Bookish Mumma

As I said in the last one, the next couple of chapters will have less in them because of how many spoilers are in it late game and I won’t give any from the last chapter because you’ll have to get it yourself to find out! That being said, there’s some growth and interesting plot points in these few chapters, so lets get into it!

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Like always, if you’d like to fill in the gaps of what I haven’t shared, feel free to get the book here.

Chapter 6

My gaze tracks to the desk where Grace’s weapons are laid out. I can’t leave them. When we spoke about deals, Azazel made it sound like time moved differently in the other realm, so seven years might pass in a matter of months or even days. If Grace returns that quickly on our side of things, I want her to have her weapons. It’s the absolute least I can do.

Grace owns a mansion built into a mountain, I’m sure she has a damn armoury somewhere, so there’s no need to act like this is a service to her. Take the weapons, train and learn to use them yourself!

It’s so much easier to make that call for them than it is for myself, though. I would commit unforgivable acts to keep my men with me and safe. I spent a lot of time pretending I’m not just as monstrous as my father, but in this moment, I don’t even hesitate. I take a slow step back. “Stay here.”

This will be the last time I say it, but making a choice like this doesn’t make you monstrous, it makes you realistic, backed into a corner and trying to survive. As much as people would like to say that they have limits to what they would do if it was life and death, I promise you that that goes out the window when someone that they love is on the chopping block instead. Her father does it for the sake of power, she does it to save the people she cares about, there’s a HUGE difference there.

Chapter 7

I might be no match for Malachi and Rylan and Wolf in the sparring ring, but these three are only human. They barely have time to react before I deliver harsh blows to their temples. Not quite enough to kill them – at least I don’t think so – but they go down in boneless heaps

It’s good to finally see her fighting for herself rather than half-heartedly protesting and letting others do it for her. I want more of this.

Wolf cracks his eyes open. “What did you do, love?”
“What I needed to.”

YES. EXACTLY. What YOU needed to, not what you needed OTHERS to do for you.

Chapter 8

“I’m afraid to want it. Wanting something is a good excuse for the world to take it away. To have my father take it away. I press my hand to Malachi’s broad chest. “I dared to want you and look what happened. You spent a week being tortured by him.”

Aaaand back to martyr Mina. Also, these vampires are centuries old, if you think that they haven’t been tortured at least once by someone, you’re kidding yourself. It was one WEEK, it’s not going to traumatise them to the point of incapacitation. I think Katee is trying to make the treatment out to be worse than anything they’ve ever experienced while also making them seem more human and relatable which I can understand, but they’re vampires, not human.

We step beneath the spray and he pulls me into his arms. It feels so damn good to have his naked body pressed against me. Yes, there’s sexual desire, but just touching him reassures a part of me that couldn’t quite believe he’s here and safe.

All the trauma and drama aside, being in the shower with someone you love is one of the most intimate things you can do and it’s absolutely one of my favourites. Also, huge showers need to be more common so that this can happen.

“You feel good, little dhampir. You feel like home.”

We’re ignoring the fact that this was said during sex because it reminds me of something someone said a while ago that I think is an important thing when this is said. When someone says that you ‘feel like home’, you have to consider what their home was like for them. If it was chaotic and abusive, what does that make you when they say this? SO instead of saying ‘you feel like home’, maybe the phrase should be ‘you feel like the home I’ve always imagined’. Obviously it’s not short and sweet like what befits this situation in context, BUT it comes off as sweeter outside of the bedroom.

Chapter 9

“Malachi?” Later, it will irritate me that Wolf looks to Malachi for guidance instead of taking me at my word.

So here’s the thing, I’m not actually seeing that much of a difference between Malachi and Cornelius. I know that that’s not Katee’s goal as Malachi is the main love interest and is supposed to be an overprotective lover, but that’s not how he comes off to me. To me, he is controlling of everyone around him and expects them to follow what he decides. Sounds like Cornelius, except that Malachi has to work harder for it because he can’t compel people like Cornelius can. The only big difference is that Cornelius wants more power in any form, Malachi wants more power to protect, but that doesn’t always mean it’s for the best.

Silence greets me and I turn to find them looking at each other as if deciding how much to tell me. Irritation flashes. “I would think we’re past you hiding things from me.”
“It’s for your own good.”
I glare at Malachi. “I think it’s better I decide what’s for my own good. I’m not a child. Stop treating me like one.”

Good! Snap back at him for hiding shit that you really should know! You’ve let him get away with it for far too long, Wolf and Rylan aren’t much better in that regard.

Chapter 10

I lick my lips. I don’t know that I’m ready to abandon this realm, but the escape hatch option calms me all the same. “Are there many other realms? More than this one and Azazel’s?”
“No one’s ever tracked them properly, but there are at least dozens.”

Firstly, ‘at least dozens’ sounds strange as a unit of measurement. Is it 2 dozen or 17 dozen? Secondly, if they could escape to a different realm, why didn’t they look into that as a solution instead of going through all of this?

Conclusion

I like that Mina has moments of standing up for herself and fighting back against Malachi’s control and I hope that she does it more now as well as actually learning to fight for herself because that is absolutely necessary. Honestly, she should have been learning more intensely before they ran out of time which is happening very fast now. I am hoping that she is able to stop having others paying a price for her.

We now only have 2 more posts before this book is done, maybe even one depending on how much non spoiler content I can actually quote! If you’d like to fill in the gaps of what I haven’t shared, you can get the book here.