The Tarot Sequence 2022 Readalong discussion

This is the readalong/discussion thread for Chapter 13 - 14 (The Westlands to The Manor) for Week 2! Please limit your comments to the events and characters that appear in those chapters.

We're now officially into WEEK 2 of the readalong! Cue cheers!! So far we've been divvying the discussions into 2 chapter chunks, but If there are changes you'd like to see with the format, please let us know.

I have to admit that I struggled to like Addam through these chapters. I know that his forwardness is completely on-character for him, but knowing bits and pieces about Rune’s trauma made it hard to find Addam’s repeated overtures endearing. Even knowing how things have panned out so far, I still cringed a bit through these chapters this time around. I’m glad things have mostly worked out okay, but… *sigh* Poor Rune.

That said, hello most favoritest quote from this book!

I think people make themselves beautiful. I think everything on our outside is a line sketch, and whatever’s on the inside blows those lines into three dimensions.

Hot damn what a beautiful line.

I understand what you're saying, but I can also understand Addam's approach. Firstly, 20 years is a fair recovery time. Secondly, Rune was certainly compliant with the initial physical advance until he was embarrassed by his lack of control. I also can't see Rune allowing him into the shower if he didn't really want him there. Lastly, I think Addam may have the inside intel that Rune has not exactly been around men who have truly appreciated him in the romantic sense and is set on making him at least consider it.

I get it. And I think your interpretation is how it’s meant to be read.

That said, even though 20 years is objectively time enough to have “gotten over” trauma, Rune clearly hasn’t. He still can’t even talk to Brand about it. Not only that, but he’s literally just been forced to re-live it hours earlier. I know Rune consents to everything that happens in this chapter (and the explicit consent is why I agree with you that we’re meant to read these scenes as being okay), but I do wonder about what kind of headspace he’s in at this moment, and whether or not he is actually capable of fully consenting to anything given his inability to deal with the trauma he’s experienced.

M wrote: "I get it. And I think your interpretation is how it’s meant to be read.

That said, even though 20 years is objectively time enough to have “gotten over” trauma, Rune clearly hasn’t. He still can’..."

Agreed, but let me ask, do you think Addam knows that Rune is still in purgatory over it? That was what I questioned and why I gave him a pass for his continued full court press. Granted, it was mostly invitational, either verbal or 'hey, did you notice how hot I am?' show and tell. He seems a little ill-informed.

F wrote: "M wrote: "I get it. And I think your interpretation is how it’s meant to be read.

That said, even though 20 years is objectively time enough to have “gotten over” trauma, Rune clearly hasn’t. He ..."

Point taken! We've just been through several chapters with various scenes that demonstrate just how oblivious Addam can be about lots of things. He has gotten by his whole life on his charm, and I think he's so used to it working for him that he doesn't quite know how to turn it off. He's certainly not being willfully insensitive to Rune's situation; it seems more likely that he just doesn't know how to respond to trauma of that magnitude, so he just carries on with what's always worked for him in the past.

I wonder if the terracotta army will come back in a future book either fighting alongside Rune or against him.

Rereading the conversation between Rune and Addam makes me more convinced Rune knows who his talla is.

M wrote: "F wrote: "M wrote: "I get it. And I think your interpretation is how it’s meant to be read.

That said, even though 20 years is objectively time enough to have “gotten over” trauma, Rune clearly h..."

Ah, the advantages of being a rich, handsome male scion... I bet that's entirely part of KD's intentions. I'm going to read again to see if that seems more obvious to me now.

Hannah wrote: "Rereading the conversation between Rune and Addam makes me more convinced Rune knows who his talla is."

I am really anxious to see if this is the case. I am definitely leaning to this interpretation.

Damn it I don't know how to reply here so @Hanna will have to work lol hi! I always thought Rune knows and I wondered if it was one of the attackers (he repeated said hate can be strong as love and about enemies being tallas), but this time I noticed he also says something like "how it would be having that connection with someone" not explicitly a good one, just a talla one, so now I'm wondering if he just thinks he's too broken to have a talla (it's something I'm really really crossing my fingers to get answers in THT)

Iza wrote: "Damn it I don't know how to reply here so @Hanna will have to work lol hi! I always thought Rune knows and I wondered if it was one of the attackers (he repeated said hate can be strong as love and..."

I'm with you on this. It's a toss up between thinking he's too broken to have a talla, or he knows his is an enemy (masked). On the other hand, Addam seems really certain that something epically special happened when Addam kicked Rurik's ass in the clearing and got Rune out of the memory.

And I'm wondering-- is ONLY one talla possible?

Meghan wrote: "Iza wrote: "Damn it I don't know how to reply here so @Hanna will have to work lol hi! I always thought Rune knows and I wondered if it was one of the attackers (he repeated said hate can be strong..."

Suppose Rune does believe it was one of the attackers, therefore it can't be Addam. But...what if it is one and the same?

@F Lewis That's actually a secret fear I have, that Addam was there that night, even if it was a situation where he didn't have a choice or he himself doesn't remember for some reason.

Hannah wrote: "@F Lewis That's actually a secret fear I have, that Addam was there that night, even if it was a situation where he didn't have a choice or he himself doesn't remember for some reason."

omg, this was never a wisp of a thought and now it's blowing my brain up! What if Addam wasn't under his own control and doesn't remember? We've seen these things happen or be alluded to in some degree a few times. Dark, guys, very dark...

On the bright side, wouldn't Quinn have some clues about this? If he hasn't shown any angst about it, I'm hoping this is not a thing.

Also, the whole thing was very elaborate and there were several males (all males?) there. It was a very planned, coordinated thing. Why? What purpose was it meant to serve? Was Rune supposed to survive or not? Agh!

@Meghan I always thought Rune was supposed to survive, and Brand because he's Rune's companion. I've always thought that night only happened to, for whatever reason, break him. Everyone else seemed to have been killed more quickly, but they already had Brand before Rune even came back

Meghan wrote: "Hannah wrote: "@F Lewis That's actually a secret fear I have, that Addam was there that night, even if it was a situation where he didn't have a choice or he himself doesn't remember for some reaso..."

Quinn only sees forward, not back in time. Let's... let's just pretend we never considered it. We'll all feel better.

Yep, ok, let's do that. Sounds good to me. LOL
:D

I agree with @megan in that I think the absolute violence of it was meant to break or discredit Rune. I also like to think that the perpetrators were under some sort of mind control because I don’t want to believe that anyone could willingly be so evil.