#gildedgaze

‘Lord Touras, you face me in my own kingdom, you inhabit my lands, and you breath at my pleasure. Make your choice.’

the way that so much is said in so little EEEE damen wants that di—

even as early as chapter two, we can see damen’s morals and character remain steadfast when faced with the deplorable hedonism of the veretian court which involved CSA. & huhuhg my poor laurent asking why 😭 he was done so dirty and sees these atrocities as ‘normal’ & become desensitized in a way :(((((

‘What makes you think Kastor is the weaker man? You don’t know him.”

no because we have to talk abt the WOMEN. loyse sat complicit in her son’s SA in support of her husband’s rise to power but chose to speak up in the end after she loses Aimeric—Jokaste found herself entangled in mess and knew either her or Damen would die and did the next best thing, sending Damen to Vere which was 😭 but hey him and Laurent met cos of her. I think they’re both layered characters and I earnestly will give Jokaste a kind ending in my fics but huhuuhdhd i actually LOVE how Pacat incorporated them.

just minding my business when i suddenly remember,

as a reader it is so painfully obvious here that laurent knows who he is 😭 but like i understand damen was brought to the cusp of death and his focus was survival by means of concealing his identity but that ‘he knew, he knew,” bit thoooo it was a clever word choice on pacat’s part

WOO ok ok i absolutely FLEW through my re-read of book one & i have to say i felt the same if not more excited and immersed this time as i did reading it first 3 years ago 😭😭😭 I don’t know if knowing the plot beforehand informed my experience but it wasn’t as jarring this time around??