Status Updates From Envoûtée par le duc (Ashurs...

me after reading Hugh Hobart scenes at the end and the little "background" about him: aw! so sad! Alexa play Despacito

'“He’s mad, Rafe,” Charlotte whispered. “He thinks he should be the Duke of Ashurst. Mrs. Lusty says he has proof. Perhaps you should humor him?”'
bruh

'“Charlie,” Rafe said, turning the pistol on Lottie Lusty. “Lock the door, sweetheart. I don’t think we need any more visitors.”
The abbess raised her hands almost leisurely, seemingly neither impressed nor shocked by the events transpiring in her business establishment.'
i love how Lottie Lusty's just chillin. also Lottie Lusty: disappointed but not surprised

'Charlotte didn’t quite meet Rafe’s eyes before he picked up a plate and availed himself of a bit of everything that had been loaded onto the sideboard in the morning room.'
same Rafe! maybe that's the reason im fat HAHAHAHAADGDSJHDHSJ

Nicole: i will never love any man. not ever.
Rafe: um... ok. noted.

'Nicole nodded, but then lifted her chin in a sort of wild defiance. “I will never let that happen to me. I will never let love do to me what it’s doing to Lydia. I will never love any man. Not ever.”'
i read How To Tame a Lady first, *spoiler alert* she fell in love with and married Lucas Paine, the Marquess of Basingstoke. dude, the Irony™ LMFAAOOOASGDHUDJDB

why Fitz gotta be killed off like that to justify the addition of the hurt/comfort trope? 😢

'“No! It’s not true. He can’t be dead. He promised me. You’re lying. You’re a terrible, evil man! I hate you!”'
hurt people hurt people

'“It’s not your assistance I’m after,” Hobart said quickly, rather harshly. He then smiled widely, as if to soften his words.'
he sounds like a cartoon villain sksksksk

'They started over. Which made perfect sense to them, even if no one else understood. Not that they cared what anyone else understood.'
begin_again-by-taylor_swift.mp3

whenever romance books say something like "she smelled the maleness of him..." or "his smell was undeniably male..." Like the guy sprayed some Straight Male™ Eau de Toilette bought from a duty free in an airport after being persuaded by reviews found on fragantica dot com and sniffing on a sheet of paper sprayed with said cologne. im confused AND genuinely curious! how the hell should that smell like?

Rafe: “Want to know something else? Want to know what I think about, Charlie? How I want to lay you down in soft grass and take the pins from your hair and the clothes from your body. And then touch you, everywhere, all over…and kiss you, and then sink deep inside you…”
me: *nervous laughter* what?

'“Nosy little Charlie, has to know everything,” he said almost boozily, as if he could be deep in his cups.'
is there an 1800's fever that makes you act like an inebriated person? i googled and found nothing 🤷🏻‍♀️

ugh! there is it again that kiss-her-to-shut-her-up thing. hear her out, my god! 🤦🏻‍♀️

'The man nodded, and then took one last look at the sky before shouting something unintelligible and rudely pushing Rafe and Charlotte into the gutter.
A moment later, a large chunk of masonry smashed on the flagway precisely where she and Rafe had been standing only that one moment earlier.'
sounds planned to make Hobbart a "hero" but ok

can Rafe's mother take a backseat for like 5 minutes? good lord! the fuck is this woman talking about? the audacity of her assumptions. LMAAAOOOO im suffering from another bout of secondhand embarrassment for Charlotte again

'"While Lydia ignored them all, choosing instead to read for at least the twentieth time the letter from Fitz that she held on her lap beneath the table..."'
she's not even of legal age! this is why is i like to judge history (even if it's fictional) from today's POV like how Shane Madej did in an episode of Buzzfeed Unsolved.
who would've thought, of all people, Lydia... it's always the quiet ones sksksksk

'“I shouldn’t know what I would do without you, you know. You’re my dearest friend in the whole world.”'
dude he kissed you and you let him and he's your "dearest friend in the whole world"???? bitchwtf?!

'The Duke of Malvern was an extraordinarily handsome young man, with twinkling green eyes and a fine crop of dark blond hair worn in the latest style... He was tall... as tall as Rafe... and much of the same age... He wore his fashionable clothes as if born to them…'
he reminds me of Matthew Fairchild! minus Matthew's Oscar Wilde temperament.

'Oh, and she’d like a glass of wine, please, chilled. This she directed at Charlotte, who could only suppose that Lady Daughtry had taken her for a servant or lady’s companion.'
im suffering from secondhand embarrassment for Charlotte

at least Rafe's self-aware 💁🏻‍♀️

'Rafe drank down his wine in one long swallow and then collapsed into the chair behind the desk. “So this is what it’s like to be in love?” he mused quietly. And then he frowned. “Damn. Now what do I do?”'
👀👀👀👀👀 *Magnus Bane voice* interesting 👀👀👀👀

'But this was more. So much more. This…this feeling, this strange, exhilarating, frightening, unexpected feeling—this was more than loving her as his comfortable friend, as his helpful companion.
He’d fight for her. If she asked him, he would unhesitatingly die for her. He’d sell his soul to Hell for her.'
i live for realizations such as this one in a non-slow burn idiots-to-lovers trope!