuff. Fury likely sees directly through her apathy and questions whether she and Hunt were together together, because she can scent him all over Bryce, after all. Bryce brushes this off as simply, oh, no, we were just living in the same quarters. There's nothing. Sherry's like, right, sure, sure, sure. Okay. Bryce scrounges around in the kitchen looking for a late night meal.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

A small, strong hand slammed the fridge door shut. Fury glared up at her.

[Natalie Jean]

Don't make one.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

In my mind. In my mind, they kiss.

[Natalie Jean]

Very super hot.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

And then Juniper shows up and it's like, oh, it's just like, oh, we're just having a night. You know, Sometimes it just happens, you.

[Natalie Jean]

Know, like all of those documentaries, say, about Girls Sleepover.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I've seen a couple of the documentaries, and I'm like, oh, can I get a ticket? Take the ride.

[Natalie Jean]

They start to get into an argument in the kitchen. Bryce calls her out for ignoring her for two years. Fury denies that she was ignoring her.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, yeah. Oh, Beach.

[Natalie Jean]

I know. She says, I did avoid you because I felt responsible for getting you into trouble, Bryce. And she's talking about how she was doing drugs with them, which is fair. She did provide them drugs that night. She tells Bryce that she feels like when she gets close to people, they go. It's dangerous. They. Their lives get, you know, threatened.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I say that to people all the time. It's just because they love me so much. I'm like, you don't want to get close? You might love me for keeps.

[Natalie Jean]

Great way to get out of a party.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Just start saying that. All right? Yeah, I guess. Don't go. I. I guess I'd rather you not come if you're gonna act like this.

[Natalie Jean]

When Bryce angrily points out that she's not seeming to stay away from Juniper, Fury reveals a big old surprise. Fury hissed, juniper and I have something that is. Is none of your business.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Bryce refrained from gaping Juniper had never hinted, never suggested.

[Natalie Jean]

I could no sooner stop talking to her than I could rip out my own heart. Okay.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, it sounds gaping. Oh, guess somebody's gaping.

[Natalie Jean]

Gaping?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, well, depends, you know, it depends on what's going on. It depends on who's going. Oh, I don't know. They're gaping now. They're not gaping, but, I mean, Bryce is certainly gaping at this point. And she's gaping.

[Natalie Jean]

Your mouth.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes you got filled up.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, it says gaping.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Gaping. Yeah, this.

[Natalie Jean]

That's where.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's why I'm. I'm in the world of gaping. You lost me to gaping. But I did finish the reading, and I didn't make a gaping joke in the middle of it.

[Natalie Jean]

You did. Good job.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

So I have control over myself.

[Natalie Jean]

So we've learned that Juniper and Fury seem to be in a relationship.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank God.

[Natalie Jean]

This reveal seems to have elicited the most emotion we've ever seen from Fury. Fury is very cold and calculated from what we know of her. But she clearly has feelings for Juniper.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But she also has to keep everything close to the chest. If you're like a big super secret. I mean, we don't really know.

[Natalie Jean]

We don't know what's happening.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

We don't know. We just know that, like, she's got to keep everything close to the chest. We're not supposed to know. It's not for us to know.

[Natalie Jean]

Pained, Fury explains that she didn't mean to fall in love with all of them, that Bryce and Danika were these two puppies that bounded into her life. And it's obvious she feels responsible for bringing hell into their world.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Don't worry, it wasn't all you.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, but, you know, again, alluding to Fury being much, much older than that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes.

[Natalie Jean]

Bryce tells her that that's. And she really needed Fury when all of this was going on. Fury tells her she's trying to work on herself and these hang ups. Bryce is unsympathetic and tells her, see you in two years, I guess. Fury gets a text at that moment and she moves to leave, asking if Bryce wants to get dinner in a week while she's here for the summit. Bryce seems over everything and is like, sure, whatever, obviously clearly expecting it to not happen. Fury warns her not to act out on the info that she's given her about Hunt, and Bryce plays it cool. Who? Oh, him. Yeah, I don't remember him anymore. Really? Why would I even go after.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Man, it's got to be so difficult just being friends with Fury and having to act so blase all the time. I'm just so the opposite of blase that I don't think I could have a friend that was like that at all.

[Natalie Jean]

Who.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

As I'm just sitting there falling apart like I loved him. Which is how I would be dealing with this. But I'm very. I'm happy for Bryce that she is able to play cool.

[Natalie Jean]

She begins shouting at a man on the phone. Fury that is calling him a quote dick bag on the way out. Bryce watches from the window as Fury gets into a sports car and peels out. What a baddie.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Sexy, sexy, sexy.

[Natalie Jean]

Silence fills the apartment. Bryce looks at the space where Hunt sat most nights. She can almost see him there, smiling with his sunball cap on backwards. She makes a decision. She doesn't want to lose yet another friend. Girl, you're already gonna go after him. Don't be you. Don't be playing.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Don't you lie to us. You think that we think that you're not gonna do this. We know what you're about to do. Even us angels.

[Natalie Jean]

Angels. She's still angry with him and maybe they wouldn't ever recover their relationship. But she couldn't let him meet the current fate that he the trajectory he's on.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Syrinx whined, pacing in a circle, claws clicking on the wood floor.

[Natalie Jean]

I promised Fury not to do anything.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Stupid, Bryce said, her eyes on Syrinx's branded out tattoo.

[Natalie Jean]

I didn't say I wouldn't do something smart.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That is. That's a very Bryce Quidlan quote. Okay, okay. You crazy bitch.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh you bitch.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I love you, you crazy bitch.

[Natalie Jean]

At chapter 71, it's the day following Sandriel's visit to Hunt and he is being taken out of his cell. He'd been puking his guts up again. Thanks to the news of his future, he'll be taken to Sandriel today and after the summit he'll head back to the dungeons of Panjetta just in case he thought of any sort of resistance. The slideshow of him and Bryce played throughout the whole night. Damn. A reminder of who would be hurt.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

If he abouts she aura framed this. She was like I'm only I'm not gonna upload any other ones. Oh hell no. You gotta look at the same five. Which is what I imagine imagine why I've never purchased one. That what I would do if I had one is I imagine I would upload like five pictures. Completely forget to ever do it ever again. And it's just gonna be the Same five pictures forever and ever.

[Natalie Jean]

I mean, we're not sponsored by them, so I'm not gonna give them a compliment.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

There you go.

[Natalie Jean]

No, I will. I do, I do. I like ours. It's nice.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I just think that, I mean, if we could use it in a torture aspect scenario. Yeah, I feel like then we could really. Because they're writing them off. If we could use them for the torture screens that we keep in the network.

[Natalie Jean]

Do you think she gets to write those off in her taxes?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

What do you think? What do you think they keep buying all the TVs for? And they're like, we must. It's for the torture, not for the super bowl parties. Write it off. Tax season. Oh, are you crying because my joke was so good?

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. It was sunset when the guards came to retrieve him. Him. They lead him to the elevator and he's greeted by the smiling face of Pollux Antonius Boo.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Boo.

[Natalie Jean]

Also known as the Hammer. Pollux is one of the most cruel and sadistic of Sandriel's. Triari Hunt despises him. He notices that the elevator that they're taking down stops at the lobby and not towards the place platform, towards the skies where the angels would fly. Usually he realizes Sandriel wants him to walk through the lobby because she wants him to see the rotting corpse of his friend and fellow rebel.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's quite a flex. I'll give it to me. It's a pretty good flex. I do think, like he's been watching this this entire time that he's been in the torture room. But, you know, I guess to really like smell it, to be it, to feel it, you know, it's unfortunate for.

[Natalie Jean]

People who are just trying to go to their office job.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I think that we talked about this last week because I'm just like how stinky it must be in there. And you know, it don't just stop at the lobby. Like, I'm sure it permeates the entire. But I guess. No, I guess that wouldn't happen because I'm trying to think. Lots of castles. And again, generic. I'm generic. Lots of castles have torture chambers underneath. And I guess you don't smell the reek of the torture chamber throughout the castle.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh yeah. I think it.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Or do you.

[Natalie Jean]

Castle times. Everything smelled like shit all the time.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Well, there was lots of mud and everything. But I guess like for like modern day torture, you know, I guess they don't keep it under the castle. Like, is it more like like a soundproof room where they can smell proof.

[Natalie Jean]

It now let's ask the United States government.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thanks. Government. Where do you keep your torture rooms? Government.

[Natalie Jean]

Think about it. We do. We're horrible.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You know, they got like. It's not a joke.

[Natalie Jean]

No, it's not.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But I'm laughing because I'm a bad angel today.

[Natalie Jean]

That's right. Angels are gathered in the lobby. For the moment that he's passing through, Hun sees Isaiah and Naomi, who subtly nod their goodbyes to him.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I don't know why in this it would be so annoying to see all the angels, especially if all the angels were like in an acapella choir. And I just imagine like in their spare time they're all like, you know, like. And it's like they're all working on their different.

[Natalie Jean]

So you're seeing them as like a church choir.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. And I feel like, like what else do they do besides just being mean?

[Natalie Jean]

You know, they just drink and, and stuff.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Which sounds great, but I feel like you gotta have something that's just for you.

[Natalie Jean]

Not all the angels are bad.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I know, but like, how do you not feel like all the angels are bad? I feel like anything that is. I'm talking about angels specifically and not Malachim. And I need to make like a very big distinction.

[Natalie Jean]

Well, archangels are different.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Archangels are different. Yes. That like specifically in my brain, I think all angels are bad in the world.

[Natalie Jean]

Even Isaiah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Sucks. And he has to work his way out of it. In the same way that like a lot of people think that pit bulls are bad, but they're not. Not all pit bulls are bad, but sometimes it lives within them. And don't treat anyone poorly. Don't treat any dogs poorly. Don't treat any angels poorly.

[Natalie Jean]

People's fault around the angel, it's the people's fault. So he realizes this group of angels is not really here. The majority of them are not here to mock him or jeer, but to sort of almost honor him in a way as much as they are able to. Under the thumb of the asteri.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

They're going to sing him out and they're like, why this song? You could have like come up with.

[Natalie Jean]

Anything else, like maybe like Prince or something.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Love potion number. My mom was in a barbershop quartet.

[Natalie Jean]

She's a girl. That's crazy.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

They're not allowed to do that. That's what. They sewed up her vagina. And I was like, don't. Not to my mom. She just wants to sing.

[Natalie Jean]

Everyone knows girls can only be in beauty shop quartets.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Dreadful beauty shop quartets.

[Natalie Jean]

Dread fills him as he makes his way across the lobby floor towards the front door, towards his horrible fate. Wait. A cry is heard echoing through the lobby.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No. No. She couldn't be here. He couldn't bear for her to see him like this, knees wobbling and a breath away from puking again. Because Pollux strode beside him and Sandriel prowled in front of him. Them. And they would destroy her.

[Natalie Jean]

So Bryce has appeared in front of all of these angels, which is again, bad planning, I think. But he can't stop what's occurring. And he watches in horror as she runs towards them, towards Sandriel. Gasping for air, she begs Sandriel not to take him. When Sandriel smirks and tells her he's already been paid for, you know, he said very muppety.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you.

[Natalie Jean]

Bryce pulls a check out of her pocket and offers her 97 million gold marks.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Whoa. Maybe she's the Dr. Evil.

[Natalie Jean]

97 million gold.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you for saying it properly.

[Natalie Jean]

Timely joke.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Like most of my jokes. Guys, I don't know if you've noticed after all these episodes, but, you know, I'm like in. I'm like an angel in every year, you know. The floor rocked beneath Hunt. People gasped. Pollux blinked, eyeing Bryce again.

[Natalie Jean]

Stop looking at her, Pollux. It's a check from Jesiba Roga. Bryce points out that it's 12.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I can. I can hear your husband just screaming. Do you need me to scream more so you feel more comfortable? My belly.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh. Oh.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I take my man nipples out because I can. Does that make you feel like you're home, you're working? Natalie just always thinks that like. Like Henry's always been the same. Henry. Because I remember him getting home from like high school. And he would walk in the house, before he would even reach the kitchen, he would take off his pants because he wanted to be in his boxer shorts. Good lord. And I imagine he still does this in your home to this day. Or does he make it to the bedroom?

[Natalie Jean]

He usually changes into soft pants.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

You gotta have soft pants in the house. No outside pants in the house.

[Natalie Jean]

Everyone knows that. So Bryce points out that it's 12 million more million gold marks than she. Than what Sandriel paid for him. Bryce pulls the amulet off her necklace. Bryce pulls the amulet off her neck and offers it as well, asserting that it alone is worth 3 million gold marks. Sandriel takes the necklace from her, but continues her snake smile. She muses to Hunt how the pictures in his phone must have been telling the truth of their love. Even Though she punishes Hunt for his love of Shahar, she seems to take offense to Hunt's burgeoning love for another female.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She clenched her fist around the amulet. The Arkesian amulet melted into streams of gold on the floor. Something ruptured in Hunt's chest at the devastation that crumpled Bryce's face.

[Natalie Jean]

Damn cold hearted snake.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

She is a snake. It's like if you didn't want it, just say it. Why you gotta do that?

[Natalie Jean]

Because she's a bitch for life. Hunt dares to speak in this moment he's so devastated. He tells Bryce quietly to get out. Go away. She ignores him, directing her attention to Sandriel. She drops to her knees and offers herself and Hunts, wait.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

As if I would want something like you.

[Natalie Jean]

Horror rushes through Hunt. That was very good.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Thank you.

[Natalie Jean]

He will not allow her to do this. Before Hunt can make a move, Rune's voice carries across the lobby. Don't you dare, Ruhn. With Declan and Flynn on either side of him, appear before the angels. Bryce also ignores Ruhn as she's ignoring Hunt and again begs Sandriel to take her in his place.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Keep begging. Louder. Faster. More.

[Natalie Jean]

Sandriel, also ignoring the males, steps towards Bryce, amused and intrigued. She asks her again if she really would make this exchange under no coercion yet. Yes. Bryce says with no hesitation. Sandriel, please.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Hunt begged, the air rippling from his throat, choked off his words.

[Natalie Jean]

Sandriel's put a wind wall against all of the males to keep them from stopping Bryce.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Windwall. Windwall. Man, a wind wall would come in handy, dude. And be like fuck you wind wall. In the middle of an argument. Wind wall. Can't have it. Oh, I want a cookie. You want to stop me? Wind wall. Get through that wind wall, bitch.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, it would be. You could blow him any about any way you'd want.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh, I want to be the hurricane.

[Natalie Jean]

Fun. Hunt feels ill as he watches Pollux's delight at the prospect, no doubt envisioning every sickening act he could take out on Bryce. Smiling, Cendril muses that most would think her a fool for making this exchange. A half breed nobody for releasing the most powerful warrior this side of the Istros.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Pollux smiled again. Hunt bared his teeth at him as Sandriel stroked a hand over Bryce's cheek, wiping away her tears. But I know your secret, Bryce Quinlan, Sandriel whispered.

[Natalie Jean]

I know what a prize you are.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Sandriel stroked Bryce's face again.

[Natalie Jean]

The only daughter of the Autumn King. Everyone. Everyone's shook.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

What?

[Natalie Jean]

Hunt almost collapses in Shock. Flynn and Declan didn't even know. Apparently by their reactions. Rue not cousin brother Rune, who has now decided to take on saying that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

To themselves inside of.

[Natalie Jean]

That'S how I imagine Hunt is processing.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

Rune, who has now decided to make an appearance of taking on heirs in order to end this. He kind of goes into his Fae royalty zone. He steps past the magic barrier Sandriel had set up and coldly demands she step away from Bryce that he lays claim on her.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I mean, it's a cool move.

[Natalie Jean]

I mean coming out of Rune's mouth.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. Bobble, bobble.

[Natalie Jean]

Bryce gapes at Ruhn, furious for him stepping in and involving himself. But what did you think he was going to do? Just leave you there to go to get tortured forever?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, somebody had to stop you. You crazy.

[Natalie Jean]

Again, not a good plan Bryce has come up with. He should be stepping in. Yeah, like in what world do you think that Sandriel wouldn't still find a way to get Hunt even after you sold yourself to her?

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That's the thing. She already got him back. Like you think that this all, this whole thing ain't gonna happen again.

[Natalie Jean]

This is Feyre under the Mountain all over again.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It is. It really is. And I think that this is also a portion of why and it is difficult to say. Bryce, of the three Cs like series, big series, is my least favorite of the big female characters.

[Natalie Jean]

I think most people agree with you.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes.

[Natalie Jean]

I don't know who's mine.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I don't know who your least favorite is. You don't know where your order is.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah, I don't know. I, I. Because I like Bryce. I do. I know people hate her, but it's.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Just that like I feel like in the way that like a. My hair. I know my hair has also been. Oh, the wig. Oh, the wig.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, potions broken. Oh, everybody's gonna know my hair came out from under.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, we are bad angels, all right? We are not human beings, you bats.

[Natalie Jean]

Duds.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Batstirs.

[Natalie Jean]

Batstirds. Nice.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

I forgot what I was saying because then I got so busy just thinking about bats.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh, why Bryce is your least favorite.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Oh yeah. Right. And I think it's because so many of these things like it like in the other books, you see that like, oh, they've gotten themselves in this like weird situation. But like an Alin would have thought 17 steps ahead. And Bryce does do this sometimes. But every once in a while she is more of a like makes a rash decision in a way that I feel like Aylin was always so more calculated.

[Natalie Jean]

Sure. And it seems like maybe Bryce and Hunt are both falling in love and unable to think clearly.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah, you could put it that way.

[Natalie Jean]

But it's annoying.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Also, a lot is going on and when your brain is underneath a lot of mental weight. I understand. I'm talking in real life. Yes, there's a lot of going on and of course they're gonna act weird in different ways. But like in the books, I'm like, yeah, I know it's like a lot going on.

[Natalie Jean]

But like, Bryce, for whatever reason, doesn't seem to understand that Run's doing this out of necessity, that he's disrespecting her because he is saving her freaking life. She lunges at Ruhn and shoves him. You are a fa female of my.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Bloodline, Ruhn said coldly.

[Natalie Jean]

You are my property in our fathers until you marry.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Which is like, I don't like that rule. But in this scenario, though, pretty great.

[Natalie Jean]

You know, he doesn't feel like that way. He's doing it because he's call. He's like, what's it? He's like using.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

What is it, Natalie? What is it? What's the word you're thinking of? Natalie, you're never gonna remember the word. This is not pick up each other pulling rank.

[Natalie Jean]

He's pulling rank. She looks to Flynn and Declan to appeal to them, but girl, are you serious? You think that they're gonna be like, nah, let it go. Come on, let it go in there.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Especially like, even if, let's say she did like, if Sandriel did say, like, okay, I'll take you instead of him. Like you just said. You think that she's not going to get him. So think about this.

[Natalie Jean]

She just melted her necklace. Ch Bryce lashes out again at Run, telling him she'll never forgive him. Oh, for saving your life. What a day. So sorry, I guess no sunball game. He keeps his cold veneer as he tugs her away from Sandria. Hunt watches Bryce's face, tries to memorize it. She reaches for him, screaming that she'll find a way to free him. Pollux finds this amusing.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Hunt stared at her outstretched fingers, the desperate hope in her eyes. No one had ever fought for him. No one had ever cared enough to do so.

[Natalie Jean]

Oh no, I know.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

But we're like so mad at him right now, Nat. Not. We can't. We have to be like, but you did this and you got yourself here, didn't you?

[Natalie Jean]

As she continues to cry out to Hunt and Run drags her away. Sandriel picks up her walk again towards the front, towards the awaiting motorcade.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That is the one great thing about being a really mean angel is that you have a motorcade that takes you everywhere, shows up, and that would be pretty great. And be like, you have to choose which car am I going to get into.

[Natalie Jean]

I just like that you don't have to wait. You know, you feel like you don't have to go to a parking spot. You don't have to wait for like a valet or anything. Like it's car's just there.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes. And in fact, if the car's not there, a bunch of people get murdered. Head to the road. I think I like it.

[Natalie Jean]

Well, it's the wig.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Now I'm evil.

[Natalie Jean]

It's the highlights.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

The wig thinnered me. Whoa, I wish.

[Natalie Jean]

Hunt is in tow, of course, with Sandriel. She mockingly tells Ruhn he should have slit his sister's throat like she did. Hunt agonizes over Bryce's cries, but is forced into following Sanriel in the last desperate attempt to prevent Bryce from seeking him out for her own safety. Hunt says, filled with despair, that she means nothing to him, that she should never go looking for him, that they are done. He gets into the armored car. We cut to the same moment from Ruhn's pov. He feels relief flood him to watch the car recede into the horizon that contains Sandriel. But Bryce isn't feeling that way. She screams at him for interfering, but he's not having it. And I agree with him. Yeah, he's not supposed to watch you sell your body to a prison camp.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Bryce, and you will forgive him someday.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah. She looks as though she's about to start swinging on him, but then she just tells him to go himself and spits at his feet. I do understand that Bryce is watching what is potentially below for life, being carted off to torture town. But he's technically being a very good brother.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

He's like, are you really thinking about what they're gonna do to you if you really gave yourself over to Sandriel? Like, you remember, like, the darkness that haunted Hunt. Think about that. So. Or is it like, does it, like, flash through your brain of, like, well, at least I'm just a human, so I'll die maybe. But I know that they could probably. But they can heal her, I'm sure, like, no matter what. So that can really get extended. But I guess maybe there is a portion of that of, like, well, at the end of the day, at least I'm just a human and I will Succumb at some point.

[Natalie Jean]

Just, if you crucify me, I'll die in a couple days.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Right?

[Natalie Jean]

She jumps on her bike and screeches out of there, leaving Ruhn with his stunned friends. Declan and Flynn are in disbelief that he would have kept Bryce being his sister a secret from that them. Secretly, Ruhn fears that if the world knows about her and she gets crowned princess, that his terrible oracle reading will indicate some awful fate for her. But he doesn't reveal that to his friends, only tells them that he was forbidden from speaking of it and he couldn't risk it. He shakes off their questions, telling them they need to find Bryce. Right now, he has something to say. Say we cut to Bryce's pov. She has taken her scooter to the shore opposite the bone quarter. Seemingly.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Say it right. The bone quarter, bone corner. Thank you.

[Natalie Jean]

Seemingly out of alive people to talk to, her heart full of despair, she speaks quietly to Danika the way someone might talk to a gravestone. She tells her everything has gone wrong and she doesn't know what to do. She gets to her knees in a sort of prayer position, bows her head in silence, seemingly beyond words. After a time, she whispers to Danika that she wishes that she was here. The world seems to quiet down at the words.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

A chill crept toward her through her every sense, fae and human, went on alert. She scanned the men, mists, waiting, praying for a black boat. She was so busy looking that she didn't see the attack coming, didn't twist to see the Crystalos demon leaping from the shadows, jaws open before it tackled her into the eddying waters.

[Natalie Jean]

Now we have a Crystalos here.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

It's just like there's so much going.

[Natalie Jean]

On this right now, Chris. Low.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yes. And it's like we are having a moment and it's been a day. Can you just wait until tomorrow? Or at least if you're gonna attack me at this point, bring me a cocktail. I need a little bit of a cocktail. Because if you're talking to your dead friend that may have killed all your other friends.

[Natalie Jean]

Yeah.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Have a drink. Yeah.

[Natalie Jean]

I guess she's still not believing that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

That.

[Natalie Jean]

Because I feel like you wouldn't want to talk to them after that.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Yeah. And I imagine again, we know that she hasn't had the opportunity to process any of this yet. So there's only so much. And I feel like when your brain is undergoing, like, a lot of change or a lot of, like, trying to. And you haven't processed all of it, I feel like only portions of it become fact in your brain. And I feel like she's still working with the. Like that. That can't be a fact. I'm. That's not. I need more from that before I believe that. Which is understandable. Because think of all the juking that has happened in this book thus far. How do you believe anything outright?

[Natalie Jean]

We don't know. We don't know what to believe.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

No, we don't. All we know is that our heart is broken and we will never recover.

[Natalie Jean]

Now we're getting eaten.

[Jackie Zabrowski]

Might be for the best. Yeah. Please read up until chapter 76. Hey, SiriusXM podcast listeners. You can now unlock seven day early access, exclusive bonus content and ad free listening to new episodes on some of your favorite podcasts. Subscribe to SiriusXM podcasts plus on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com podcastsplus today.