#ttsrr

[ars-matron]

The Tarot Sequence Reread

Nothing has given me brain rot in a long while like the Tarot Sequence by K D Edwards has. And since I just finished reading all the supplemental stuff right when my hold for The Last Sun came back up I thought I would do something I have only done once before-and in a much less flattering way for a book I hated-and live blog my reread.

There's just so much in this series I need to pay closer attention to. And usually I would go on here and read some metas, but there is literally nothing!! The only things in the tags for this series is people wishing there were more people reading it, a handful of very wonderful fanarts, and an account of the decline of a discord that evidently used to exist for it. So, maybe this will encourage some people to read the books too.

Because there are some heavy topics in this series anytime I talk about such topics I will tag for them, but if they don't come up in the chapters I'm reviewing, I won't. So if you have certain things back listed you might not see all my posts on it. Anyone who is reading along and is curious about it can DM me.

NOW! Predictions and things I want to pay attention to under the cut for spoiler reasons.

The Tower. At the end of the prologue of the first book my thoughts were, " So we trust NO ONE!!" Except Queenie, because why would Rune and Brand live with her if she was evil? Then the children showed up and I had to trust them, they were too young to be part of the, whole thing, plus they are so cute. You have to trust them. And then Addam came along, and of course we trust him, he's an Addam, he's a giant dancing teddy bear and I love him! So I read the whole series (that's out so far) expecting we would find out the Tower was an evil guy, that he had had something to do with the fall of the Sun Throne. Honestly by the end of the third book I didn't think that any longer, and I was starting to before that after finding out he was also Qunn's godfather because!!! There is no way Qunn wouldn't have seen if the Tower revealed he had been a part of all that. (I'm still asking myself HOW exactly he or Mayan wouldn't have noticed an astral projection listening device being installed in Rune's room at their freaking tower that is super locked down! But then it happened for two other locations that were supposed to be super warded and protected my other companions too. So maybe it isn't his fault. I do think he might blame himself, I do think that some of his stand-offishness might also be guilt for not being able to stop the attack on the Sun Throne to start with. We will see...) I'm going to go into this read through with the assumption he is just lonely and sad and not a bad guy.

QUEENIE!!!! Because, WHO THE FUCK IS QUEENIE!? I was already suspicious because every time someone asks Rune and Brand where she came from, or how long she's been with them, they say "She's been with us forever." Every time! It reeks of mind fuckery. Then Eidolon and the epilogue that wasn't came along. Current theory is that she is the Empress, and also that she's probably Rune's mother. I would be willing to bet she was the woman at the end of the third book who spoke up to the river after everyone else. Edwards did a good job of making her disappear in the background, but I'm gonna be hunting for every mention of her and how she acts around everyone.

Ciaran, just because I love him and at first also suspected him of evil deeds. But he's just your gay vodka uncle and he loves all his adopted family so much and I just want to keep a closer on him at the start of the series.

Kellum. We only see him once in the second book, but he's mentioned in Eidolon by the Fool (Or Queenie pretending to be the Fool, again I'm not sure, there's Queenie interference for sure) And he was in one of the supplemental novellas. I think he will be making a bigger appearance in the next book.

Quinn's prophecies. I'll probably make a list of those for a separate master post.

Tallas. The Atlantean soul mates. This is a MAJOR spoiler. Rune says that Brand and he formed a talla bond the night of the attack. That it was what brought Brand out of the geas and got them to safety. The bond was gone when he woke up in the hospital and he's spent this whole time thinking he's somehow broken their talla bond. Something definitely happened between him and Addam in the Westlands, and I don't think Addam was wrong in assuming it was the budding of a talla bond. Because something sort of bond-like is also there now after the Hourglass Throne, after he used his bond with Brand to get him and Addam back to their time. My theory here is that they might be each other tallas, all three of them. Together. We know that it doesn't have to be a sexual relationship, though I don't think Addam would mind that one bit. Everything is pointing to the three of them being tied together somehow, and my theory is mostly that, before they were together together, no one talla bond could form and take precedence over the other. Now that they are together all the time, going on missions, living together, they have more opportunities for a bond to fully form and take hold. Assuming it involves all three of them.

And with that, I'm going to go read!

#the tarot sequence #k d edwards #the last sun #rune saint john #brand saint john #max saint john #quinn saint nicholas #addam saint nicholas #the hanged man #the hourglass throne #the eidolon #booklr #ttsrr

[ars-matron]

The Last Sun Reread: Chapters 11

Chapter 11: Addam Saint Nicholas

Rune and Addam have to slip out of the cell before the Opendoor spell fizzles out. Their dash to freedom is derailed for a moment, though, by the appearance of a small skeleton army.

Addam throws his stick at the door, Rune thinks it's a panic response, but the stick activates the door's trap, and destroys the closest skeletons. There are still several standing, so Rune uses his shatter spell to take them out. This is when Addam starts calling Rune 'hero' instead of asking for his name or anything. But he's obviously flirting so, it's cool

"He gave me a smile. "I am unaccustomed to being upstaged by a proper hero. That was very good spellwork." He winked, turned and retreated. "This way, Hero."

Addam leads him to 'secret exit', they have to pass through a torture chamber to get there. But the exit is just a dark, creepy tunnel that leads underground. So Rune uses his teleportation to get them out. They are instantly. But Ciaran is already out by the car waiting for them.

Rune calls Brand to let him know that he's fine, he has Addam and he'll be home in a few hours after he's seen Addam to someplace safe. Brand doesn't think it's safe, "dead man" is still out there, still functional if he's sending skeletons. Rune thinks he'll be fine. A very angry Brand says he made cookies, when Rune asks what flavor he hangs up.

In the car, Addam sits in the back and Rune put front. Ciaran wants Rune to call the Tower right then. Addam thinks there isn't much they can tell him. He certainly doesn't know what happened. While they drive Rune's phone buzzes and it's Brand. He starts drilling Rune about safe routes to there destination and Rune realizes that he must be right behind them.

He is. On he motorcycle. He's upset that Addam isn't taking point and looking out the windows. Addam, who can hear the whole conversation starts doing so. Rune looks out from and to the right Addam out the back and to the left. This also means that Addam heard it when Brand called Rune by his name.

Addam has a condo in Edgemere. When they arrive Ciaran leaves to go tell the Tower everything that's going on, and Brand and Rune follow Addam up to his condo. Addam asks if Brand would be more comfortable waiting outside and Brand delicately rips him a new one. Addam learns that Rune and Brand have a slightly different relationship than most bonded companions.

Brand and Rune walk through the apartment to look for anything amiss, and ask Addam about who has access to the condo. He management, in case of emergencies. Lilly, and his family. Not his co-workers though. Addam is under the impression that Rune is working for his mother, Rune tells him that it's actually the Tower who hired him. and Brand takes the opportunity to try to get a hold of the Tower's companion, Mayan.

Rune tells Addam about Quinn and he gets very emotional. Calling the hospital and getting information about Quinn, where he is, how he's doing. Afterwards he rushes to his computer. Because sometimes Quinn will leave him an email if something bad is going to happen. There are two emails.

"It says, 'Most of the time I'm okay. don't worry about me. It's after you.'" and "He sent it right after the first. It said, 'No, it's after him now.'"

Addam goes off to shower before they do anything else. Rune goes after Addam who is just kinda standing around dazed. Rune tries to make him feel better by pointing out that Quinn is coming to people in their sleep, which has to count for something. He's still having trouble believing that something was targeting him and not his mother. He offers to repay Rune by showering together and Rune leaves. Very fast.

Back in the main room Rune finds a bunch of searches on Addams computer on tourist info on Brazil. The portal stations don't check the IDs of people leaving New Atlantis. whoever set this up wanted it to look like Addam had left for Brazil and just didn't tell anyone. And since his co-workers didn't have access to his condo, it was either Lilly or a family member.

Addam realizes this means they were probably going to kill him. They weren't going to ransom him, they weren't just going to wait around until they got what they wanted and let him. They were planning his complete disappearance. He tells Rune to follow him to the bedroom and takes out a belt full of sigils. Rune asks him whats on there and it's mostly telekinetic spells. Addam says that Rune is no longer working for the Tower, but for him. Addam wants to find out who is doing all this.

Rune agrees that they'll go to the hospital before heading to the Tower's..ugh, tower. It isn't far to the hospital so they walk. And Rune and Brand spend the whole time trying to get Addam to accept that someone close to him has done this. To think of reasons why someone would. While Addam shows that he doesn't must like Ella and her choices, he still thinks that she likes him. He absolutely refuses to entertain the idea that Quinn was involved.

Addam tells Rune that he raised Quinn. That his mother didn't have time to take care of baby, and Addam was old enough to do it by then. Addam talks about living in Russia during the unsettlement. Which was in the 60s. SO he''s....60ish? Which means he was about 45ish when Quinn was born. I certainly hope that was old enough to take care of a baby.

At the hospital Rune leaves Addam in Quinn's room. Brand pretends to examine a vending machine and Rune paces before a large window. Then Micheal Saint Talbot, looking disheveled, steps out of the stairwell. He's very unhappy to see Rune. He threatens him a bit, saying he and his business partners can take care of Addam's disappearance. He nearly threatens to dual Rune, which Brand thinks is hilarious.

It is

Then in a tiff, Micheal says this.

"Who do you think you are? You're nothing. You're hired help. Neither of you are anything. You think playing detective makes you important again?"

I get technically they are all princes and the Lords are all Kings, but this is...interesting. Important again. Was the Sun Throne exceptionally important? We don't really see much before it fell.

A rumpled Ella Saint Nicholas steps out of the elevator and Rune connects the dots. Micheal nearly attacks then, but sees Brand holding a knife and decides to just leave. They go to confront Ella.

She claims that she was there to check on Christian. That her aunt is nearby. She denies even knowing who Micheal is. Exceptionally unlikely. She gets a bit mad when they point out that she has another brother in the hospital she could be checking in on. And then Addam is there.

She instantly starts fake crying, acting beside herself until Addam learns that she not only wasn't going to visit Quinn, she had been there with Micheal. She cries for real and rushes out of the hospital. Getting the security to hold Rune and Addam up so they can't follow her.

Chapter 12: South Street Bridge

Brand herds Rune and Addam into the hospital's public Sanctum. Which isn't great, but at least they can refill some of their sigils. Rune sits and meditates while Addam dances. Once he's finished Rune watches Addam dance. Brand watches Rune watching Addam.

Rune likes men who dance.

Brand ties to get Addam to understand while Ella and Micheal being in a relationship is a big deal. He's still reluctant to see it as anything but some budding rebellion from her. Something she does on her own without their aunt knowing. Like going on shopping trips alone, or visiting the Westlands. Which is definitely a red flag for Rune and Brand, but Addam is so so trusting.

I looks like Brand might be ready to spell it out for him, but then the Tower pulls Rune into a memory.

They are on a very old Spanish ship, the Tower is dressed like Navel Officer and looks a lot younger than Rune has ever seen him. The Tower then tells him about this particular expedition of his...youth? That it was just some exploration or the Amazon, until they came across a village being tormented by a lich. The Tower was able to kill the lich in the end, but not without days of magical prep and the decimation of the village and probably a lot of forest around it. He tells Rune to come to him, and then pushes him from the dream.

The three of them start walking towards the Pac Bell, Rune doesn't tell Brand or Addam what the Tower said about the lich, not wanting to worry them before they are somewhere safe. Brand, however, knows something is up and asks, though Rune doesn't say at first.

They walk along under tunnels of South Bridge, Rune drools over a coffee stand and Addam offers to buy him a coffee. Brand goes to the side to contact Queenie. And Rune confronts Addam about calling him Hero instead of his name.

"Addam, you know who I am. you used my name with Ella." Addam shrugged. "Lord Tower is my godfather. You are his protege. It's not so unlikely I'd know who you are."

There's a snow fea ahead of them, from Russia, and that gets them talking about Irkutsk, which is where Addam is technically from.

"Quinn has only briefly lived outside the city. I was born in Irkutsk, and lived there for many years while New Atlantis was built. My older brother Christian sounds like me."

Again, we don't get actual dates or anything, but he's got to be nearly twice as old as Rune and Brand.

Talking about Christian leads back to Ella and how she might have made him sick and helped in Addam's kidnapping. Brand startles them, and is mad that Rune is so tired he didn't even notice. Rune orders while Addam and Brand give each other looks, and Addam asks about Brand saying that Ella and Micheal being together makes sense. Though he's still insisting that she is easily misguided and wouldn't be able to do anything sinister on her own.

Rune points out that the whole catch to this situation was why would anyone from inside of Moral Confidence, Addam's company, want to take him out if it meant they would lose his connections and court influence. Well, with his sister dating one of the owners of the company they wouldn't.

Everything really points to it being Micheal and Ella all the way. Micheal wanted to take the company into more riskier directions, Ella wanted to rebel. Rune says.

"For what it's worth, I really wanted it to be Ashton. He's such a douche." "Ashton isn't nearly as indolent as he pretends," Addam said. His eyes lit as if this a better alternative. "Lord Strength is a stern man. He made Aston train at a Wasteland camp. Ashton knows how to hurt perople-he knows strategy."

OOOOOH!! Oh man! I just had a thought!!! I just a THOUGHT!! Okay, at the end, when Rune and Ashton have their little chit chat, he says that Rune ruined his life before. And Rune has no idea what he means. It isn't like a school yard conflict, Rune seems to have no prior knowledge of Ashton. Not like Geoffrey. So what could he have done that ruined Ashton's life? Well, what if it wasn't something he did directly. What if he had to go to the Wastelands to train because of the whole plot against the Sun Throne?!?! Lord Strength has always given me pauses. He does not seem like a good guy. He doesn't do anything about his son and the accusations. Is it because he accepts that his son did awful things, or is it because he can't risk them bringing Ashton's soul back to tell all?

Okay, we'll stew on that and come back to it.

Rune is still very much under that assumption that Ashton sucks at fighting. Brand leads Rune off a bit and asks what the Tower said in his dream/summons and all Rune says is that the Tower thinks Rurik is a mythological monster and tries to blow it off. Addam joins them with Rune's coffee and Instantly the guy in motley Rune thinks is part of the Fool's court drops dead next to them.

I think this is one of the only times we see someone in motley for the Fool's court. In Hourglass Throne and Eidolon they just wear bands of color to show they belong there.

People all around them start dropping dead, the gaurda are running around because people are dying for no reason. Rune has a bad feeling they start for an exit. Eventually Addam and Rune feel a very powerful spell release and spectre pops up.

Spectres are very hard to fight and it takes almost all of Rune's spells to take just one out. But there are four under the bridge so they run for it. Once they are out they see that there is a giant black cloud that is actually a hoard of spectres flying towards them. They run to the Pac Bell. Addam uses his telekinetic powers to push people to safety and obstacles out of their way.

Rune tells Addam to run inside the tower and get help, while he and Brand stand their ground out front. Addam runs inside but the people milling around the Pac Bell come to attention. Everyone forms a circle around Rune and releases a huge, jointly controlled, Bless-fire spell. Brand, however, is outside the protection.

When the woman in front of Rune won't let him pass to get Brand, Rune's aspect emerges. Stronger than it's ever been. His eyes are on fire. He's able to push her away and grab Brand, pulling him back inside the protective barrier just as the spectres are on them.

During the battle the flesh on one of Rune's arms was mangled, he's now fighting massive blood loss and exhaustion. When Rune admits he needs a nap Brand pulls out an oatmeal raisin cookie for him. The Pac Bell unlocks and they are able to go inside.

And that's the end of that chapter. I'm going to go think about some things. Until next time!

#ttsrr #the tarot sequence #the last sun #rune saint john #brandon saint john #addam saint nicholas

[ars-matron]

The Last Sun Reread

Chapter 6: New Saints

In the evening Rune and Brand leave for the hospital. They take Brands motorcycle and Rune thinks over what he's learned so far. Not much, his suspects aren't over powerful or intelligent. He can't see how someone would just be able to get around the Tower's wards and protections.

They stop several blocks from the hospital and Rune heads to a nearby coffee shop. He drops a bunch of change before going in and squats down to pick it up, and Brand makes some comments about Rune's ass that he think is flattering but makes Rune uncomfortable. Rune gets his coffee and changes the subject.

He brings things around to speculating about motive and the ability to carry it out. He's asking the right questions.

"Here's another thing. Say they've hired muscle. Say Ella, or whoever, has hired a practitioner very skilled at magic or contracted with something skilled at magic. If this hired muscle has the power to break through Lord Tower's controls why the hell am I still alive.?"

Okay, I know I said I would try to hold back on the spoilers JUST IN CASE anyone reading this hasn't read them before. But screw it. Because I have been thinking about this for a while now.

He's alive because Ashton is, for the time being, controlling the lych, and Ashton, and more importantly whoever the hell he's working for, doesn't want Rune dead. If the end goal was Rune's death he would have died twenty years ago. His attackers wouldn't have worn masks AND contacts to make sure that Rune couldn't identify them.

Which brings me to my next question. What exactly was the end game of that night supposed to look like? Rune wasn't going to die, he wasn't even going to be abducted. They expected him to be able to go to the guarda and whoever for help. How was it supposed to end If Brand hadn't come to?

AND, back to the chapter.

Brand thinks they weren't trying to kill Rune, just sort of feel out how powerful he was, or how annoying he might be towards there plans. This is also probably true. But mostly I think they had other reasons for keeping him alive.

New Saints Hospital was once Riverside Hospital built in 1885 and once housed mental patients and the contagious, Typhoid Mary was there. Now it's a swanky hospital for Atlanteans. Rune can see the ghostly residue of the old hospital though. They get there, walk around for a bit, have a short conversation about Max's uncle that Rune says they'll talk about later, and then realize they have no clue where Christian is. So Brand goes off to ask a nurse or someone for help.

Enter Quinn!!! He gets Rune's attention. He psssts Rune from around the corner. He has cow-licked blond hair and is wearing a music festival shirt that is at least three sizes to big for him.

HE'S WEARING ADDAM'S SHIRTS!!! My heart!

"Can you come with me?" he asked. I said, "Probably not. Do I know you?"

Quinn tells him that he's, Quinn Saint Nicholas and that if they don't go somewhere else people will die, and then he runs off, so Rune follows, though he does release his sabre from it's wrist guard just in case it's a trap. They end up in a part of the hospital that is all columns and a large skylight. It's very bright and very white. Rune asks why they are there.

"We come here because this is the floor where we talk. Blond looks really-really red on it."

Rune of course thinks this is a threat. Then he starts talking to Quinn and for a moment thinks that he must not be all there in the head.

After they talk for a while though Rune realizes he knows Quinn's voice. He was the one who called the day before. He mentioned leaving the car running. Rune realizes he's a seer. Rune hates seers.

He thinks about the party, where he was a baby and drunk seer looked at him and said, "He will be the most beautiful man of his generation." and how everyone has been bringing that up ever since.

Around this time Brand realizes that Rune ran off, texts and when Rune calls to tell him he's fine, threatens to put a bell around Rune's neck. I'm surprised he hasn't tried those little toddler harnesses yet.

When he hangs up Quinn says, "That was Brand!"

"I miss Brand. He'll make me laugh. Why did you never try to kiss him a second time? is it because he pushed you into the water?"

Not a prophecy, because it was the past, but either way.

Then Quinn sees that Rune is mad that Quinn is delving into that sort of thing and he 'remembers' that Rune doesn't like seers.

"Then he burst into another delighted smile. "But you like me anyway. You kissed me on the eyebrow once. And you'll hit the bully with a bar stool after he calls me a freak. Or at least you do most of the time. Sometimes Addam grabs the stool first. Once I was very brave and kicked him in the shin myself."

I love him!

And this is where Rune realizes he's seeing probabilities. He is no longer concerned that Quinn might not be sane, or at least, not in the same way as before.

So he asks if Quinn can see where Addam is. He can't, but he's pretty sure that's what he needs to tell Rune. That is isn't a who, but a where they need to look into. Rune thinks about all the places that could mess up magic signals. Null zones, the Westlands, the convocation building.

"Anything to do with the anchorite's court. Now there was a mad fuck."

Can't wait until we learn more about that!!!

Quinn tries harder to see what could help them.

"I can only see a little. I think there are…ghosts. And a dried river. And a desert. I definitely see a desert filled with sand and broken glass. Ciaran will tell you more. He's waiting for you at the bar with the ice cubes. make sure you bring Max."

Rune is upset he has to deal with Ciaran, which, interesting. And he asks about Max. Quinn tells him it's what Matthias wants to be called. He reaches out to touch Quinn to help him focus, only his bare hand touches his neck on accident and power surges between them. Rune curses himself, hopes it did trigger anything and then….

"Oh gods oh gods oh gods, what is it? it's like a hole in reality. It will want to touch your face, because you are food to it, and then everything will start in the middle again, and oh oh oh oh there are storms, and there are waves as big as buildings, and we're all a school of fish trapped in a bottle, but none of this happens at once. And…and…and…"

Looking at this now, I'm wondering how much this has to do with the lych…"and then everything will start in the middle again" I have no clue lol

Right after this Quinn's nose starts to bleed and Rune can't get his attention again. So he take a tissue from Quinn's pocket that is already spattered with blood, and hands it to him carefully. Poor baby, gets so many nosebleeds he has to keep handkerchiefs on him.

Quinn's afraid that Rune is mad at him. Because sometimes when his nosebleeds it means he told someone something they didn't like. That Addam would always take him somewhere safe and stay with him until he was better. And he nearly cries when Rune says Addam sounds like a good brother. Then we get the truly sad part about Quinn knowing that the rest of his family don't like him. The ones who put with him only do so because Addam makes them.

"If Addam dies, I won't make it." "It'll be fine, Quinn." "You don't understand. It'll either be with a rope or in the bathtub. I don't know why I don't just steal Ella's sleeping pills. I'm much less scared of swallowing pills than I am of cutting myself. But all those times that Addam dies and leaves me, all I see are ropes and bathtubs."

Truly disturbing. Again. Poor baby.

"But..of all the way that Addam can be saved, it's you on the path."

Then he knows that Brand is on the way and they won't be able to talk alone anymore, and he asks Rune to not tell Brand he nearly cried.

Brand is indeed barreling down towards them, but Ashton is with him. Ashton is wearing a shiny silver shirt that matches his eyes, and truly terrible cologne, that Rune just thinks is fancy and in vogue because of how awful it smells. I see we were all traumatized by Abercrombie and Finch.

Ashton claims he was there to speak with Christian, unlikely. Rune says he could just as easily talk to Quinn. When he does, asking if anyone knows where Quinn is, Quinn says.

"Why don't I know why you're here?"

Why indeed? The lych? Did we figure this out and I forgot?

Brand thinks he's crazy and Rune asks what it means, but Quinn says it's too loud just before saying they are going to attacked, Rune has just enough time to try to impart that Quinn is a seer before grenades and bullets start raining down on them.

The battle starts, and Ashton does NOTHING to help. He gets shot and acts shocked. Quinn eventually gives Rune a sigil that has a door spell in it. He can't go through.

"But I can't go! I can't! I'll die! Every time, I die, because I'm not good enough to fight them and they're always there. And you can't stay here, because if you do you may die, which means Addam dies, and I need you to save him."

He tires to give it back but Quinn dodges him.

"A lot of times, you give it back. Go! Hurry!"

He directs Rune to take them under the hospital into the steam tunnels that used to heat the place. Before he finishes the spell for the door Quinn gets a nosebleed and says.

"They'll come for you, even down there, but you can run. You need to find Ciaran and let the ghosts eat first and run towards the people on the corner and leave the bug alone. And tell Addam I love him!"

Quinn passes out, his shield spell protecting him. Rune finishes door spell and Brand kicks Ashton through it and pulls Rune in after him.

Ashton is acting like a child and Brand tells him to calm down because they are still in trouble, which Ashton then threatens to have Brand whipped is ever touches Ashton again. Rune loses his cool.

"My vision went red. I grabbed Ashton's jaw before he could say anything else, and slammed him against the wall."

YEEEESSS!!! Kick his ass!

After Rune sets him right Ashton plays the wide eyed shocked card again, trying to see like he's surprised that someone had actually kidnapped Addam.

They make their way through the tunnels, Brand says that the people upstairs were using stun grenades and tranq darts (again, not trying to kill them), and eventually they do encounter another group of black dressed solders. Only to get a good look at them, they are recarnants. People who have been raised from the dead. They are obviously soldiers. A few have some pretty heavy guns.

There is more fighting, this time Ashton is playing around with dramatic moves that are showy, but really aren't effective in any way. Eventually they take them all out, Rune is able to use his shatter spell to disintegrate them in the end. Only to be bowled over by sickness as something else approaches. Something dark and massively powerful.

A larger, robed figure appears. "Thick with death magic"

"The world came loose. Literally loose. A huge bite of reality tore free around the man"

paces of crates, the floor, and dust from the fight lift up to spin around the figure, then he flings it at them. Rune gets pretty banged up, wire cutting his face, his smashed elbow. Then Brand throws himself on top of Rune to protect him. When it's over Rune wiggles free of the unconscious Brand to confront this figure.

"When he was near, I realized that he was dead. He was an it, a recarnate. A raised body. Which was not possible. A recarnate could not fling magic around like that."

It gets close to him and seems very interested in Rune. Asking, "what are you?" and saying he smells wonderful, like abasement. Brand is up, and throws Rune behind some shelter. He signals that he's going to use his most powerful spell to get this thing to go away, and Brand takes cover. The Lych notices too and pulls power itself. It holds up its arms as though it's about to surrender.

"It said, I love missed so much, if things such as you walk this world."

I know Rune has had a very terrible thing happen to him in the past. But he is far from the only person to ever experience such things. It was a lot, all at once, yes. But, there has to be something else about him if the lych is saying its never witnessed something like Rune before.

Instead of surrender, which was really too much to ask for, the lych pulls the parking garage above them down on their heads and disappears. And they run off before a car can crush them.

#the last sun #ttsrr #the tarot sequence #rape tw #suicide tw

[ars-matron]

The Last Sun: Chapters 2

Chapter 2: Half House

We open with a little backstory on the attack of the Sun Throne.

Rune tells us that no one had ever been convicted of the unsanctioned raid, murders, or rape that happened that night. Which leaves me thinking that not all the powers that be really cared enough to look too far. Knowing what I know of the Tower now I will say that I'm sure he looked into it. But anyone else? An unsanctioned raid might "weaken all of Atlantis" but if Rune's father was at odds with any of the other Arcanum I can see them not caring much.

He goes on to say that not only did people not seem to care that it happened, they loved that he not only survived, but survived damaged. He was photographed and talked about, and now, two decades later, he still couldn't escape it.

Rune wakes up to yelling and remembers that he accidentally adopted a teenager the night before. The weather was described as being a very cold winter and spring, and a rather cool start of summer, though Rune sleeps with his AC blasting. Queenie comes up to talk to him about said teenager.

We don't get anything about her though. She's lurking on stairs, she called Max Rune's seventeen year old.

Rune takes a percocet because his back and shoulder hurt, puts on a pair of pants that are now a little tight because he spent the freezing winter and spring hidden in large sweaters (understandable) and goes down to the second landing to find Brand holding Matthias Saint Valentine's head in the toilet.

Since he will be known as Max soon and it's easier to write, I'll just call him Max.

Max was being a little shit to Queenie, who was just trying to be nice and unpack his stuff (go through his things?) and when Brand found out he lost his cool.

""Allow me to explain," Brand said. "Apparently, our Queenie tried to unpack Little Lord Scion's suitcase while was in the shower. Not her job, of course, but she's just that kind of person, isn't she?---In the midst of her friendly efforts, Little Lord Douchebag comes trotting out of the bathroom, takes one look, and asks our Queenie whether she'd be able to it right or whether he'd need to do it himself.""

I find this interesting because later we learn he doesn't have much of anything. I fully assume she had it all spread out over a bed or something to riffle through it. I'm also intrigued that it's 'our Queenie', because Brand doesn't really get possessive over anyone who isn't Rune.

Rune is also quite upset that Max was being a jerk to their housekeeper, and shoves Max into the shower and turns on the cold water. Max, instead of fighting, just kinda gives up immediately.

I do not enjoy how they handled this, but I suppose I can give them some slack for not knowing how to handle a kid who's just being an ass, and that they do try harder later.

Queenie intervenes after a while.

"Must be tough? Losing everything? I wonder is he even knows who survived last night, or which of his family is still alive. Do you think...Well, do you think maybe he just finds it easier to act high and mighty-maybe it's, I don't know, his armor? How was it with you, Rune, the day after you lost everything?"

Very good point. Probably also the truth (at least the part about acting tough as armor in a situation he doesn't know what to expect from) It also takes the heat off the situation where Queenie was going through his stuff. We still don't have a visual on her. There is no description here at all about how she looks, how her voice sounds, she is probably not even in the room, just lurking in the doorway.

Brand apologizes, saying it was Rune's anger issues at work, so Rune punches him very hard in the leg for his troubles. Situation diffused Rune goes to his sanctum to inspect his new sigil.

Sigils and their power storing abilities are explained, as well as the fact that they are not the only way scions can access magic. Sigils are usually shaped like jewelry, but we see some here and there that are objects too. They are also crazy expensive, Rune equates the ring Elena gave him as being worth nearly one hundred thousand dollars.

"The one time I'd suggested selling one of my meagre sigils to pay our cable bill, Brand had put a knife through the television set, ironically ending the discussion."

Yeah that wasn't irony, honey. He did that to make the suggestion moot.

Brand come into the sanctum after sending Queenie off to buy Max some toiletries and "a fucking clue", and though he is in running clothes he is covered in weapons, this is his normal. He has silver garrotes as shoelaces. He tells Rune that he has done research on Max, his is Lady Lover's grandson, his father and mother are alive-or they had been before the raid-even so his uncle had custody of him, he has no siblings and he is nearly a full-blooded fea. Who may be capable of shape shifting.

He also has no public appearances to his name. The only records of him are his birth certificate and the guardianship papers.

"Why him? Why did Elena save him?"

That's a very good question Rune.

Brand just wants to know if they have to let the kid live there. Rune thinks they might, since made a vow and going back on a vow can have terrible repercussions to one's magic, be he says that he will ask the Tower what he thinks when he meets with him in the afternoon. This is evidently an odd occurrence, as it appears the Tower usually wires them their payments but has asked to see Rune personally.

Rune hopes it's another job, now that they have a kid to feed.

And that is the end of chapter 2.

I would be more disappointed in myself for not paying attention to Queenie at the start, but really no one is described very well. At this point all we know is that Max has white blonde hair, and Rune does not. I don't think we've had a description of what Rune or Brand really look like either, and if I'm remembering correctly, we don't really get one for Rune (until the second book and then that's not very definitive). And I know it can be clunky to give a description of your POV character in first person stories, so I'm not nitpicking too much here. I'll be keeping a look out for any description for Queenie, because again, I don't think we get anything on her at all.

#the last sun #the tarot sequence #ttsrr #rape tw #rune saint john #brand saint john #matthias saint john

[ars-matron]

The Last Sun: Prologue/Chapter 1

The Last Sun! Here we go!!

I started this series (like a week ago) after finding a rec for it on Instagram. The only thing they said about it was "It's about a prince whose throne is brutally taken from him," and then a bit about him having a body guard and it being a queer found family book. I'll give you a little more info that won't spoil anything. It takes place on an island city called New Atlantis, and yes that's because there was an Old Atlantis. It's ruled by a series of courts that are named after the major arcana in tarot (or vise versa in this scenario)

Prologue

The prologue is very short, just a small intro for Rune Saint John, our protag. He talks about how he survived the fall of his House and this is where my first gut punch of the series happened, because I did not equate "having a throne brutally taken" to mean "brutal assault" which is the wording he uses.

"I am, before anything else, a survivor: of a fallen House, of a brutal assault, of violent allies and complacent enemies, of life among a people who turned their back on me decades ago."

Then he lists some of the not so great names people call him. the Catamite Prince, the Day Prince, the Prince of Ruin.

"I am the last scion of my dead father's dead court, once called the Sun Throne, brightest of all Arcana, now just so much ash and rubble"

It's really so short, I'm trying to not copy the whole thing, but it does set the mood very well. Things aren't great, there aren't a lot of people Rune can trust. All his family is gone and he's left with the ashes of a broken court.

Chapter 1: The Heart Throne

We open with an insufferable rich man regaling people with a tale of kicking a woman to the curve. He calls this woman, "a wrecked parasite," and Rune notes he has an Old Atlantean accent, pronouncing the word 'wrecked' as reck ked. "Cleaving it into two waspish syllables."

After flicking a shrimp tail into a potted plant and completely forgetting any manners he ever learned and wiping his mouth on his sleeve, we find out that he is at a very fancy party. We also quickly become aware that Rune hates, hates, hates where he is. The room is the size of a football field, it's two stories tall and nearly all windows that over look the ocean and giant gilded mirrors. There are tables of drinks, things that look like drinks but are mostly illusions, tables of pills in every color imaginable. And a bunch of servants who are described as, "young, drugged, and blankly beautiful."

"There was a forty man chamber orchestra; a woman with flames dancing across the enamel of her teeth; a young page who chilled people's drinks with a spell that left frostbite on his palms"

Frostbite on his palms! For a drink! Rune is very upset by all of this, and yeah, so I am. But he puts this aside because he is part of raid on this house. As he waits he gives the earpiece he's wearing a little flick, because he, 'misses Brand'.

"It's working," he snapped, his voice a tinny echo inside my head. "Calm the fuck down."

I really do love them. When I first read this I assumed Brand must be stationed somewhere where he could see what was going on. How else would he know that Rune was flicking the equipment, or is agitated by the things around him? You learn in a few more paragraphs what exactly a companion bond is. Brand was born human and as a baby was put in the crib with baby Rune, some words were spoken over them (they weren't separated for like five years after that*) and a mental bond was formed between them where they can feel each other's emotions and know when the other is nearby.

As Rune is pushed through the current of party goers he ends up in front of a set of windows facing the ocean. He has a moment of remembering a time on the beach when the sun was out, of warm weather and soft white sand. Then he hears a woman talking about the night that his House was attacked. She's wearing at least 12 sigils (items that are able to contain magic) we learn they are very valuable, rare, and that most scions of courts keep them filled with frivolous spells that enhance beauty.

This woman is talking to a group of younger scions telling them about the night when the Sun Throne fell. About how she was there, at the current residence, when it happened. How they didn't hear anything. That the attackers had stealth wards. No one found out until it was too late. But quickly she turns to the topic of the Heir scion, which is probably how most accounts of that night go. She says that he was the only survivor, that seven men in masks took him a shed while the attack was going on.

"and by gods, the things they did to that poor boy. They had him for hours before he escaped."

I have wondered and wondered throughout the books just how much of it was reported to the public. We never learned what details were released. Only that they get some of it wrong.

She goes on to say that one can still find him, Rune, wandering around now and then,

"A very, very pretty man, but rank with darkness. It precedes him like a fog."

She claims to be able to see this miasma, because she has seers blood. She then calls Rune the Catamite Prince, and implies it's because Rune has had 'relations' with someone called the Tower. Rune, hearing all of this, livid, approaches the woman, and has a little fun, saying that he is also a seer. The woman is intrigued and we learn two things, one, Rune is wearing a disguise that makes him look like a blond man. And two, most important, Rune is short. the eyes of the nondescript blond man illusion are somewhere in the vicinity of his forehead. Rune says that he sees this woman "crawling in a field of blood and char with bone shards in her hair".

He's furious as he walks away and, somewhere else, Brand is worrying about him

"To hell with her. To hell with her sigils, her fat fingers, her crowd of stupid boot-lickers. To hell with the Lovers and their Heart Throne and their drugged slaves. To hell with nine men in animal masks in a carriage house, and all the other stupid details people got wrong."

Brand is very worried and threatens to come down there to him. And it is a threat, because that's the only love language Brand knows. Rune takes a moment to cool down because his love language is trying to make people feel better.

"my Companion, born human and bonded with me in the crib, raised and trained to protect me. And he had. He'd saved me-saved us both-that night."

Rune gets his calm back, says he was upset because he hates seers, especially fake seers, which are both things Brand knows. Then Brand brings up a hitch in the plans, and enter Julia, whose name Brand cannot remember.

During the raid Rune is supposed to go to a lab in the building, only they just learned that the labs have different security. Now Rune has to find a keycard to get through the security. But it's okay!!! Julia looked into who is on the floor that night with access, and all Rune has to do is find the red haired man by the doors who is about 6ft tall. Only to find the door and there are three tall red haired guys.

One is obvious high, staring at his hands as he sways, the rainbow residue of the pill buffet on his lips. So Rune turns his attention to the other two men, employing all his stealth training to do so.

By finding the drunkest man in the vicinity, telling him that a red haired man by the door said he was out back giving a horse a blow job a while go, and standing back to watching the fight ensue. The man the drunk guy picks is not a fighter. He does little more than try and keep the drunk man off of him, the other red haired guy though watches the fight in a calm and assessing manner, his body turned and poised in case the fight moved to him.

Rune gets a warning from Brand just before a spell rocks through the ballroom and everyone but the four people on the floor that are part of the raid go down. Rune walks over and plucks the keycard from the guard and moves through the residence towards the lab. As he moves through the mansion the halls go from opulent to grey and sterile.

We learn a bit about Atlantean culture in this part. That the Heart Throne, ruled by Lady and (now dead) Lord Lovers, used to be an archetype of love and sex and all that good stuff. They had been important to their society as Atlanteans are very big on group marriages and love no matter someones gender. That strictly homosexuality or heterosexuality were both seen as odd. After the fall of the Atlantis homeland some courts (like the Heart Throne) turned to twisted ventures that put the whole of their society at risk of compromising their treaties with the humans. And so, twelve of the Arcana had agreed to this raid. Every Arcana that participated in the raid would get a share of the spoils.

Which is why Rune is there.

Rune has a pretty kickass weapon that is able to take the shape of anything he wants. And, it shoots fire. It was one of the few things that survived the attack on the Sun Throne.

"I shook my wrist. My sabre, now in the form of a scuffed gold wrist guard, stretched and slid over my knuckles. By the time it was in my palm, it had transmuted into a swordless hilt."

Brand and Julia chatter a bit, they tell Rune that Lady Lovers is not accounted for down in the ballroom, they can't confirm she's even on site.

There are seven mercenaries by a locked door contemplating blowing the door down until Rune shows up with the keycard and lets them all into the area where the labs are kept. Rune makes for a chemical lab, thinking it will be less fortified, he just needs to get a terminal to download something for current employer, Lord Tower.

"The operating system was reportedly the closet thing in development to an actual artificial intelligence; the Tower had cashed in a lot of favors to stake it during the raid."

This is a little tidbit I didn't hang onto in my first read. The Tower has this almost AI, I wonder what he's planning to do with it?

There are two men in the lab he enters, they were not effected by the spell. They are pale and shaking and holding a lamp and stapler as weapons. When Rune brings up how ridiculous this is, since they are in a lab full of caustic things, the oldest of the scientist grabs a silver letter opener and holds it against the neck of the younger scientist. He then tries to barter for his life by threatening to kill the intern.

There is some back and forth where the scientist tries to claim that they are innocent and totally not slavers, but that Run should still let them go or he's going to kill the intern. Which Rune responds to by, shooting the intern in the leg.

Rune pops in his USB drive and downloads the files he needs. Claiming that his knowledge of technology and computers is just being able to avoid spyware on porn sites

As it's downloading the scientist tries to guilt Rune about what's going on, that they were just trying to find someone to pin this on to make the humans happy. Phrased in way that heavily implies that because they are Atlantean, they should be above such things as human laws. Rune asks if he were involved in Project Laius, when the scientist quickly shuts up Rune takes that for a yes and shoots him in the head.

"The stuff that began with projects like Laius had ended with the mind-fucking of underage kids, who spent the rest of their miserable lives in dog collars as someone else's property. So I did what I did, and my conscience whistled."

When he leaves the room Brand is throwing a fit. It turns out that they didn't just lose signal for the earpiece, but that Brand couldn't even feel their bond when Rune was in that room. Reports come that people are starting to wake up in the ballroom and that he needs to get out quick. There's a little fight with Julia, who, much respect for her, but she needed to take a step back here, tries to direct Rune as though he were one of the mercenaries she's used to directing, and tells him to abandon their plan to evac on the roof.

"Mind your fucking manners," Brand said, all humor evaporating. "He's not one of your mercenaries; he's a scion of Atlantis. If it was a question about needing safe routes, I'd have him turn the entire side of the mansion to slag and gingerly fucking tiptoe through the puddles of plasma."

Have I mentioned that I love Brand?

On the roof there is a man who pops out right in front of Rune with an assault riffle, whose head Brand immediately blows off from his perch in a water tower close by.

"When I could breathe again, I said, "I especially liked it when you didn't warn me. That part was fun.""

Followed quickly an actual dragon swooping by. But the dragon is part of Lord Chariots raid team, and does nothing to hinder Rune. Brand is yelling at Rune to get the fuck off the root NOW. Because assault riffles and dragons weren't bad enough, Lady Lovers rushes by and opens a secret door right next to Rune's secret hidey spot. Ignoring Brand, Rune decides to follow her. I mean, her House is getting raided and she takes time to rush up there, I too would assume there was treasure of some sort in there.

So Rune walks through the door, and is instantly knocked out.

He wakes up chained to a wall, unable to activate his sigils and his disguise temporarily disengaged. Elena, Lady Lovers, recognizes him, of course.

""Faith, but you are a very pretty thing, Lord Sun. Hasn't it even been said that you are the most beautiful man of your gener-" "That'll be enough of that, thank you," I said testily."

First instance of the beautiful prophecy!

They have a bit of back and forth in which Rune tries to remember to be polite to an Arcana while still pointing out that she deserves this. Arcana are very very old and powerful. In a city of magic users, they are demi gods pretty much. And now I'm wondering if Lord Lovers was an Arcana too...What house was he from? Was he a principality? (That'll be explained later) Something to think about.

When she finds out that it is 12 Arcana against her, a surprisingly high number for a sanctioned raid, evidently. Her demeanor changes. She releases Rune from the wall, his sigils flood back to his awareness once released. She tries to makes a connection between this raid and the one that happened to Rune's House, he is, of course, very angry. But, demi god, so he keeps it to himself.

Elena goes to her magic mirror and is able to use it to look onto the battle raging below

"To each age, a magic ascends. Death magic ruled the final days of the homeland. Hearth magic ruled the rise of New Atlantis. I had thought, perhaps, the lovers' time had come, that the age of heart magic was upon us."

Yeeaaahhh, from what we've seen "heart magic" is just fucking with people's minds and enslaving them. So, kinda glad that isn't the case.

At least she admits that things were wrong in the end, and that she should have released the Throne to someone else once her husband died. He was her Talla, soulmate, and she had only had the one consort ever. Which is very, very odd for their culture.

"In Atlantean terms, soul mates weren't always a cozy and romantic concept. Hatred was just as strong as love, in terms of metaphysical catalyst."

I need to go back to add Tallas to my list of things I'm going to be keeping an eye on. I have a THEORY!!! I'll add that after I'm finished here, I want to keep these relatively spoiler free for the whole series.

Almost immediately after reminiscing about her talla, Lady Lovers taps into her aspect. Sort of like the primal soul of an Arcana's powers. The demi gods within them, if you will. Hers is fea-ish. It's terrifying. Her fingers add another joint, her skin beings to mottle in jewel tones that moved as she moves. She has hornets wings and her dress is made of rose petal. Suddenly her scent (musk, honey, semen) is very powerful and her magic causes Rune to fall to the floor with an erection. It would be kinda funny, but the scene is suitably horrific.

""I would beg a favor, pretty Rune. I swear by the river the answer will be your own.---I ask that you deliver, and protect, a package of mine to a safe destination.""

In return for this favor, which she swears is nothing illegal, she will give him a sigil. A silver ring with three chips of emerald in it. Sigils are so rare and Rune has so few of his own, that after getting her promise that it isn't going to get him in trouble, he agrees. She releases the sigil to him and then she tells him the package will be delivered to his house and that he should hurry on so he isn't, "caught in the fire".

Rune gets out of there as quickly as he can, Brand is yelling again once he gets out, having lost all contact with Rune while he was in the warded secret room. Rune finally imparts that there is a bomb and using a gold chain sigil around his ankle, released a flying spell. He wobble-flies to the water tower to pick up Brand, depositing him by Brand's motorcycle to tell him about the deal, and his new sigil. Brand is upset, and they wait for a little bit to see if they mansion explodes....

it does not.

They drive home separately. Brand speeding off on his bike, Rune in his beat up old Saturn. He's nearly home when there is a large CRACK back near the Lover's compound and the sky behind him fills with fire and smoke. I would like to take the time to point out that Rune had "Foreseen" that the fake seer at the party would find herself struggling in a field of blood and char with bone shards in her hair. I wonder if that did in fact come to be?

At the door to their house Brand calls Rune a fucking dumb-ass and takes up the argument on having made a deal with an Arcana as though there was no time between. But he does calm down and ask if Run is okay after the fake seer incident.

They go in and Rune stops, because their house keeper, Queenie, always leaves cookies and juice out for them after their missions, and there is no cookies or juice on the coffee table when they come in. So Brand goes to check on her.

"He went in search of our housekeeper, Queenie, who lived in a tiny cottage in the backyard. Normally she laid out fruit drinks and snacks after a successful job, her small way of celebrating the fact that she was still employed."

I know I just said I wanted to keep this spoiler free, and it is, pretty much. BUT! what are they paying her with? How much? How can they afford a housekeeper?

Rune sits down and takes off his boots, telling us that they are warded and perfected fitted to his feet, and that he mostly doesn't wear socks with them. Gross. Brand enters and is followed closely by Queenie

"Her plain face swung side to side in a nonstop headshake. She said, "You took in a seventeen year-old boy?"

That's all we learn about her appearance. That she looks plain.

Rune is dumbfounded, because he does NOT remember taking in a child. But Brand, livid, and probably a little amused, let's be honest. Informs Rune that the "package" Rune agreed to take and "deliver" is in fact, a seventeen year-old boy. And the destination is his age of adulthood, twenty one.

And that is the end of the first chapter.

*this little bit of knowledge comes from a supplemental story you can download on the author's website. It's a four page PDF file and it's just a snippet of Rune and Brand as babies. And now that I'm thinking about it the tidbit that they weren't separated until the age of five might be something from another supplemental story. This is about what would have been their first instructor trying to separate them as toddlers. Neither of them can really speak, so it's told by their governess, Lady Patience (Look, if K D Edwards isn't a fan of Realm of the Elderlings I will eat everyone's hat! Lady Patience, Lady Amber, the Fool! If Francis isn't a Fitz stand in I will riot!)

It opens with baby Rune standing up in the crib, yelling about how Brand (he sits in the corner, well he sits where he wants but he always gives me the blanket and he's gone. And he took the orange rattle!) is missing. He's always been there for their whole lives and suddenly his Brand is missing. Lady Patience, not knowing how to calm him, goes in search of the instructor and Brand, to find baby Brand standing in a chair, brandishing the rattle, which is made of some pretty expensive material, at the instructor. He is also grumbling in a baby way because he too, can't really speak.

The instructor is displeased with the behavior going on here. He wants Brand out of the house, pretty much. Right around that time the door starts rattling, amber light filters in from under the door and it, kinda implodes inwards. Baby Rune is standing on the other side of the door, eyes glowing, and demands, "Band-aid!" Which is his word for Brand. Brand happily tottles over, hugs Rune and then proceeds to poke his nose to see if he can make it glow too.

The instructor is raging about how they need to be separated immediately, but is cut off by a tower of sunlight that stands in the doorway. Rune's father, Lord Sun. Even after he stops being on fire, no one can actually see what he looks like, only sunspots. He leans down and scoops both Rune and Brand up at once. Saying that he had to learn to pick them up at the same time, because they cried when they were picked up separately. He fires the instructor and walks off with "his boys".

It's really such a sweet story.

#the last sun #the tarot sequence #rape tw #rune saint john #brand saint john #live blogging #booklr #ttsrr

[ars-matron]

The Last Sun Reread: Chapters 8-10

Chapter 8: Cubic Dreams

Even though Rune is exhausted, from storing and using so many healing spells on himself and Brand, he has to go out to the club like Quinn said. Ciaran isn't answering his phone and they need that lead he has.

I just love, really, that Rune has his phone number, and evidently went to the theatre or movies with Ciaran at least once because of that whole, "changing the color of an usher's eyes", thing. And yet Rune is like, man I hate having to deal with this guy. What the heck were they getting up to before this series started?

Before they head out Brand tells Rune that Quinn is in a coma, and points out that Max is definitely crushing on Rune. Who is not happy at all about that.

He's also unhappy with having to dress like a clubbing scion in skin tight and mostly see through clothing. Can't blame him there. In the car he asks Max if there was some other name they should be calling him.

"Like a code name?"

I love him. And now we can call him Max officially.

At the club they order drinks. Rune a raspberry ginger ale (same man) and Brand a water. Max orders a virgin daiquiri and Rune leaves the two of them at a table to find Ciaran. Cubic dreams is usually only frequented by humans and an older human man approaches Rune to chat him up. And is then scared off by Ciaran.

Ciaran and Rune have chat and then Brand barges in, which, Ciaran doesn't like. So he mind fucks Brand to go dance and have fun. Rune is ready to draw blood, but Ciaran starts to explain what's going on.

He finds out Addam is at Farstryke, a castle that was once the house of the Hourglass Throne, transported there after the war, but for some reason became instantly ran over with ghosts and undead to the point where it isn't even safe to try to save it. Before Rune can rush off Ciaran gives him the other piece that Quinn saw. If Brand follows him into Farstryke, he will die. Rune takes this very seriously and wanders off in daze. In a hall he passes some sketchy looking patrons including.

"A human rocked back and forth on the ground. He was dressed in an expensive suit and had shallow cuts crisscrossing the tops of his bare feet."

is this our first look at the agonies?

He finds Max slumped at the table where he was left, who is looking at Brand. Brand is dancing in the middle of the dance floor, a circle around him as people watch.

Rune cottons on to the fact that something is wrong with Max, and when the spell breaks and Brand comes back, angry at being mind fucked into letting loose, he figures out whats wrong. The club with the ice cubes, Cubic Dreams.

(as an aside, drugged Max is pretty funny. He called Rune a "salty cucumber" which is something I hope to remember for my own use. He also does not understand when they ask if he took anything, meaning drugs, he's just upset they think he's stolen something from them)

They confront the bartender and after Brand smashes his face a little they find out his boyfriend had been brutalized and killed by the Lovers at one of their parties. He recognized Max, who's uncles would bring him to such events, dog collared and stashed in a corner while he played with the humans there. He was hoping that something bad would happen to Max after he was drugged.

Max gets sad and goes out in the hall, Rune follows. And it's all very sad, but at least Brand gets to take it out on the douche who drugged Max.

Chapter 9: Half House Interlude

A very short chapter in which Brand is super angry, not just because he can't go to Farstryke and he's worried about Rune, but because Rune suspected that Max's uncle was abusing him and didn't say anything to him about it.

In the end Brand realizes he's upset, but he isn't angry with Rune. He wants Rune to rest. To wait until evening the next day to go into Farstryke, but Rune feels he has to go then, at dawn. Rune retains a promise from him that no matter what, Brand won't go in after him. And then, they get ready for the big show.

Chapter 10: Farstryke

Ciaran and Rune drive to Farstryke. Ciaran agree to come as back up because he cares about Quinn and thus, he cares about Addam. Brand is on the phone with Rune who, falls asleep a little on the ride over. Brand is worried and is nagging and after Rune hangs up Ciaran mentions that Brand mother's him. (I feel this is important because I do not think other companions have a bond like they do. The little short of them as children even talked about it. that they were so close it boarded on telepathic, though we know it isn't quite that. It's very close though)

Outside of Farstryke Rune sets up a teleport spell and then covers both of them with a levitation spell to hopefully get them across the yard and into the castle. (Funny only because he instructs Ciaran on how to use the levitation spell. This man literally takes off flying at the drop of a hat for rest of the series)

Everything is going well until Ciaran hits a null thread and drops to the ground. Then a battle starts. Ghouls pop up, because they evidently landed in a nest. They all look like children and I don't know if that's just how ghouls look normally, or if its significant to who might have died there. We know the Hourglass Throne has no qualms about killing children, or using a group of them as a living shield.

The lich ( I was spelling it lych, which is also correct by now I realize they use lich I will use that) We still don't know it's a lich though. It pops up eventually and starts warping reality again. It picks up a null thread and just whips it around. Rune decided to get out of dodge, which, fair. Then, in hopes that he can appeal to something within it, tries to make peace. He knows that it was summoned and that it's a puppet, for now. The lich tells him is name is Rurik, and Rune asks who is mad enough at Addam, and strong enough to have summoned him.

"A summoning is a spell. A spell is words backed with willpower. Any willful, ignorant tongue may form the right words." Rurik paused. "It does not mean they will hold me."

Which means that pretty much anyone can just summon a lich.

Rurik says if Rune tries to pass it will have to kill him, which it does not want to do. Rune takes this to mean that Rurik has no ill will towards him, but Rurik laughs. It wants Rune to stay with it, so it can play with him. Because Rune is filled with nightmares.

Suddenly Rurik is right there and trying to, I don't know, eat Rune's bad memories but Ciaran comes in and pelts it with a rock. They start fighting again and Rune is finally able to get Rurik to go away by using Blessfire.

Rune has to scrape himself off the ground, he's exhausted by they don't have much time. Ciaran wants him to call the Tower right there, but there is no cell signal. So they go into the castle.

Rune does a little locating spell, something that lets him see the life signs around him, and there is only one living life sign, something large under their feet. He keeps the blessfire up and going, it does nothing to push back the darkness, but keeps them safe.

AND THEN!!! Something in the castle messes with Ciaran's dream/prophetic abilities. We know at least one things he says comes to pass, I'm going to record them all here.

"Ciaran hit me in the shoulder and shouted, "You are only my face and voice, not my will, and I will have you remember that!"

Rune is obviously bewildered by this. And Ciaran realizes something in there is messing with this abilities. The first time I read this I thought he was channeling dead people. Now I'm guessing it's a look into the future, and maybe the past?

They keep going and then

"Ciaran said, raw and loud, "She fooled us all, like Russian dolls inside Russian dolls inside Russian dolls. The canny bitch!"

"He shook his head. One delusion slipped off, and another slipped in, turning his anger into grief. "Their bodies have been lost to the waves," he said. "There is no more cause for hope."

Recarnates jump out from a tapestry here, Rune tries to direct Ciaran to stay behind him, but...

"But...the Westlands is advancing on us, we must prepare."

I wonder if that one maybe happens later in this book and we just don't see it?

The recarnates stay outside of the blessfire, and Rune thinks they are afraid to approach them, until he realized there are wraiths above them. He lets the wraiths feed on the recarnates, like Quinn said. And once they are all gone he instructs Ciaran to go outside and wait there.

Finally he makes it down to where Addam is being kept. Uses a spell to open the locked door and there he is.

"Addam Saint Nicholas faced away from me. He had an MP3 player in one hand was dancing. There was a tray of food, a bottle of wine, a small stack of new-release paperbacks, and a camping cot. He wore only black suit pants. No shoes, socks, shirt, or sigils My first thought was that he danced like Brand."

And then Addam turns around and nearly stabs Rune with a broken footstool leg that had been sharpened. He realizes Rune is alive and thinks it's a whole huge rescue team that has come for him. They get that sorted and Rune takes off his socks to give to Addam so he doesn't have to go barefoot. Which is silly but also thoughtful.

Rune checks out Addam, and his tattoos while Addam puts the socks on. He makes double sure that this is a prison cell, Addam was kidnapped, he isn't just running off, "because he got drunk and woke up with a sailor."

"Any chance you know who put you here?" "I do not," he said, and his voice got a little hard. I heard the curl of an accent; heavy and Salvic, like his mother. He said, "But I will."

And that is the end of that chapter. I have finished this reread, I have marked in the important bits in my notes, now all I have to do is write it up.

#ttsrr #the tarot sequence #the last sun #rape tw

[ars-matron]

The Last Sun Reread: Chapters 3/5

Rune goes to meet the Tower, who is played by Antonio Banderas circa Interview with the Vampire.

Rune gives us a little lesson in the translocation magic that made New Atlantis. Using a massive amount of magic the Arcana were able to move abandoned buildings from all over the world to the half of Nantucket Island they look over, a portion of land a little larger than Manhattan. It's an odd assortment of buildings, palaces, banks, asylums, mansions, pretty much anything. The humans think this is a magic that could be used again at any time, but Rune tells us it really can't be done again.

Rune spends times in his sanctum filling his sigils with a variety of spells, since he figures the Tower is going to ask him to go out and start a mission right after they meet. Brand pops in from his own training in the basement, 'with knives and Kevlar' to be a bit pissy that Rune is taking Max to see the Tower.

Queenie helped Max get ready for the trip, and Brand watches them leave through the second floor window. They walk for a time, their neighborhood is close enough to a coffee shop that Rune stops there on the way to their meet up spot with the Tower's people. He orders a drink for himself and an ice coffee for Max, who puts two inches of sugar in it one packet of sugar at a time. He's such a little ass. And there's no way that drink isn't gritty!

As they walk Rune tries to make conversation, but Max really isn't in the mood to talk, eventually Rune trips him to get some real emotion out of him, and Max has a moment of of blowing up, pointing out he has every right to be upset with Rune and situation since Rune had a hand in the raid. Max says that his grandmother's wording was so vague he should be able to leave once he gets his feet under him, and that Rune shouldn't feel obligated to watch over him for years.

After they have a little tiff for a bit, and we learn that one of Rune's hobbies is learning what he can about the translocated buildings and statues, a black limo pulls up for them. The driver checks Rune out, either for looks or to size him up. As evidently even the Tower's housekeepers have weapons training.

In the limo Rune turns the air vents off, because he's crazy, asks Max if he can shapeshift. The answer is, sort of, as he can change the length of his fingernails.

The Tower lives in the old Pacific Telephone Building, the Pac Bel, built in San Francisco in 1920s, it's Twenty six stories tall and has eight glaring terracotta eagles on it.

Rune has a keycard that give him access to the penthouse, which give Max pauses, though it's unsure if he knows anything about the rumors around Rune and the Tower, or if he's just surprised that Rune would have instant access to the Tower's private home.

Rune deposits Max in a chair in the antechamber, and hopes that the Tower's children aren't around. His daughter, he says, is fine, but his son Dalton is a monster.

Then we see the Tower for the first time, he's limned in sunlight as he looks out a window, possibly having watched Rune come up. He looks to be a man in his forties of Spanish decent, he wears silk pajama looking clothes (which are very heavily warded for protection) and no shoes. Rune mentions that he is one of the Arcana who embraced human culture and reaped the benefits. He's a renowned painter, politician, and entrepreneur. Though before the fall he had been the old monarchy's spy and executioner. Then the Emperor died and the Empress..

"the Empress, in her unhinged grief, vanished into the wilds of America. Now and then there's a tabloid sighting, largely at truck stops and waffle houses."

Such a strange place for an empress to be.

"Lord Tower was the head of the Dagger Throne, and I had made promises to him at the age of fifteen in a desperate bid for protection., While my term of service had ended years ago, I remained on speed dial for projects he didn't trust others to handle."

The Tower leads him over to a seating area and they just get settled when Max pops his head in. He stumbles over some words before Rune tells him he's close to tripping a spell that'll melt his face. Probably not even the truth. Max runs off and the Tower is a bit put out that Rune makes him sounds so scary to others.

Before Rune can fully explain who Max is the Tower says he already knows, because he knows everything. He offers to look into Max's family, to see if anyone survived and after a bit Rune agrees. The Tower says that Elena will probably be exiled, and Rune asks if he know anything about Max.

"The Tower took a few long moments to consider that. He finally shook his head. "I know that, when Matthias was born, his grandmother had high hopes for his magical potential and she spent much time with him. As Matthias grew older, that magical potential never manifested, and he was given into the care of an uncle for other uses. Marital alliance, I believe.""

The Tower speculates that Elena might have just been fond of him…but I really don't think that's it.

The Tower gets a call, and after walking a short ways away tells the other person on the line to "Handle it." In a tone that makes Rune suspect he was ordering a death, but the way he went to "the empty place"

After wrapping up the Tower says that he has a new job for Rune, he wants him to find someone. They head out to the patio to have coffee. Though they are very high up you can't see much of the city through the smog, though the outline of the Westlands forest are visible.

The Tower asks if Rune knows Addam Saint Nicholas, a scion of the Justice family. He thinks he can place his face, but Rune has never met him. Well, Addam has been missing for a little over a day. He missed a business meeting and hasn't been seen since the night before by his assistant. He has an apartment outside of his family compound and has no roommates or consorts, and therefore they can't even be sure that he made it home the night before.

""A confirmed bachelor, mush like you." I ignored the jab. He'd mentioned more than once that I could increase my power base through marriage."

Rune is still a little suspicious about why no one can say if he made it home, asking if the guarda (the sorta police that wander New Atlantis) haven't looked into it, and asks if this means no one else thinks he is actually missing.

"Addam has disappeared before, usually for a day or two at a time, never much longer. He calls them his 'walkabouts.'"

Forgot about these because the Addam we come to know wouldn't just run off on a 'walkabout' for a few days. Maybe this is something that started after Quinn was old enough to watch after himself for a bit. Also, if this is true and the Tower is looking into it just hours after he's reported gone, I feel like this implies he might tell the Tower when he's getting ready to disappear, or there's something he does before hand that lets the Tower know it's coming.

Rune is upset that he uses the term 'walkabout', asking if his 'walkabouts' are just a nice way of saying he's going on a bender. But the Tower says he is grounded and has great potential, not the sort to spend his free time drunk, high, and at whorehouses.

Rune takes the little info packet the Tower has made that lists where Addam usually likes to go and his friends and family. There is a name on the list that make Rune say "Fucking great" but instead of elaborating he asks why the Tower is so concerned when everyone else doesn't even think he's missing.

"He fixed me with an unusually serious expression. "Rune, I know that questioning assumptions is part of your process, but in the interest of time, I must ask that you operate as if something has happened to Addam."

Yeah, something happened to tip him off.

"Addam is also my godson. It's not an unusual practice. I have many godchildren in other courts."

Interesting.

"But Addam is special."

He sure is!

Also he finds it unlikely, the Tower points out that because Addam is the child of an Arcana, and Justice is a pillar for the Moral Certainties (a power bloc with other Arcana) and the convocation, it is still a possibility that his abduction is a way to cause trouble there.

Rune looks at the check that the Tower gave him, noting that it's quit a bit bigger than he usually gets and says he'll get started right away.

Chapter 3 LeperCon

"Back at Half House, I checked in with Brand to catch him up on the situation. Then I headed to my room to dry-swallow a couple painkillers, change, and go on my daily tour of Half Houses defenses. It's possible I also took a small nap."

He's a beacon of self-care!

He takes us on a small tour of his wards, one for allergens, one for things like scent and humidity. They are fictional, just not pretty, or the best out there. The best one they have came from the ruins of the Sun Estate. A mass sigil with a defensive spell that he has been charging over and over again for years.

After checking the wards Rune heads down to Brand's room. Which is a MESS. there's clutter and weapons, dirty clothes, empty water bottles, powerbar wrappers, porn, and vitamin bottles. Evidently his room is the one place Brand lets himself by a total unorganized slob.

Good for him.

Brand is laying on his futon and Rune flops down next to him just as the painkillers kick in and everything in the world is rainbows and sunshine.

"Did our bond just go dopey?" Brand asked. "Aspirin," I said. "Are you telling me that aspirin theoretically exists, or that you took nothing but aspirin?"

I just love this back and forth. Rune always tries to hide these sort of things. He should know better.

Brand fills a little baggy with ice after Rune tells him that his shoulder hurts, Rune says they need to look into Addam's business partners but Brand has already done that, because Rune was sleeping. One of his business partners is named Geoffrey Saint Talbot, and neither of them are happy to be dealing with this, 'douchebag'.

The company is run by Addam, Geoffrey, Geoffrey's brother Micheal, and a man named Ashton Saint Gabriel of the Iron Hall. They invest in start up companies. So they are venture capitalists.

Their company is located in a seedier area called LeperCon.

"I was more familiar with the ares than Brand would suspect; I've had reasons to visit it on my own."

After twenty minutes they are dressed, Rune in a nice shirt he found while scavenging the Sun Estate and Brand in tactical clothing and a billion weapons. They leave Max in Queenie's care and head out.

Once they get to the subway terminal Brand relaxes a little from his hyper vigilance of walking around outside and tells Rune that he's spoken with a with a few of their contacts. "Lord Keaton, Amy Beige, and Fiddler Blue" Addam isn't into anything dirty that Keaton knows of, Fiddler Blue says there is a regatta being held by the Moral Certainties and it's a good time and place to ask questions of Addam's family.

Brand makes a dig at Rune's weight gain when he mentions going to the beach and Rune retaliates by pointing out that Max is following them and Brand didn't notice.

After Brand rubs it in that he knew Max had been following them all along, because Rune was very smug about thinking he saw him first. Rune gets a phone call from an unlisted number.

"Isn't it time for us to meet yet?" someone asked anxiously. "Excuse me?" "It's not, is it? I'll leave the motor running, though." The caller hung up. I stared at the phone, unsure what to make of it. "

Does that count as a prophecy? Possible. It'll go on the list

The train station is literally an underground railway with actual trains, transported from Spain. The trains are ran magically so they are silent and have no pollution. The are ran jointly with the Magician and the Chariot. (I should also maybe keep tabs on everything the Magician has his hands in)

Once they're on the the train Brand leaves the compartment with an evil chuckle and Rune people watches for a bit.

"There was a group of beggars loitering by the emergency exit. They had the head, waxy skin of the Bone Hollows, Death's court."

We just don't see them much.

Brand brings back a windswept Max who looks like he's about to cry. Brand tells him to play, "good cop". And so Rune tries to impart that it's important for Max to respect not just them, but their orders, because Max isn't trained as they are, and after everything he lost he doesn't want to end up severely hurt as well.

But Max repeats, "everything he lost,' smiles and looks down at that,

"I'd been catching glimpses of emotion that derailed most of my hunches about Matthias. I was starting to think that, rather than being important to the Lovers, Matthias had been somehow damaged by them."

Rune mentions that the Tower offered to find out about Max's family and Max just about has a heart attack. He's instantly very scared and asks them not to tell his family where he is. Confirming that he had been "kept" by his uncle until he was ready to be married off to someone.

They are silent for a while, then Brand slides over to show Rune what he had been looking at on his phone.

"I took it, hit a button, and promptly shut down the web browser. I'd never been very good with technology. I tried to find my way back to the screen. A message popped up asking me if I wanted to begin a factory reset."

I've handed my phone to enough people of the silent generation to know what it's like trying to help the technologically inept use a smart phone. It's just a picture with Addam in it. Brand tells him a bit about the court, Lady Justice has four kids, Christian, Addam, Ella, and Quinn. The rest of her children died in the war. And though there isn't much about the youngest two known, there was a note from the the Tower that says Christian is sick and in the hospital.

All signs point to Addam being a genuinely nice guy,

They make their way to the heavily warded office building, and Rune tries to act like he isn't familiar with the area.

The assistant is also very concerned that Addam just ran off, though he's done it before and even done so without tell her. She's very happy to help Rune and the others out. She tells them a bit about Addam, he stays late, goes home to be alone and read, spends his weekends doing charity concerts with his brothers. I don't know why I thought he only did these concerts with Christian the first time I read this. After she confirms that there are cameras outside his condo and no record that Addam went home, she shows them to his office.

The office is really nice, the furniture is expensive without throwing it in your face. After they search literally everywhere and find nothing, Rune uses Psychometry magic to read impressions Addam left through the room. Not much stands out, he obviously cares about his assistant and the cat she lost, his likes to dance while doing work, and pleasure himself on the couch when he's working late and everyone is gone. Rune passes out and thinks it's because of the couch masterbation and says,

"It wasn't really scary."

So he doesn't know why that would make him pass out. Which I just find the wording interesting. "Really scary" I'm ready as very scary, which makes me feel like there are times when the thought, or sight of such things would be very scary for him. Just interesting.

Rune remembers that that wasn't what made him faint, there was something purely evil at the door, something came and took Addam.

While he's still trying to come down from seeing all that Geoffrey Saint Talbot shows up and demands that they follow him to the conference room. We learn that Geoffrey and Rune were a couple before the attack and afterwards Geoffrey, quite literally, turned his back on Rune.

""Victims are quarantined and cast out, their defeat viewed as a genetic defect. In turning his back on me, Geoffrey hadn't done anything the rest of society hadn't." Then again, I hadn't been fucking the rest of society. I held a grudge."

In the conference room we see Ashton and Micheal, Micheal dresses and acts like a jock, Ashton acts like he's the most superior person there. He also had mirror like eyes which are a genetic trait. "Makes it hard to hide their bastards" Unless, of course, they wore contacts… They really find nothing out during this conversation. All through the talk Ashton makes quips about how good a job and professional Rune is.

Geoffrey and Brand leave the room when it's over and Ashton grabs Rune's shoulder to hold him back.

He says how important his work is to him and how he doesn't think there is anything wrong with Addam and Rune's investigation better not hinder what he has to do, then he slides his business card into Rune's breast pocket and his hand lingers.

-_-

Rune says if he touches him again without permission he is going to hurt him. Then he smiles politely, thanks him for the card and leaves. I'm very proud of him.

Geoffrey catches up with him when they're leaving the building and Rune convinces Brand and Max to go off while he handles it. Frustratingly, Geoffrey is convinced that Rune is only there because of their past. He's an idiot and I'd like to throttle him a bit.

Rune, furious, tries to continue his work anyway, asking what happens to the company if Addam is gone, and well, Geoffrey says they lose his contacts and influence from his mother's court. In the end he finally makes Geoffrey realize that they could be in some deep shit if someone is messing with some evil magical stuff, Geoffrey agrees to call him if he needs help.

In the lobby Max is alone as Brand, "checks the street,' before they can follow him there is a surge of magic that makes Max feel ill, and then a gargoyle starts attacking them.

The attack takes them through the lower half of the building, all the exits, windows, and upper stories are blocked off. Rune is injured pretty badly and starts losing blood as he herds Max through the building to keep him safe, but nothing he really throws at this painting gargoyle does lasting damage.

Then Brand drives a car he found running at the gas station through the doors and blows the gargoyle up with a roll of duct tape that is actually a grenade.

The guarda come but they are really no help. They say it must have been a surge a wild magic, since summoning a gargoyle is very advanced stuff, it takes a lot power and planning to get one up and running.

Max is so grateful that Rune saved him I'm pretty sure this is when the crush the starts.

Rune calls the Tower after Brand questions whether he knew Addam and colleagues might be into some evil shit and didn't warn them. The Tower only says that he might have mentioned that Rune does odd jobs for him in the company of Addam's friends and family, and if he's been attacked specifically then that certainly points for one or more of them being involved.

Chapter 4: The Enclave

Rune wakes up, but lets his alarm go to snooze ten times until Brand stomps in. He wants Rune to get him a vitamin water from Queenie, who is mad at him and hid them. Because he put his underwear in the dishwasher, because their washing machine in broken. So yeah, we can't blame her there.

Brand has been looking into Addams colleagues, Geoffrey graduated top of his class in theoretical magic courses, Micheal seems to only be good at spells that let him cheat at sports, but Ashton has battle training from one of the wasteland sites left over from the war, this one in Poland. So his pampered scion persona is probably an act.

The Enclave was part of a ruined resort built in the 1920s in Cambodia, it's big and luxurious, right on the beach, and every court has a residence there. The Sun Thrones rooms are perfect, exactly how they left them, and to battle his depression that things are different and his father isn't actually going to pop out of a room, they all go to the beach.

Max is mesmerized, playing in the water and laughing like it's his first time there. Only to find out that it is his first time there. He's never been with his family, despite the Heart Throne also having rooms there. When Rune mentions his uncle again he realizes for the first time that the emotion on Max's face isn't grief, it's fear. And Rune begins to suspect that Max's past might resemble his...

(Also Max is called Max at one point here. My first read through I thought it was a hold over from when the character had another name in an earlier draft that just got looked over in editing)

Rune goes off to get ready for his meeting with Lady Justice. While he's on his way he camouflages himself so that he can spy on everyone first. Micheal Saint Talbot is there, playing frisbee inside with his sister, using magic to make her drop the frisbee and laughing at having the waitstaff pick up after them. Ashton is there, wearing boat shorts and no shoes, feet kicked up while he looks through a bunch of folders.

He lets go of the spell before going into the Justice courts rooms, after passing a group of lovely men and women he assumes are Lady Justice's consorts. Inside the room is an older woman and girl who is deathly thin. When they see Rune the woman places an illusion spell on the girl that makes her look plumper, like she isn't about to keel over. They turn out to be Ella, Addam's younger sister, and Diana, Lady Justice's sister.

Diana just comes off as someone who is very protective of her family, while Ella raises some flags. She's dismissive of Addam's potential missing, she lies when she says she likes him.

Inside the room with Lady Justice, first off she loses control of her aspect for a bit and Rune thinks he sees a giant spider in a web until it's gone and it's just a woman there with eyes that are constantly changing. Which is creepy, and not least of all because one set definitely belongs to one of Rune's attackers.

She's convinced that is Addam fine because she has placed spells on all her children that would let her know if they were in harm. Which, is it going off for Ella? Because being underweight IS harmful, especially to such an extent. I'm also wondering if she has such a spell on Quinn. I would honestly be surprised if she did.

Eventually Rune is able to get her to admit that all she can be sure of is that Addam isn't hurt, not that he isn't in danger right now. But he had to call her out a bit before she gave him even that, as she was being a bit obtuse, just talking about his looks before he reminded her he was the Sun Throne, or close enough.

He leaves with little more than a new suspicion for Ella and knowledge that wherever he is, Addam isn't hurt, but on his way to his rooms someone releases a spell and Rune is compelled to walk in another direction. Up a bunch of stairs to a hall lined with suits of armor that have definitely seen battle. It's the Tower, casting a spell to see if Rune could fight the compulsion. He things that Rune hadn't, but then realizes Rune's sabre is formed into a dagger and poking into his stomach. This is obviously a game they play, and the Tower invites Rune out on the patio for sangria.

He tells the Tower everything he knows and suspects, and everything is going great, until one of the water elements that the Tower summoned to serve them drinks attacks Rune and tries to drown him. The Tower is shaken, he wanted to blame rogue magic again until Rune pointed out this was twice in one day that he's been attacked by "wild magic".

The chapter ends with Brand literally climbing the side of the building to get Rune and make sure he's okay.

#the last sun #last sun reread #ttsrr #rape tw #edited the chapter numbers #look! they aren't listed in the books XD