Vanserra

taking a rain walk

going to a library and showing each other their favourite books

visiting a waterpark together

taking a walk through a park or a forest and admiring the colors

going to the zoo and pointing out the coolest animals

playing disk golf together

doing a scavenger hunt for cute little trinkets

visiting a museum about something you know nothing about

going to a bookshop and selecting books for each other

having a picknick with lots of seasonal food

visiting a brewery and doing a tasting

going to a café with an amazing tea selection

watching movies together while it storms outside

visiting a park and playing basketball or football together

going on a bicycle tour and finding new places

making pottery together and carving in their initials as a memento for the cute date

playing board games in a small café

going thrift shopping together or checking out a flea market

getting trash bags and cleaning up a public place together

going on a night hike and enjoying the dark and silent world with just each other as company

singing karaoke together

going inline skating and trying not to fall too often

swimming in a lake together

visiting some old castles/churches/etc. they’ve always wanted to check out

going to a fair and playing games and going on the Ferris wheel

picking apples together

taking a painting class and gifting each other the painting they made

going to a concert of their favourite band

playing paintball as a team or against each other

going to the movies and buying their favourite treats

watching the sunrise or sunset together

cooking for each other and judging each other’s food like they’re on Top Chef

going on hayrides

visiting an escape room and trying to solve the puzzles

going camping nearby and enjoying the time without distractions

visiting an amusement park and going on all the fun rides

going to a restaurant they’ve never been to and trying new food together

trying to learn a new skill together

doing a movie marathon with childhood favourites

checking out all the wonderful plants in the botanical garden

visiting an old cemetery and making up stories for the different graves

going to a trampoline park together

watching a drag show together

renting a paddleboat and seeing how far they can go

checking out lost places together

doing a photo shoot at a cool location

taking dance lessons together

going on a guided city tour even if both grew up there

doing a pub crawl and trying different drinks

volunteering together for something that’s important to both of them

“Tell me, could you love me?” he asks, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Of course.” I laugh, not sure of the answer I am supposed to give. But the question is so oddly phrased that I can hardly deny him. I love my parents’ murderer; I suppose I could love anyone. I’d like to love him.

“I wonder,” he says. “What would you do for me?”

“I don’t know what you mean.” This riddling figure with flinty eyes isn’t the Locke who stood on the rooftop of his estate and spoke so gently to me or who chased me, laughing, through its halls. I am not quite sure who this Locke is, but he has put me entirely off balance.

“Would you forswear a promise for me?” He is smiling at me as though he’s teasing.

“What promise?” He sweeps me around him, my leather slippers pirouetting over the packed earth. In the distance, a piper begins to play.

“Any promise,” he says lightly, although it is no light thing he is asking.

“I guess it depends,” I say, because the real answer, a flat no, isn’t what anyone wants to hear.

“Do you love me enough to give me up?” I am sure my expression is stricken. He leans closer. “Isn’t that a test of love?”

“I—I don’t know,” I say. All this must be leading up to some declaration on his part, either of affection or of a lack of it.

“Do you love me enough to weep over me?” The words are spoken against my neck. I can feel his breath, making the tiny hairs stand up, making me shudder with an odd combination of desire and discomfort.

“You mean if you were hurt?”

“I mean if I hurt you.”

My skin prickles. I don’t like this. But at least I know what to say. “If you hurt me, I wouldn’t cry. I would hurt you back.”

His step falters as we sweep over the floor. “I’m sure you’d—”

And then he breaks off speaking, looking behind him. I can barely think. My face is hot. I dread what he will say next.

“Time to change partners,” a voice says, and I look to see that it’s the worst person possible: Cardan. “Oh,” he says to Locke. “Did I steal your line?”

Remember how Locke died, right? Except that we didn’t actually know the details. We know Taryn killed him with a letter opener, we know she did it when she was telling him that she was pregnant, we knew he was being an ass (because he’s Locke and he’s an asshole) BUT we never read how he died. We never read about the surprise in his eyes when he realized what she’d done. We never knew his last words if there were any. We never knew if he begged for life before he actually died - WE NEVER READ ABOUT HOW THE LIFE LEFT HIS EYES AND THAT ALWAYS ANNOYED ME BECAUSE DO YOU KNOW HOW SATISFYING IT WOULD HAVE BEEN TO READ THAT MOTHERFUCKER’S DEATH, THE HORROR IN HIS FACE WHEN HE REALIZED THAT HIS INITIAL FEAR AND SUSPICIONS OF TARYN POSSIBLY KILLING HIM WAS THERE FOR A REASON AND NOW HE’S PAYING FOR HIS IDIOCY

But at the same time, the fact that he died behind the scenes and the actual event of it was never included in the story is genius. Locke loves stories. And not just as someone who masterminded it and stood in the corner watching the entire thing unravel itself. To a certain degree, he likes to be involved too. Like hello, the love triangle with Jude and Taryn But then he dies. AND IT WASN’T INVOLVED IN THE STORY. THE IRONY OF THE SELF-PROCLAIMED MASTER OF REVELS, LOVER AND MAKER OF STORIES WAS EXCLUDED FROM ONE WITH THE TRUTH OF HIS DEATH BURIED UNDERNEATH HUMAN LIES AND GREATER HAPPENINGS - THAT IS CRUELTY.

_____________________________

Dotted line:

..............................................................

Iconic line:

(who said it + pages)

the cruel prince:

"I do not yearn to be their equal. In my heart, I yearn to best them" jude duarte, 31.

"But I am done with being weak. I am done with being good. I think I am going to be something else." jude duarte, 43.

"Because you're like a story that hasn't happened yet" locke, 101

"Instead of being afraid, I could become something to fear" jude duarte, 197

"If I cannot be better than them, I will become so much worse." jude duarte, 210

"But we all want stupid things. That doesn't mean we should have them" jude duarte, 219

"If you hurt me, I wouldn't cry. I would hurt you back." jude duarte, 231

"I hate how I feel around him, the irrational panic when I touch his skin" jude duarte, 262

"Prince Cardan is my prisoner" jude duarte, 267

"There are so many broken things that I don't know how to fix. But I know how to fight" jude duarte, 276

"Children can laugh all day and still cry themselves to sleep at night." jude duarte, 286

"I forgot how charming he can be — and how dangerous that is" jude duarte, 298

"Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It's disgusting, and I can't stop" cardan, 307

"You really do want me. And you hate it" jude duarte, 307

"I can be charming. I charmed you, didn't I?" "Do not expect others to share my depraved tastes"

the wicked king:

"She liked it when she was angry, too. Angry was better than scared" epilogue

"Power is much easier to acquire than it is to hold on to" Madoc, 6

"It amuses her to keep me out of trouble" cardan, 14

"I have heard that for mortals, the feeling of falling in love is very like the feeling of fear. Your hearts beats fast. Your senses are heightened. You grow light-headed, maybe even dizzy" Balekin, 25

"Your infernal majesty" jude duarte, 46

"The disturbing thing about Cardan is how well he plays the fool to disguise his own cleverness" jude duarte, 49

"For a moment, I wondered if it wasn't you shooting bolts at me." "And what made you decide it wasn't?" "They missed." 57

"Kiss me again. Kiss me until I'm sick of it." cardan, 57

"He hates you. Even if he wants you, he hates you. Maybe he hates you the more for it" jude duarte, 57

"If you're the sickness, I suppose you can't also be the cure" cardan, 57

"You're never to deny me an audience or give an order to keep me from your side." "Whysoever would I want you to leave my side?" jude & cardan, 59

"You want to know what I did to make him raise me up? I kissed him on the mouth, and then I threatened to kiss him some more if he didn't do exactly what I wanted." jude duarte, 81

"You ought not to be here tonight, little ant" cardan, 98

"I have too often been troubled by dreams of Jude. Her face features prominently in my most frequent nightmares." cardan, 103

"I hate you." He tilts my face to his. "Say it again." jude & cardan, 104

"Whatever you do to me, I can do worse to you" jude duarte, 107

"I stare at his treacherous mouth and imagine it on me" jude duarte, 107

"Tell me that you hate me." "I hate you" jude & cardan, 144

"I hate you so much that sometimes I can't think of anything else." jude, 145

"I want to tell you so many lies." cardan, 145

"I like him better than I've ever liked anyone." jude duarte, 146

"So much of winning is waiting" jude duarte, 147

"I can't help recalling him gazing up from my bed, intoxicated and disturbingly intoxicating" jude duarte, 157

"I wonder if I will ever be able to look at him again without remembering what it was like to touch him." jude duarte, 180

"It seems I have a singular taste for women who threaten me." cardan, 180

"It occurs to me that maybe desire isn't something overindulging helps. Maybe it is not unlike mithridatism; maybe I took a killing dose when I should have been poisoning myself slowly, one kiss at a time." jude duarte, 181

"I hope Cardan misses me." jude duarte, 225

"Fear is terrible, but the combination of hope and fear is worse" jude duarte, 244

"I never thought he liked me enough to save me" jude duarte, 253

"I wasn't kind, Jude. Not to many people. Not to you. I wasn't sure if I wanted you or if I wanted you gone from my sight so that I would stop feeling as I did, which made me even more unkind. But when you were gone —truly gone beneath the waves— I hated myself as I never have before." cardan, 266

"Sometimes lying is a real pleasure." jude duarte, 277

"Yes, my sweet villain, my darling god." cardan, 284

"Sweet Jude. You're my dearest punishment." cardan, 285

"You say I will be well because you fear I won't be." cardan, 288

"Glad you're up to mocking" "I hope it's the last thing about me to go." jude & cardan, 289

"Marry me. Become the queen of Elfhame." cardan, 304

"Maybe I wouldn't have to be afraid to love him." jude duarte, 306

"I will lie down. If you lie with me." cardan, 308

"I have become the Queen of Faerie" jude duarte, 308

"Revenge is sweet, but ice cream is sweeter" vivi, 321

the queen of nothing:

"All power is cursed." jude duarte, 10

"Love is stupid. All we do is break one another's hearts" Heather, 31

"Didn't you get my letters?" cardan, 68

"Maybe I believe that it's time for Elfhame to be ruled by a queen." jude duarte, 128

"She is my wife. The rightful High Queen of Elfhame. And most definitely not in exile." cardan, 147

"It was terrifying, watching you fall. I mean, you're generally terrifying, but I am unused to fearing for you." cardan, 159

"You never break." cardan, 159

"He was a symbol of everything about Elfhame that I couldn't have, everything that would never want me." jude duarte, 161

"I want you here by my side, as my queen" cardan, 163

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe he'd like to hear me scream."  "I would. And perhaps one day I will." jude & cardan, 166

"I never thought love was a game" cardan, 185

"He's so beautiful, so perfectly, horribly, inhumanely beautiful that I can't barely breathe" jude duarte, 201

"By you, I am forever undone." cardan, 203

"We have lived in our armor for so long, you and I. And now I am not sure if either of us knows how to remove it." cardan, 203

"I missed you. In the mortal world, when I thought you were my enemy, I still missed you." jude duarte, 204

"My sweet nemesis, how glad I am that you returned." cardan, 204

"It’s you I love,” he says. “I spent much of my life guarding my heart. I guarded it so well that I could behave as though I didn’t have one at all. Even now, it is a shabby, worm-eaten, and scabrous thing. But it is yours." cardan, 209

"I do love you. I will always love you." jude duarte, 278

"Every part of me is a delight." cardan, 282

"I love you." jude duarte, 291

"If I let myself love you, I would burn up like a match. Like the whole matchbook" jude duarte, 291

"And you do love me." "I love you." "Because I am clever and funny. You didn't mention my handsomeness." "Or your deliciousness. Although those are both good qualities" cardan & jude, 291

"I knew little else, but I always knew you." cardan, 292

how the king of elfhame learned to hate stories:

"Not a heart of stone, but a heart of fire." 31

"The odd curve of her ear was what he had noticed first." 55

"Jude, Cardan thought, hating even the shape of her name. Jude." 57

"Playing the villain was the only thing he'd ever really excelled at." 73

"There was absolutely no reason to think of Jude in that moment. she was utterly insignificant." 74

"Boys change. And so do stories." 79

"A heart of stone can still be broken." 86

"Stop telling me who I am. I am tired of your stories." 99

"I am nothing, if not dramatic." 111

"He had always been awful. Now he was just worse." 118

"And all through that night and for many nights after, he couldn't rid his thoughts of her. Not the hatred in her eyes. That he understood. That he didn't mind. It warmed him." 124

"But every night, Jude haunted him. The coils of her hair. The calluses on her fingers. An absent bite of her lip. It was too much, the way he thought about her. He knew it was too much, but he couldn't stop. It disgusted him that he couldn't stop." 124

"Remember, all you really get to control is yourself." 12

"Cardan cannot mind when he takes Jude in his arms." 132

"Why didn't you hate everyone? Everyone, all the time." "I hated you." 133

"Because stories tell a truth, if not precisely the truth." 159

"You don't think monster girls and wicked boys deserve love?" 162

"Having a heart is terrible, but you need one anyway." 165

"No one's heart has to remain stone." 166

"Surely you've heard of her, Jude Duarte." 166

"Truly, I don't know what I would do without her." 166

"You didn't hear the story I told. A shame. It featured a handsome boy with a heart of stone and a natural aptitude for villainy. Everything you could like."  "You are really terrible, you know that? I don't even understand why the things you say makes me smile." 172

-Their daughter would have raven black hair that bleeds into auburn at the ends, a tail, and would have Jude’s striking amber eyes.

-Cardan has a hard time saying no to her because she is just. so. aDorAbLE. And he is whipped.

“But Jude, how could I say no to that face🥺”

-Jude is more chill about things while Cardan is more overprotective.

“Jude, we are not giving her a sword for her birthday. She is turning four!”

-Even though Cardan is usually the ‘protective mother hen‘ between the two of them, Jude can and will destroy anyone who messes with her kid.

-Jude personally trains her on swordplay and other cool stuff and Cardan brags about how talented she is.

“The high king doesn’t shut up about how 'great his daughter is’..... Like it’s true but does he have to go on and on about it ??”

-Jude is a strict and serious teacher

like “oh god, I am starting to sound like Madoc..” kind of thing

-but she is also a very understanding and easy to talk to kind of mom

-Cardan and Jude take their daughter on family vacations to the mortal world all the time, and their favorite place to go is Disney World

-Cardan absolutely spoils his daughter.

“Cardan, why are the servants wheeling a dozen carts of Oreos from the mortal world into the palace?”

“Our daughter said she liked them.”

I’ve just noticed this little correlation between the cruel prince and the Queen of nothing and i love it ❤️

The Cruel Prince river scene:

Cardan: “We’re not mortal. We will break you. You’re a fragile little thing; we’d hardly need to try. Give up.”

Jude: “Never.”

The Queen of Nothing:

Cardan: “It was terrifying,” he says, “watching you fall. I mean you’re generally terrifying, but I am unused to fearing for you. And then I was furious. I am not sure I’ve ever been that angry before.”

Jude: “Mortals are fragile”

is that hug. THE HUG. that mfing hug. Only the devil knows how long I've waited for this and how MUCH I wanted Jude Cardan to hug the hell out of each other. Yes ofcourse they've done alot more than hugging but they always brushed it off as attraction. But a hug? That's the softest.. no way you hug someone and say you did it to get them out of your system lol and we got it and I'm just—

because Jude REALLY said fuck everyone and everything and ran straight into Cardan's arms. My girl followed her instinct and I'm so proud (all the more because entire Elfhame witnessed it)—

This is also the first and only hug my baby Cardan ever got in the trilogy and it makes it all the more special my heart is in ruins.

I gave this book an extra star just for that hug, hell yeah!

PS - Hope they're cuddling as I type this 🤗