#re-read

“Well uhhh who is Randy anyway”

The master’s bad ways and bad companions formed a pretty example for Catherine and Heathcliff. His treatment of the latter was enough to make a fiend of a saint. And, truly, it appeared as if the lad were possessed of something diabolical at that period. He delighted to witness Hindley degrading himself past redemption; and became daily more notable for savage sullenness and ferocity. I could not half tell what an infernal house we had. The curate dropped calling, and nobody decent came near us

Catherine had kept up her acquaintance with the Lintons since her five-weeks’ residence among them; and as she had no temptation to show her rough side in their company, and had the sense to be ashamed of being rude where she experienced such invariable courtesy, she imposed unwittingly on the old lady and gentleman by her ingenious cordiality; gained the admiration of Isabella, and the heart and soul of her brother: acquisitions that flattered her from the first—for she was full of ambition—and led her to adopt a double character without exactly intending to deceive any one. In the place where she heard Heathcliff termed a “vulgar young ruffian,” and “worse than a brute,” she took care not to act like him; but at home she had small inclination to practise politeness that would only be laughed at, and restrain an unruly nature when it would bring her neither credit nor praise.

hi! i'm posting chapter-by-chapter highlights, thoughts & questions.

links: Prologue

SPOILERS AHEAD.

Captive Prince, Volume I CHAPTER 1

⭐️ best line: "i speak your language better than you do mine, sweetheart" - damen

damen = ⭐️⭐️ laurent = 0

❗️most notable for: establishing Laurent "face like a painting, snake i wouldn't fuck for all the money in the world" McBlond 👁️‍🗨️ newly noticed: Damen's primary goal is getting back for the good of his people, not escape for his own safety. economy of language

economy of words is a highlight

just like nothing extraneous to the point using the term instinct there, and that his instinct is to get up

exactly enough exposition and like, again, saying what needs to be said quickly to the reader

Pacat giving us just barely any information and not nearly enough to come to a full understanding of what's going on in the line, "the older brother and former heir Damen well knew, was dead"

that second scar is also important. everything mentioned is important

I hate how good Pacat is at this. fucking annoyingly good!!

foreshadowing

all this stuff about him being drugged and losing time. we're going to revisit this use of drugs to subdue him

bells were actually introduced in like, paragraph five

🔔 bells bookend the entire series is so beautiful (some real MICE quotient shit going on here...love it)

the threat of sexual assault by one of the guards that it would be by proxy foreshadowing to the fact that the sex that they are going to have for a while is going to be by proxy

characterization of Damen

Damen a man of action, relying on instinct also speaks to him having trained them to be good ones

fury paired with grief: he's not just sad, we're hammering home undigested sorrow as anger

paired with his altruistic also paternalistic streak, the "surge of will" is to protect his household, his people

Mr Sass strikes again: the beatings aren't that bad, the real torture is being visually assaulted by ornamentation

Damen pretending he doesn't have feelings, that beatings don't hurt and that the only thing that hurts is when his pride is wounded

reestablishing selflessness: what is truly unbearable to him is not knowing "what was happening to his country, to his supporters and to his people

imagery and setting

love the dark language here about bowels of the house, the slap and spray of salt water

very violent imagery over and over and over again about what is being done to him, aside from like, literal beatings

"worse than the beating had been the viewing" my GOD

absolutely love that we’re reminded casually that we're in a BDSM universe

Laurent, Laurent, Laurent, Laurent, Laurent

the courtiers were nondescript except for one (shocker)

"a young man with an astonishingly lovely face...Damen's attention caught and held"

obsessed with this

all of these people are like nobody's, literally nobody's to him, except for this one

everything that Laurent says is barbed poisonous, wonderfully villainous

i fucking hated this bitch on a first read

he's still a bitch. he's still a hatable bitch. that never changes

lots of descriptions of Laurent's incredibly repressive clothing that "looked like it would take about an hour to loosen his clothes"

this is fantastic characterization of him (also like. 😭)

if he could wear a mask to hide his face so people would stop looking at him like he is someone beautiful, he would probably do that too

THE TENSION

the first thing that Laurent says, like, the first things that they say to each other, it's flirting at like it's at 100 out of 10 🥵

"what's your name, sweetheart?" then REPEATED "slowly in the language of Akeilos

the words came out before Damen could stop them - THIS IS GOING TO BE A PROBLEM FOR YOU, HUH

"I speak your language better than you speak mine, sweetheart"

what a first date

absolutely out of control

Laurent had stopped dead the moment he had seen Damen, his face turning white "as though in reaction to a slap or an insult"

I had highlighted that the last time I did a reread

it's like such a gut punch where you're like, oh, our poor little cinnamon roll. give this boy a BAFTA, fuck the Oscar's.

Damen is fucking having the worst day of his fucking life

this isn't even the second worst day of Laurent's life. maybe not even third. definitely in the top 10. probably.

Damen’s goals

he's never forgetting and Pacat's not letting us forget that his primary goal right now, like the thing he is moving towards is getting home

escape, home, escape, home. everything else secondary

it's also very clever for him to think about the collar and cuffs in gold as weapons or currency

beautiful reestablishment of his goal and smarts

power dynamics with the Regent 🤮

Laurent echoing "petty prejudice" - this first instance of his vocal tick

all Laurent has to say to show his extreme displeasure with someone or something is that echo

you go back and reread what the last person has said

you say it again with a bit of a question mark in your voice

the establishment also of "yes, uncle" after he has to bite down on a reaction

really helps establish the power dynamics at play between them

he is the prince, but the regent is in charge and it's complicated

it's very complicated and we see that here

sexual threats and trauma

Laurent saying, basically, "I won't assault you. I would have someone else do it" = he can't imagine himself in that situation period

the order to crawl = reminding us, that we're in a BDSM universe

humour

"I imagine it would be a lot like lying down with a poisonous snake" Damen, honestly, babe, what if it's the most fuckable blond snake you've ever seen

↓ rare Annabel and the misfits group shot omg! :o + HELP-- we rlly don’t see Annabel interact with the misfits too often, it’s lwk so funny when it happens though. ”Don’t touch me” lmaooo 😭 (ep 32) ↓

↓ Eulalie finding beauty everywhere yes yes🥹 + SHE’S SO FUNNY YET SO REAL FOR THIS LMAOOO (ep 34) ↓

↓ yess….YESSSSSSS!!!! (ep 34) ↓

↓ “What. The. Fuck. 😀” LMFAOOO (ep 35) + pookies🥹 (ep 36) ↓

↓ the fishie kiss😭😭😭 Eulalie you’re so precious to me -sobs- (ep 38) ↓