Status Updates From The Mercy of Dawn (Fires of...

20% of the book and still ABSOLUTELY no hint of what the plot or issue is.

Im about to throw a fit with an unprecedented amount of rage

Why are all these books so freaked out I’m irritated

I smell potential don’t let me down 🤞

Aaaah Mikael 🫠
~ “Lady Cyril is visiting from Helia.” Mikael glanced between her and the guards, and the most infuriating smile tugged at his lips. “And apparently has a masochistic streak, so she plans to join some of our training of the recruits, entirely of her own free will.”

The way tiny delicate Runa scares the shit out of her son is hilarious 😂😂😂
~ “Oh, no, I do. If my mother finds out I didn’t, which she will because she has eyes and ears everywhere, she will kill me, find someone to stir my corpse back to life, and then kill me again. So please, Lady Cyril”—he gestured vaguely to the stairs across the atrium—“after you.”

Ah well yess of course 🤭🤭🤭
~ Mikael was just bigger than Dion.
Not bulky, but taller. A touch broader in the shoulders.
A dash more wild and handsome⁠—
Oh, fucking hells.
She’d had too much to drink.
And if Mikael’s smirk was to be trusted, her observations…well they were less than fucking subtle.

The fact that everyone who’s supposed to care for her keeps failing her so miserably breaks my heart 😭💔
~ Cyril blinked. “Am I alright?”
“Has no one asked you?” He tipped his head at her. “La—Cyril. Someone you knew, for however short of a time, died today. If no one has checked to see how you are doing, I am disappointed.”
Truthfully, no one had.

It’s just pain on pain on pain 😭
~ The gouged-out eyes that should have been hazel and full of bright curiosity. The golden blonde hair, soaked half through with burgundy.
A muffled noise still escaped her.
No. Nonononononono⁠—

I love Runa so much 🥺♥️
“Mikael told me what happened yesterday in the hall. He said Dion was…rough with you.” […] “And I realize what happens between you two isn’t necessarily my business, but…Cyril, if you ever feel unsafe here, will you please let someone know?”

I wish I could punch him 😡
~ To say the sort of things he’d said, to pick her to pieces and wield the entire notion of her dead parents as, what…some sort of leverage? Some sort of playing piece to get her to act on his terms? It was sickening, honestly, and familiar in a way Mikael wasn't proud to admit.

Dion makes me so angry and sad 😤😭
~ A man of his rank and order was bound to have a confrontational streak. He just hadn’t realized that would include such a wicked streak of cruelty too.
To his own flesh and blood, no less.
Not that the dark-haired wisp of a woman didn’t have a lick of venom in her own eyes, of course. But he saw the fear that existed there too.

The way I gasped & sobbed 😭 the way Cyr thinks of herself sometime just shreds my heart to ribbons 💔
~ She paused at the threshold.
“If it means anything, I… I’m sorry that I’m here and she isn’t.”
Runa’s eyes went wide and Cyril walked out of the room.

I love seeing a mother scold her adult son 😂
~ “The woman is abrasive and rude.”
“Good gods, so are you!” She set a hand on her hip and pinched her brow. A groan of exasperation left her. “Gods forbid a woman doesn’t throw herself at you the moment she meets you…”

Mikael is so mean 😤
~ “Was that everything? Or is there something missing from our intelligence that might make you remarkable, Lady Cyril? I’m just dying to know.”
Cyril could think of about a dozen remarkable ways to tell him to fuck right off.

👹🤭😂
~ “Am I not allowed to take an interest in a guest from a foreign land?” Mikael said cooly, his jaw tense.
Cyril stifled her laughter into a quiet snort. “Not when it’s some shitty ploy to talk about yourself. I have no interest in your rank, or title, or hobbies, Your Highness, and best of luck finding someone at this table who does.”

🤭🤭🤭
~ Outgoing was an interesting choice of words.
Cyril would've opted for several others that started with arrogant and ended somewhere around predatory, but it wasn't her place to comment.

I had *almost* forgotten how much Dion pisses me off 😤