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Andren ordersFenn to engineer the revival ofSamra Andren visitsRuko&taunts his fate He leaves him wPinkPink Ruko finds one ofBenna’s ribbons which gives him strength Neema&Cain escapeVabras when he wakes by jumping off the garrison into the sea below They are saved byAbbotFort who cleaned his appearance&hid under the chickens in theFox shrine&disguised w them on a boatTala&Sol is on his boat too!Onto the next book!

Nisthala goes to the dragon temple&takes the Dragon’s Eye fromJadu&becomes their queen I think her&Yasila are pretending to be working w Andren for now Neema&Cain are surrounded byHounds@the Gate they try to make a run for itTala helps fight Vabras getsCain Neema stays for himVabras is acting weird turns out theFox took over him LOL

They escape the throne room&plan to escape but there are SamranHounds everywhere carrying out a massacre on innocents Andren planned to paint Bersun as a traitor who staged a coup to keep the throne To some ppl the details don’t make sense but if they say anything they’re killed They lit the Fox palace on fire&killed them all

Yasila recruits Shal to be Nasthilia’s commander when she rules Helia (?) The contenders are brought to the throne room Bersun reveals himself as Andren&Rivenna poisons Ruko Andren uses the SoulStealer spell to become Ruko They lace the walls w Dragonscale&Rivenna is stabbed w Hurun-Tooth which returns the Guardians+they bind them to the walls w the Ketuan songs Neema found for him

TheFox tells AbbotFort to hide for the Return Neema starts to pack an escape bag She ends up near the service hut like she did in her DragonTrial vision She is escorted back to her rooms by Havoc who says the emperor wants to see her in her opening ceremony dress Neema rips the dress & instead wears a tunic w her Raven scarf

WTF I just realized if Andren is playing Bersun since the duel that means he allowed the exile of Yana HIS OWN DAUGHTER which makes it10x more horrible
I wonder ifYasilia knows the truth since she visitedBersun many times&has the imperial suite
As conflicted as I am abt how I feel abt Yasilia a part of me feels bad for her bc she’s lost EVERYONE her parents Yana Ruko Pyke Andren-ish & she’s holding onto Nasthilia

ALSO it is revealed that Neema has the Raven fragment, Cain has the whole Fox, & I think Ruko has a piece of the tiger bc he can talk to something in his head

The Hound Trial had them scaling a wall Cain came in 1st Neema 2nd Ruko shows compassion&saved Tala from falling Fenn was captured by Hounds Ruko chokes Cain during their fight&i think the unconsciousness wakes up the Fox who takes over full time; (Bc they are all tied they go to the Dragon Trial Neema sees a vision of her exiling herself Ruko sees the throne Neema tells him about the Raven warning of the Return

It was so good when Neema was talking with Ruko after the Dragon Trial He was trying to be nice by offering her a spot at court but when she told him about failing to kill him&stop the Return he was comfortable talking so coldly to her which revealed to her that he can be compassionate but his armored side wins out I like that she told him to start thinking for himself

The Hound Trial had them scaling a wall Cain came in 1st Neema 2nd Ruko shows compassion&saved Tala from falling Fenn was captured by Hounds Ruko chokes Cain during their fight&i think the unconsciousness wakes up the Fox who takes over full time ;( Bc they are all tied they go to the Dragon Trial Neema sees a vision of her exiling herself Ruko sees the throne Neema tells him about the Raven warning of the Return

Ruko wins his fight w theVisitor killing him Neema realizes she has to take the throne to stop the world from ending The 2nd part of the monkey trial is an interpretive performance Neema channels Sol to put on a performance that paints her as a Raven empress SO COOL The emperor goes to the prisons to visit the prisoner Benna heard TURNS OUT Bersun is actually Andren who trapped Bersun’s bro Gedrun to steal his face

In the BearTrial they are interrogated&physically challenged Tala tellsNeema her wife took their kid off the island&she blames Neema Neema comes in2nd of the trialHavoc drops out TheMonkey trial is a exhibit of their artCain&Neema are scheduled to fight During TheFox takes overCain&Neema slices her neckCain says has all the fragments of theFox in him butNeema figured He slips in&out of control&doesn’t trust himself

Cain is being watched by the other Ravens & gets a visit from Sol in the form of the book of tales Spl tell Cain the tale of the Fox leaving the Hidden Realm&never being able to return so it had to find hosts so it could return when they sleep The Gox chose Cain when he was a baby left in the cold Cain is in disbelief&throws the book out the window but it transforms in Sol & flies away

Havoc is such a p.o.s
I’m so sorry I suspected Fenn in the beginning
I luv Cain + Neema
Tala is over Neema & I’d feel the same way if I were in her position It seems like Neema could have a chance at winning lol
At the end of the last chapter Sol said something weird hinting at getting rid of Cain so he’s have Neema to himself eeks

Ruko visits Benna She tells him abt her&Yana’s revenge plans&he bribes the guards to let her escape Neema goes to theOx party Cain shows up&they dance :P In the middle Havoc&hounds come to bring them to the emperor Katsan takes the blame for stealing the Blade&tests the emperor&sees he’s a fraud she gets to leave the island Havoc suggests Gaida committed suicide w the tea but Neema finds out he poisoned her

Cain is almost attacked by a tiger Neema joins the Ox Trial&wins by making herself useful Cain 2nd The fights go onRuko&Tala have a close fightCain destroysHavoc Neema fightsKatsan w the fans from theRaven chest She uses what she learned from the dreams&stories fromSol to guide her Neema uses the fans to strikeKatsan’s forearm to the bone They have to amputate Them emperor was expecting Neema to die but she won

Ngl there was a weird format during the last 3 chapters from the dinner to the fight It felt choppy and unlike the writing throughout the previous parts of the book which was weird I also thought it was weird how Neema was able to come to the conclusion that Benna was the one behind it when there wasn’t a lot to evidence
& I still don’t understand where Benna got the money from

Neema throws up the remaining fragments In her room she sees the Tales of the Raven book on her bed It opens for her&reveals it is the fragment of the Solitary Raven or Sol He explains that the other fragments were right abt the Last Return but instead of killing Ruko he wants to make Neema empress Neema agrees in helping Sol but suggests making Cain emperor instead She absorbs him& they are going to work together

When Neema wakes up Benna explains the Bear came to her in a dream&she absorbed a fragment of it It’s revealed that Benna drugged Neema w the Dragonscale & stole the blade to frame Ruko bc she was friends w Yana when she passed thru her town & wanted revenge The Hounds come in & arrest her for interrupting Neema’s fight

Neema fights Ruko Cain guides her to be defense&just dodge his attacks It works but @ the end the Raven slows time to try to persuade her to let them in It says if Ruko is emperor the Last Return will come She absorbs the Raven but then realizes she can’t kill another Valit&pushes the Raven out Ruko knocks Neema out when time speeds up He notices indigo color in her hair Benna protects Nemo’s&Caim gets a medic

@ Gaida’s funeral dinner Neema tries to talk to the “emperor” to let her leave all this behind but he denies her&says Vabrand is taking over the investigation She spends the dinner miserable&gets drunk bc she knows she he will kill her soon The Emperor announces civil unrest&wants to hurry the trails so it will be 2 trials a day
Benna dreams abt the Bear

Neema asks the Fox Abbott Ish to get her a boat to leave He suspects she found out smth dangerous Neema is summoned to Gaida’s funeral The tailor begrudgingly brings her a dress&reveals that she never wanted the banquet dress back&Benna shouldn’t have thrown it in the room w her So this means that Benna lied abt the dress&the money WHY? Neema convinced herself there’s a misunderstanding bc Benna’s so good

In her old roomNeema checks the secret compartmentCain built for her She findsRack’s report on her&a book 4 her from Gaida w annotations Neema pieces together the secret Gaida found was Bersun was killed by Andren& Vabras brought his brother Gedrun to pretend to be him so there was no conflict or war over Bersun’s death She destroys the report&decides she’s in danger by knowing this&needs to leave the island

It’s the day of the Raven Trial It is a 3hr exam on a bunch of info about the empire Everyone hates the idea of it but Neema points out they’ll need to know the info as rulers Katsan gets Cain to sit out for 15mins bc he is so close to Neema&she made the exam Neema&Cain lay in the grass together for 15mins finally getting a moment to relax from everything
Ughh I luv this so much I just want to read it all day

TheRaven is hurt thatNeema didn’t let them in so it leaves her to go to the balcony&overhears the emperor&Vabras talking aboutNeema uncovering too much TheEmperor wants to kill her butVabras was the one to suggest letting her find the thief&blaming them Neema’s guess was spot on TheEmperor hums song from banquet&freezesTheRaven It decides to forgetabt it bc it witnessed many things it wasn’tsupposed 2 seetoday

Neema&Cain interrogateYasila in the imperial suite They learnGaida found smth bad abt the emperor&spoke toYasila in Neema’s old rooms to getYasila to side w her Yasila didn’t&told Vabras Neema pieces that the emperor orderedGaida’s death w the tea but some1 else used the blade to stab her TheRaven seesNisthala she is Chosen but Yasila keeps her Neema fights Tala&rejects theRaven’s help but she wins a point

When Andren died Pyke came for Yasila She revealed she mastered a freezing spell & gave Pyke a message for the Dragons demanding protection&she scarring Pyke’s face w her initial

Yasila given to theDragons on Helia by her mom She grew up there but never Chosen She learned everything abt their ways&befriended VisitorPyke @16 she escaped&stole their Dragonscale oil they relied on for spells She went to Andren w a marriage proposal They made agreement wDragon that Yasila would return some oil every year in exchange for protection

Neema tellsVabras abtGaida’s tea He’s sus ofKatsan TheRaven watchesNeema sleep&alerts her thatRuko is in her room to talk The note he got was theOrder ofExile fromYana’s body He says his mother has the only supply of Dragonscale oil Every1 involved in Yana’s exile was tricked Ruko to the orchard Shal poisoned & Neema drugged While she’s sleeping TheRaven writes the story of Yasilia & the Dragons

The contenders rooms are moved Neema asksSuru abt seeingRuko in the orchard All contenders have an alibi Neema fightsShal but Neema is seeing theRaven who aids her in her fight She almost kills Shal w her shield @his throat She investigatesGaida’s room She learns that Gaida practiced the song for the emperor inNeema’s old room where she saw Yasilia Neema realizesGaida was dead b4 stabbed&drugged thru her tea