Tag: wardsmith

Goddess by Comsat Angels

slightlybitchyclairvoyant:

Chanceverse Graphics Request – Cassie + Song Lyrics for @windsurfingthroughhell

Goddess by Comsat Angels

And I fall every time
Goddess
She’s staring at the sky
Goddess
Almost a sacrifice
Goddess
Got nature on her side
Goddess

Dory Predictions

pritkinsprettydick:

Dory and Cassie are going to have their first “official” introduction. Probably in RtS, but possibly in the next Dory book? Either way, it’s bound to be equal parts intense and likely pretty funny (in a painfully awkward way).

 I think that from Dory’s POV there is definitely going to be some resentment. First, that her father never bothered to tell her (though I highly doubt she’ll be surprised by this); and second that this is the waifish little blonde that sent her ass out to pasture, as it were. But, I don’t figure Dory to be the type to see any of Mircea’s romantic entanglements as anything but a passing thing, so I doubt (aside from understandable wariness of her power) that Dory will give her much thought at all.

Cassie on the other hand, is going to be embarrassed as hell that she spent months worrying about Mircea’s “mistress”, just to end up shifting his dhamphir daughter (and new senate member) to a cow field. After the initial embarrassment however, I think her primary emotions are going to be centered on a general feeling of betrayal. How could he fail to mention to her that he had a daughter? He had plenty of opportunity, he told her so much about his history, he claimed that she knew him better than most, so why leave this monumental detail out? Was it just a side effect of his secretive nature, or because he actually doesn’t trust her? I have a feeling this is really going to eat at her, and likely lead to quite a reckoning between Cassie and Mircea. 

So, maybe I’m wrong, but…Cassie has been keeping quite a bit from Mircea as well.  As for Dory, well Radu told her in book 1 that if she kept up with the family she would already know about the “whole time line thing” and I think she’s gonna be pretty damn busy integrating Dorina.  And Cassie has had opportunities to talk to Mircea and chosen not to.  I think that the revelation that Marco and Rico make in book 7 is more important.  Mircea told them everything he knows about whats going on so they can protect Cassie, but they are “her men”.  They aren’t reporting on her actions to Mircea.  So, maybe, she could have brought them into the loop.  After all. Marco gives her the tears.  

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Cassie and Dorina’s meeting

“And, at the moment, some fuzzy blue stains that glooped along until they hit the mantel. And then flowed along its massive carved shelf until they fell off the other side. I blinked at them for a moment, and then wobbled over. They hadn’t waited. By the time I got there, they’d traversed the entire length of the room and disappeared. But before that, they’d gotten a little clearer for a moment. And instead of random blobs, they’d formed themselves into a vaguely person-shaped thing, with a distinct head, torso, and a couple smaller bits that might have been arms or tentacles. I supposed the former was more likely, but considering where I was, I wasn’t ruling out the latter. But here’s hoping , I thought, and stuck my head in the fireplace. Or, more accurately, through the fireplace, because the bastard wasn’t really there. It shouldn’t have surprised me—what does a vampire really And now that I thought about it, I vaguely recalled the consul vanishing into one the last time I was here, when she’d thought I was too out of it to notice. Like I had just done. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dark, and then to notice that I was standing in a corridor, surrounded by a wedge of hazy light. It was coming from a filmy ward over the surface of a square opening in the wall. The fireplace, I assumed, which was apparently just for camouflage. I could see the whole room from here, including the bed, which was creepy. But not as creepy as another light monster coming my way. What is this, Grand Central? I thought, staring stupidly at the haze for a second, which was getting rapidly brighter. And then I stumbled quickly in the opposite direction.  It wasn’t exactly a run, because running into utter blackness isn’t fun, and I wasn’t really up to it right now anyway. The best I could manage was a shuffle, with a hand on the wall for balance. But at least there was nothing to trip over, because nobody had bothered about decoration in here. It was just a concrete floor, cold against my bare feet, and an equally cold blank wall. Or it was until a reddish light started coming toward me from the other direction. I turned around, but the purple light monster was still there and still coming up strong behind me, judging by the way shadows were jumping on the ceiling. Well , s hit , I thought, backing up, trying to get a wall behind me. Which would have worked better if there had been one there. But my reaching hand found only air, just my ears registered a difference in the echo. I was standing in front of another opening. my head spinning, so I didn’t see much as the blobs passed by outside. Just flickers of different colors strobing in through the opening for a second. And then they were gone and everything was dark again. Except for something that gleamed to the far right of the room, displacing a tiny bit of dark. My eyes fixed on it, and after a moment, it came into focus. It was a candle. I felt my spine relax, and I let out a breath I hadn’t noticed I was holding. It was sitting on a small table by a bed. The bed was big and old-fashioned, with a canopy and curtains to close it off from the cold—and the consul’s spy tunnel, I assumed. It was the sort that had gone out of style with humans when things like central heating came into vogue, but had retained its popularity in the vampire community due to offering added protection from the sun. Of course, that wasn’t needed here. A windowless room inside a vampire stronghold was about as far from sunlight as it was possible to get. But the bed was there anyway. So it probably belonged to one of the older vamps, who tended to be more traditional. And who probably wouldn’t be thrilled to wake up and find a dhampir looming over him or her. I paused, because the last thing I needed was another fight. And if whoever was in there was old, they were probably also powerful and well rested and I…was not. So it might not just be inconvenient. I should go back to bed. kill him for five centuries and had usually ended up dead instead. He was fine and I didn’t even know that this was his room and he was fine . I moved closer. What the hell, feet? I thought, but the feet didn’t comment. Except to send up happy signals about the squashiness of the rugs and the smoothness of the wooden patches in between them. Which were brief because it looked like somebody had mugged a caravan in here, with a dozen priceless rugs scattered carelessly around. But at least they muffled my steps, not that I was worrying about it by the time I got halfway across the room. Because along with fine leather and old books and the faint smokiness of the candle was an even fainter scent. Dark and musky and piney and— “Mircea.” He was lying on his side, pale and cold and white, and for a second, my heart stopped. Until I told myself not to be stupid. He was a vampire . And when they rest, they don’t always bother to keep up appearances. Especially if they need their strength for other things. But I didn’t breathe again until I bent over him, and brushed fine strands of loose, dark hair off his face. And saw beautiful pale features, which unlike mine had been cleaned up. And vampires don’t waste time on corpses that aren’t going to rise again. So if he was here— could repair anything to do with the mind. Couldn’t he? I glanced around. It would help if he had eaten, but if so, dinner had already departed. I frowned at that. What if he woke up hungry? What if his mental abilities were impaired after everything that had happened? Why the hell was nobody here? The guy was a goddamned senator. Didn’t he rate a nurse? I glanced at the door, and thought about raising some hell, even if it got me kicked back to my room. Or into a cell, more likely, because no way was Marlowe just letting me walk out of here. The number of guards had said that much. But, of course, Mircea did rate a nurse, he rated a whole roomful of them. So if he was alone, it was by choice. But I still didn’t like it. What if that thing was still around here somewhere? What if it attacked him again? Only it wouldn’t, would it? If Radu was right and it hadn’t been Dorina, then it was almost certainly someone with a vested interest in my not recalling what happened on that pier. And that meant if it came back for anyone, it would be me. I felt my lips draw back from my teeth slightly. Good. It would save me the trouble of having to track it the hell down. Because I would. The son of a bitch had hurt Mircea. And nobody got to do that but me. I stared at him a moment longer, but he wasn’t looking real conversational. I shoved my hand through my hair, then cupped it on the back of my neck. The muscles were so tense there, it felt like I could flick a thumb against my nape and hear it twang. Like feel like leaving, even though there was no reason to stay. Mircea was already in a healing trance, judging by the fact that he hadn’t woken up as soon as I came in the room. He didn’t need medical help, beyond what he could give himself, and as for mental… Well, whatever abilities I had were locked up with my other half, and she wasn’t talking. But I still didn’t feel like going anywhere. Mircea’s hand slipped off the sheet, to the mattress at his side. I started to pick it up, to put it back in place. And then I stopped, my fingers hovering a few inches above his. Even in a healing trance, something like a touch might wake a master. In fact, on some level, he was probably already awake, at least enough to have identified me as not posing a threat. But a touch might set off alarms, might make him wonder if he’d identified correctly. And I didn’t want that. Mircea often managed to run circles around me in conversation even when I wasn’t about to fall over. We needed to talk, about a lot of things, about a lifetime of things. But this wasn’t the time. And then there was the fact that this was…nice. Odd, because I could never remember being with him without having my hackles up, without being tense and guarded and watchful. I had, of course; that scene in Venice proved that. But it had seemed almost…surreal. That girl with her bare toes and her candy-thieving ways and her obvious adoration of her equally adoring father…it just…I couldn’t… I pulled my hand back. wasn’t an expression I’d seen very often. Or ever, actually. But then, maybe he’d never had much to be relaxed about. I wondered what it had been like for him, in those early years. For someone trained his whole life to be the leader, the provider, the protector, to suddenly be unable to do any of those things. To be a prince without a country, or a treasury, or an army—or even a body he could understand. Because his exile had come at the same time that he’d been dealing with this whole new existence that had been foisted onto him. He’d gone from having everything to having nothing, almost overnight. And yet, somehow he’d managed. And in Venice, of all places, which had been a snake pit of vampire intrigue, back in the day. And not only managed, but taken care of others at the same time. I won’t always be weak.… And he never had been. He never— I swallowed and blinked back tears. God, I didn’t know what the hell was wrong with me. That attack must have messed me up more than I’d thought. Then I decided to hell with it and leaned over, placing a soft kiss on his forehead. And heard a softer sound behind me. I turned abruptly, because I hadn’t heard the door open. But it must have, because dinner was waiting on the threshold. Tonight’s tasty morsel was young and pale, with messy blond curls and unsettling bright blue eyes. They looked a little unfocused, like she was looking both through me and at me at the same time. She was a little creepy. She was also useless right now. “He doesn’t need you,” I told her, clutching at my sheet, which what he needs.” She just stood there, her mouth hanging open. I thought there was a chance that she might be a little slow. “You can go,” I repeated. “Vamoose, amscray, make like a tree. Do you get it?” “Yeah.” The voice had gone flat, cold. “I get it.” And then the next thing I knew, I was sitting all alone in the middle of a field filled with mud and some very startled cows. Who weren’t half as startled as I was. I got up, slid on a cow pie and went back down, landing in a puddle and splattering mud everywhere . And somewhere far off, like an echo of an echo, I could swear I heard someone laughing.  The fuck ?” #Karen Chance, Fury’s Kiss

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Non. Because it would ferment.” His lips pursed. “I suppose you could say he is now…drunk off his ass.” Jehan bellowed agreement and let out another fart. I squatted down on the path and put my arms over my head. And just stayed there for a minute. “What happened?” Louis-Cesare finally asked me. “You passed out.” “I did not.” It was said with such conviction that I almost believed it. I turned my head and looked at him through the gap by my elbow. I debated arguing it, but decided I wasn’t up to it right now. “Okay. Then what do you remember?

#Karen Chance, Fury’s Kiss Louis-Cesar and Dorina (Sometimes you just gotta go with the crazy….
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For a moment, I just stared. Not because of the hovering in midair thing. Levitation charms aren’t exactly rare, although using them in full view of norms is a no-no. But human laws aren’t so easy to apply to a prince of the fey, and anyway, that wasn’t the problem. No, the problem was that this particular prince hadn’t stuck his charm on a chair, a bookcase or a rug à la Aladdin. No, he’d stuck it on Slava. Which meant that both of them were about to be way. But Æsubrand obviously didn’t know enough about human charms to realize that. Or that he would need a propulsion system, or at least a good push, if he wanted to go anywhere. Which he hadn’t gotten because he’d been too busy kicking me in the head. Leaving them stranded—for the moment. I stopped staring up at them and started looking around the office, hoping for a grappling hook—preferably one attached to an M16. But I guess Slava kept the weapons elsewhere, because I didn’t see one. Of course, there was another option. “Pull us in when I grab him,” I told Marlowe, who had just staggered up behind me. “Grab who?” he rasped, and then stopped, staring in disbelief at the insanity outside the window.“Æsubrand,” I said shortly, jerking down the office blinds and stripping off the cord. And thankfully, Slava’s impressively tall windows extended in here, and they had cords to match. “What? There are fey now?” Marlowe demanded, outraged. And I had to admit, it did seem a little unfair. “Looks that way,” I said and threw myself out the window. I ignored the stream of cursing from behind me because I had about a second to time this right or I’d be a greasy spot on the sidewalk.

Fury’s Kiss Karen Chance
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“Perhaps I am in love.” I stopped knotting the tie of the robe and looked up. And met clear blue eyes, which were suddenly far more serious than I knew how to handle. “That’s…You…” I stopped and licked my lips. “That’s not how this is supposed to go.” “How is it supposed to go?” He looked genuinely curious. “We trade witty banter for another minute and then I storm out.” “Do you wish to storm out?” “Yes!” And it wasn’t a lie. In that moment, I really, really wanted to get out of there. I wasn’t in the headspace for this battle right now. I wasn’t stupid; I’d known it was coming. But this wasn’t the time. I hadn’t figured out what I wanted to say yet. And I was tired and hurting and confused, and the arms he wrapped to the robe, I let him manipulate that, too, unknotting the tie, pulling it out of the loops, parting the soft old velour, but leaving it hanging on my shoulders like a frame for my body. Somehow that made me look even more nude, and as a barrier, the robe was less than worthless. The velvety folds caught and enhanced the warmth radiating from the body behind me, and the thin material did nothing to camouflage the hard lines of the chest and hips and legs pressed against mine. If anything, it magnified the differences between us, soft and hard, small and big, cold and oh, so warm.

Fury’s Kiss Karen Chance Louis cesare aand dorina
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Radu nodded, but he didn’t leave. “You know, even if she hadn’t been an evil mutant, she was always quite bad for him. Not that I meddle.”  “Of course not.” “But she was. He needs a nice, levelheaded girl. You’re levelheaded, Dory.” “I’m insane, ’Du.” “Well, not all the time. And when you’re not, you’re quite lovely… in your own odd little way.” “Uh, thank you?” Radu patted my arm. “You’re welcome.”

Death’s Mistress, Karen Chance
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expected. He pulled me away from the fridge, bent me over the marble-topped island and dug his fingers into the tense muscles of my back. I groaned. He started at the base of my spine, teasing out the knots as skillfully as if he’d done it a dozen times before. My body recognized the coarseness of familiar calluses, and a heavy warmth spread through me. He paused to tug the T-shirt off over my head, and I didn’t resist. When he reached my shoulders, which had been tight long before I leaned into the strokes involuntarily, head rolling back as he kneaded away at the tension knotted around the base of my skull. By the time he finished, the pain was gone, although it was possible that I’d fallen madly, irreversibly in love with Louis-Cesare’s hands. I might have said something to the effect, because he chuckled and brushed his lips over the back of my neck, meltingly warm.

Dorina, Death’s Mistress, Karen Chance
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Midnight’s Daughter

So, I am skipping around a bit and I know it all to well…but here’s the thing.  I am trying really hard to do reviews of all the Karen Chance books but there is just too much.  Each book is a gazillion things and I’m working hard to try and list them all,but my reviews end up being books themselves, even if I only write one sentence per event and I end up writing way more than 1 sentence.   So, while I am struggling through page by page to make sure you get everything I’m also reading on my own time.  So I’m about 2/3 through Midnight’s Daughter and only 1/3 through the review of Touch the Dark…

But I just can’t keep my mouth shut.  I’m giggling over Dory.  Shaking my head at Louis-Cesar.  Totally enchanted by Radu. Laughing at Radu telling Dory he had to stay way from Louis-Cesar because of the “timeline thing” which is a summary of Cassie book 1.  Dory says that thing I’d know about if I knew what was going on in the family? and Radu just keeps right on going like she know what in the sam hill he is talking about.  Imagining a dinner with Radu dressed flamboyantly and miniature cows herding around on the table then falling in the lap of the guests.  The King and the Troll Widow and stinky all trying to eat the cows.  Radu’s dismay at the chef being upset.  The Sheer absurdity of it all! Then, Dory turning down sex with the king of the fae-only to bite him and have it be the opposite of what she wanted to happen! And the hilarity of her and Radu talking in the parlor as the chandelier swings from the fight between Louis-Cesar and Caedmon over Dory’s honor…Its just too much to stay quiet.  I have to share it, but I don’t know how! 

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He looked fascinated, like a scientist confronted by a strange new species: dontgiveadamnus from the phylum couldntcareless.

Death’s Mistress Karen Chance
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