this was genuinely a roller coaster of a book, like SO much happened. 

The few good things that came out of Lance nearly dying and Tory and Darius’ failed divine moment was the truce between the heirs and the twins. New friendships forming like Tory made Lance a friendship bracelet 🥹, and Darcy and Darius started to slowly become friends too, especially once Lance was arrested. Darius finally finds out about bluelance and makes sure Seth stops manipulating them. And to me one of the ABSOLUTE best things was Tory accidentally freeing Catalina from Lionel’s dark compulsion 👏👏. AND helped Xavier gain freedom by exposing his order to the public!! 

Plus, Tory and Darcy finally staked their claim to the throne!! 

I was so happy that the heirs and Lance decided not to let the star cross bond be final for Tory and Darius. Like they fully convinced him to keep trying, and are doing everything in their power to push them together despite the stars. And how is it that good things always come out of bad things that happen? Like Caleb had accidentally hurt Tory during hunting, breaking her spine, harming his friendship with Darius, BUT it furthered Seth and Caleb’s relationship 👏👏. Like poor Seth already knows he’s in love with Caleb and he couldn’t help but reassure him after the accident and made a move before backing off 😭. But why couldn’t they just talk together because they have the biggest miscommunication trope 😩. But I was so happy when Tory and Darcy finally found out that Gabriel was their brother 👏👏. We met all of Rosalie’s mates 👏👏. It’s so crazy to think they were all in Darkmore for years together before she came. 

Sweet Darius, he’s running behind tory every morning and getting her coffee. It’s that little consistent action that shows he’s all in and still cares for her so much. Y’all, the amplifying chamber scene with Caleb, Darius, and Tory was 🥵🥵. The only good thing that came out of Lance getting arrested was Darcy being so heartbroken that she gave Tory a reality check about love and Tory’s fears and insecurities which led to Tory and Darius FINALLY talking. And Darius declared his love for her and told her that he would never stop trying to earn her forgiveness and never stop loving her 😭😭. It was so undeniably sweet that tory gave Darius the kiss of the phoenix that allowed him to fight off any magic including dark coercion 😭. 

The supply closet scene with the delicia crystal with bluelance was 🥵🥵. It was the long spicy scene we’ve been waiting for. It’s so cruel that bluelance had their best spiciest scene and the day after Lance gets arrested 😭😭. Fuck Kylie and fuck Lance for lying 😭😭. Like what the fuck things were going so good for them. 

How is it that so much escalated at the very end? Like poor Diego only wanted to help Darcy and I cried so freaking much when he died because all he ever wanted was to be accepted and loved 😭. “I just wanted to be useful. Did I do okay? Was I good friend?” he asked, a tear rolling free of his eye. “You’re the best friend, Diego,” I promised and a smile pulled up the corner of his mouth ever-so-slightly. “You always felt like… home.” that broke my heart 😭😭. Then a while chain reaction of events occurred all at the hands of Lionel 😐. Like what the fuck. Not only did he torture Tory, he enslaved her to be his guardian, forced her to be in a position to give herself up to the shadows and is basically hijacking her brain into loving him 🤦‍♀️.

“He was going to be okay. We had time stretching out before us, years and years and years. And I was going to cherish every damn one of them. I wasn’t going to let a second go by without coveting each moment we had together.” (Darcy) 

I conjured tiny brown vines into existence, plaiting and braiding them together until they formed a ring around his wrist.

“What’s this?”

“I promised you a friendship bracelet. We can get together for a slumber party another time though.”

“I’ll treasure it always. Goodnight, Tory.”

“Goodnight.”

“The honest truth is that I’ve never known a home before I came to Zodiac Academy. I’ve been a disappointment to everyone in my life. My family think I’m useless. And I thought that too for a while…but I can help with this. I can be useful. But not to them, to my friends. To people who have accepted me as I am, who never asked me to be anything but me.” (He deserved so much better 😭😭)

“I’m okay with you being my weakness, Blue. Because that means my weakness is a badass, hot as fuck Phoenix with enough fire in her veins to rival the sun. So come at me stars, I’m invincible!” 😭😭

“Sometimes I wondered if I was addicted to his flesh. He was ecstasy embodied, a drug that left my mind in a fog of bliss. It was weird to think I’d spent so much of my life without him. Now, a future apart seemed impossible. Unbearable.” (Darcy)

“You’ve put that dead body in that bag, haven’t you?” (Darcy)

“Waste not, want not.” (Lance)

“Don’t worry, Darcy, I was gentle about it. I dried him out like beef jerky then folded him up like origami, didn’t I Lance?” (Darius)

“He did, it was very tasteful actually.” (Lance)

“Should I expect a lesson in bone magic soon then?” (Darcy)

“I reckon Lance has been giving you plenty of bone lessons already, hasn’t he?” (Darius) 

“You two are… well, fuck the law for saying you can’t be together.” (Darius)

“Fuck the stars too, Darius. Fuck every shining, gleaming one of them.” (Darcy)

“She was my light, shining as brightly as all the stars put together. And I was never going to let that light dim.” (Xavier 🥹)

Lance: I can’t wait that long and I’m gonna make a real mess of this paperwork if I keep messaging you.

Darcy: Tut tut. Are you jerking off at your desk, sir!

Lance: Well it’s difficult not to get distracted. I’ve got my eye on a beautiful Cardinal Magic hardback with a leather bookmark pushed between its supple pages. Is it cheating if I stick the tip in?

Lance: Couldn’t do it, Blue. You’re the only first edition I want.

“Was that better than the Cardinal Magic hardback?”

“That was even better than the collector’s edition of Advanced Numerology, beautiful. And that little slut knows how to make my spine tingle.”

“You’re one dirty, book talking Vampire, you know that?”

“I know that. And you’re one sweet, bitey little Countess.”

“One day, Blue, I’m gonna wear your teeth marks wherever I go.”

“I’ll wear yours too, Lance. Just three and a half more years to go.”

“Yeah. Are you sure I’m worth it?”

“Every day.”

“My boy, I’d come for you if you were held by a million Nymphs. There’s no lengths I wouldn’t go to.”

“Why?”

“Because I love you and your sister. And that’s what you do for the people you love.”

Because I understood that. I’d take on a million Nymphs for her and my parents too. But I was definitely going to need a real sword.

“The Heirs Officially Ruling Everybody Society? You mean you’re the HORES?”

I shared a look with Tory, snorting a laugh. It was like Geraldine didn’t even realise what her club name spelled.

“Oh you want me to go deep, do you, Cal?” (Seth)

“Stop flirting with me, asshole.” (Caleb)

“Stop smiling so much when I do then.” (Seth)

“I swear to the stars, Caleb Altair, if you’re screwing with me-”

“I bought over three hundred thousand lottery tickets. In fact, I’ve been buying that many every year since you lamented on your sixteenth birthday that you’ll never get to stick your dick in a moon crater. Figured it had to pay off eventually.”

“You did this for me?”

“The moon’s your favourite thing in the world, man. And I never know what to buy you.”

“The stars might have decided that you can never be mine. But I am yours. No matter what. I don’t care where we end up or who we’re with, I’ll always be yours. And I’m going to fix the damage I did to us even if the stars don’t care. I’m going to prove to you that I could have been worthy of you if I’d just listened to my heart sooner.” (Darius)

“It won’t change anything.” (Tory)

“If it changes the way you look at me then that’s enough.” (Darius)

“Blue was no ordinary student. And I’d accepted the insanity of this a long time ago. I’d stopped asking myself what was going to happen long term. I lived for each moment. And I knew I was getting more reckless. But seeing her in classes, unable to touch her, kiss those lips that were as soft as sin, drove me to the brink of insanity. I was a man unhinged. And the one thing I knew for certain, was that I didn’t ever want to get my right mind back.” (Lance)

“I’d never had that all-consuming first love everyone talked about during my school years. I’d thought it wasn’t for me. But I guessed the stars had decided to keep me waiting a little longer. And now I had it, I was determined for this love to be my one and only. My last and everlasting.” (Lance)

“This girl would be the ruin of me. But I was too far gone to care. I’d let her destroy me brick by brick because if I had to fall, I was more than happy for it to be by her hands.” (Lance)

“Everything in my life was brighter with her. It was good and sweet and perfect. I didn’t know what I’d done for the stars to gift me this girl. I could never have offered them enough to earn this good fortune. And I wasn’t going to squander it. I knew what I had. And I’d protect her until my dying breath. And even then I’d still fight to keep her safe beyond the veil. Whatever it took. Always.” (Lance)

“He kissed me like he’d die if he didn’t, like the only reason his heart was beating at all was so that it could be mine, and I kissed him like the world could cave in around us and I wouldn’t even care so long as I was still in his arms when it ended.” (Tory)

“How are you?”

“How’s Blue?”

“Fucking furious. She beat the shit out of Seth in front of the whole school. He’s been howling all fucking night and day since.”

“That’s my girl.”

“We just had to climb this momentous hurdle and seek the light on the other side. Because no one would ever compare to him. No one would ever own my heart but that man. It was a truth cast in iron, impossible to undo. And if I had to wait months or years or an eternity for him, I would.” (Darcy)

“I’d take death over life without you.” (Darius)

“I’m such a fuck up.” (Caleb)

“You’re not a fuck up. You’re the most thoughtful, generous, amazing fucker I know.” (Seth)

“Maybe you look at me through rose tinted glasses.” (Caleb)

“I don’t. When I look at you, I promise you I see it all. The good and the bad, the light and the dark. And you’re still the best person I know.” (Seth)

“You’re the best person I know, too.” (Caleb)

“Are you sure about this?” (Darius)

“Fuck fate. No one gets to pick my future for me. I choose what I want and I want you.” (Tory)

“Fuck fate.” (Darius)

“You seriously need to start playing it cool with that girl. You’ve totally lost your game when it comes to her.” (Seth)

“Her busty Barrys have him blinded.” (Darius)

“I can’t help it. She’s like my own personal brand of fucking insane, curvaceous, utterly addictive Killblaze.” (Max)

“I wasn’t worthy of your love then and I’m still not worthy of it now. But if you gave me forever then I’d spend every second of it trying to be.” (Darius)

“The world means nothing to me without her.”