WEBVTT
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Welcome to Book Teams.
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I'm you're not joining the Salty Southern Mama that likes our football filthy.
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Join me each week as we celebrate the power of well-written smut.
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We explore new themes every month, and book titles are revealed before episodes are released.
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So read a hard and treat book teams like your own personal, slightly chaotic book club.
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Let's get spicy.
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Hi, welcome to Book Tees.
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I'm your host, Jamie, and this is the podcast that celebrates the power of well-written smut.
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We are in our final book of our sexy murder series, you know, murder, but in a sexy way.
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We have enjoyed a lot of Morally Gray and just dark romance this month.
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And this book is going to be an awesome closer for that series.
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This book is a romanticy novel.
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It's got vampires, it's got intrigue, it's got politic, it's got like Forbidden Love, it's got a crazy trial, it's it's got it all, man.
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This book is fire, and I can't wait to get into it.
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So let's go.
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Couple of housekeeping notes.
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By the time this episode comes out, our July theme and books for that month will have been released.
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And it's going to be such a change from this month.
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We've been going dark, we've been going morally gray and murder.
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And we're about to flip it to Sunshine Rom com.
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So July is for sizzling summer and it's gonna be a blast.
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So get ready for that.
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It's gonna be a huge tunnel shift from our current month.
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The next item I want to bring up is a reminder that this podcast does contain spoilers.
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I spoil the whole damn book, y'all.
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If you don't want to know the surprise ending on this one, if you don't you want to stay surprised and you want to just experience it organically, then pause, read the book, and then come back because you're gonna want to talk about it once you get to this ending, y'all.
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Okay, without further ado, let's get into it.
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We have The Serpents and The Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent, and it is book one in the Crowns of Niaxia series.
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Okay, I've read the second book and it's equally fire.
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I love Carissa Broadbent.
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This whole world she's built with these vampires and the crazy, it's excellent.
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So if you like romantic and you want to read about a world ruled by vampires, then come on.
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How have you not picked this book up yet?
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So let's talk about it.
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First, we have Aurea.
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And these names, y'all, you know you're in a romanticy when you have names like Aurea and Niaxia.
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Anyway, Aurea is a human that has been adopted by the Nightborn Vampire King.
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And that's how the book opens up.
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The book opens up where you know there's a like something that's going on.
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They're talking about how this one race or this one group of vampires have been eradicated and they're sweeping the area.
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And it's Vincent.
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He is the Nightborn King.
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And he's there and he finds in the rubble this little girl.
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She's only like six.
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She's really young.
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And he doesn't know how old she is because I've been around for centuries.
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I cannot tell human age.
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You know, that sort of thing.
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So he's uh he says she could be seven, she could be, you know, like ten.
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I don't know.
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She's young.
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So we get the idea that she's not a toddler, but she's not a teenager, you know.
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So I'm thinking around five to ten.
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Probably we're gonna say about six or seven, just to keep it, you know, average.
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So she's about six or seven.
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And uh he finds her and she bites one of his guards when he tries to reach for her to treat her like a little snackarooski, I guess.
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She bites him hard enough to draw blood, and Vincent is very intrigued and amused and kind of impressed.
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Like, oh, she's got teeth like a little serpent.
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And so he nicknames her Little Serpent, and he decides he's going to adopt her.
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He treats her like a daughter.
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So now in this book, she is in her 20s, she's like 23, 24, and she has been raised by Vincent in the nightborn palace or whatever, and she is treated like his daughter.
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He loves her, but she can't go many places because she's human, and all these vampires might either know.
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So that's the opening of the book.
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That's where we're set up.
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Now, I said nightborn king.
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There is the whole world that's been built here.
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So I'm gonna take a second because it's nice to know and have it all written out, the stuff that you just kind of learn throughout the book, right?
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So here are the vampire types according to this world.
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We'll start with nightborn because that's the highlighted type here.
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It is this book is basically the battle between the two sides of the nightborne group, the nightborn type.
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The nightborns are from the house of night, pretty self-explanatory, and their magic is um of the night sky, specifically night fire.
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So it's like a fire that burns really bright, and it's like almost star fire, and they shoot it out or whatever.
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That's the main power of the nightborn.
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And there are two types of nightborn.
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We have the head, and that's the kind Vincent is, and that is the kind that is currently in power, currently in charge is the Hiage, and they have bat-like wings.
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Area's adopted father is this type.
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Then they have the Rishon.
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Well, when the book opens, that's what they mention.
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Oh, the Rishon in this area have been eradicated.
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So we kind of know, okay, um, they're constantly at battle, the Hiaj versus the Rishon types, but they're under the same umbrella as the nightborn.
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So currently the Hiaj are in control, they are in power.
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That's what Vincent is.
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The Rishon have feathered wings and they're the former ruling class, but when Vincent took over, he oppressed the Rishon, and they're currently living in shadows and being hunted by the Hiash.
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So that sets up that.
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The other types of vampires we have are the bloodborne.
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And the bloodborne, obviously, come from the house of blood, and their magic is blood magic.
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Basically, and it's pretty fucking creepy, they can, if you're cut and they see your blood, then they can control you via your blood.
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They can literally boil your blood and make you explode, or they can make you do what they want you to do.
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They can control you through your blood.
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They are also, though, cursed by Niaxia because she got mad at them and threw a temper tantrum.
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That is the vampire goddess.
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She cursed them.
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So they go mad and die young.
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So they have this crazy powerful blood magic, but they tend to go crazy and die young.
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Then we have the shadow born.
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And hey, I guess you can guess this.
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They're from the house of shadow, and they have shadow magic, which is kind of a mind magic.
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They can control your thoughts.
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The nightborn, the bloodborne, and the shadow born.
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But this book mostly pertains to the nightborn and the battle between the two types of nightborn, the hiaj and the rishon.
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The main plot line in this book is that Orea, who has been training and she's a badass fighter, she is going to enter the Kajari.
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And the Kajari is a trial-based tournament hosted by the goddess of death who is Niaxia or Nyaxia.
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She is the goddess of death, the ruler of all vampires.
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That's where they get their power from.
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And there's a trial or a tournament in her honor every like hundred years or so.
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And you enter it, and there's only one survivor.
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So basically, there's different trials.
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And I actually wrote down, let's go ahead and talk about that real quick.
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There are five trials total in the Hijari.
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There is the full moon trial, there is the waning moon trial, there is the half moon trial, there's the crescent trial, and there is the new moon trial.
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Of course, it's all moon theme, and takes place in the moon palace because Niaxia is the goddess of death and she loves the moon.
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The half moon trial, the third trial in this tournament requires teams, and that becomes really important later on.
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And by the end of the final trial, the new moon trial, it's to the death down to just one person.
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Only one person can win.
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And so whoever you partnered up with in the half moon trial, you have to turn around and try to kill.
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They become your enemy.
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So you have to partner up with them and really trust them to become your partner and get you through that trial.
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And then you have to basically just all turn on each other and what a mind fuck.
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Seriously, that is insane.
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Okay, what's the purpose of the Hajari, right?
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There's gotta be a reason why these people wanna give their whole soul and life to Nyaxia and enter this crazy trial, right?
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And fight to the death.
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There's one winner out of like hundreds of people.
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Seriously, there's gotta be a good reason for this, right?
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Well, the standing survivor of the Hajari is granted a single wish by the goddess.
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This is how Vincent won his rule of the nightborn.
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Aurea wants to win so she can connect herself with Vincent, which would make her a vampire without actually turning her.
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And the reason is because she's basically wanting to bind her life force with Vincent because he's a vampire, he's gonna live forever, he's incredibly powerful.
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And that way, she has all the power of being a vampire.
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But in this world, being turned is really problematic.
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The chance of survival is like 30%.
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Most people that go to be turned just end up dying.
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It's not as often that you can get turned in this world.
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So she doesn't want to risk her life.
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And Vincent doesn't want her to risk her life to become immortal.
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But he's like, I'll you can bind your life with me.
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It's an added benefit because he doesn't have to worry about whoever wins the kajari trying to take power over him, right?
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He's like, Okay, you're not gonna try to kill me and gain power.
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That's my benefit.
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Plus, I think of you like a daughter, you can be my daughter, and you can officially be my heir once you have that power.
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Her benefit, not only about the safety and the power and being something other than prey in this world that she lives in, she wants to also go avenge her family.
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She needs to go deep into that territory and find out like what really happened to her family, if she has any surviving relatives.
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And she can't do that until she has this added power.
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So that's her benefit.
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That's what she wants.
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Well, on the very first night of the tournament, she meets Rain.
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Rain is our MMC, he's gonna become very important.
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So she meets Rain, and they kind of have a little tenuous allyship.
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You know, he helps her and she's like, fine, whatever.
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But I mean, they're kind of there's tension.
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And he's like, look, I want to go ahead and have you agree to be my ally for the um half moon trial, because I think it'd be a benefit.
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I know who you are, I know that you've been trained by Vincent, the the king of the nightborn.
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I know that.
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So I know that there'd be a benefit to having you as my ally.
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I'd make a badass ally.
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I've already saved you once that night, the very first night of the tournament.
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So he's like, okay, he's trying to push for this allyship.
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And eventually she agrees and they they grow closer.
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There's him and he has his best friend there.
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His best friend also enters the tournament.
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And so the three of them shack up in a room together in an apartment area together, and they protect each other.
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But later on in the tournament, Nyaxia cuts food supply off to everyone.
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And Aurea's the only human there.
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So she's getting attacked left and right.
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There's vampires trying to fly up to her window.
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So her having rain there to help protect her is a huge benefit.
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So they end up becoming really close.
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All three of them do, honestly.
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His best friend ends up getting hurt before the half moon trial.
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So when they go into it, it's just Rain and Area.
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But they had worked together prior.
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So they're one of the strongest groups because they work together.
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They actually have formed this true partnership, they've actually taken time to train together, to learn each other.
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It really is nice.
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And it kind of balances out to where Araya is the brains and rain is kind of the bronze.
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Like he's really powerful.
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This dude is huge.
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He is described as a wall of a man.
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He is a big, big dude.
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And he looks mean and he's all scarred up.
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He's got the scar on his eye, and he's just this big dude.
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And Aurelia is really cunning.
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She's really clever.
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She has to be because she is a human that has grown up in a world of vampires.
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So not only has she had to train herself to be strong and fast and brutal, but she's also had to, because she's at a disadvantage, she's a human, she's not as strong.
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She can't, she's easier to kill.
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She's had to really hone her skill and and be clever.
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And so it really plays into her benefit and it really benefits their team because he's not had that problem.
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So it's it's ends up being a really great partnership.
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And they end up just becoming so close during these trials, always knowing it's always looming over their heads that they're going to have to turn on each other eventually.
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Like they can make it down to where it's just the two of them and keep helping each other, but then they're gonna have to turn on each other because there can only be one renter.
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And they just try to not think about that part and just watch them tiptoe around the part that eventually we're gonna have to turn on each other.
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It starts to become so heartbreaking to think about the closer they get, the more they trust each other.
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The you could tell they're falling in love with each other, and yet they're going to to get out of this tournament, they're going to have to turn on each other.
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One of them is going to have to kill the other to finish this tournament out.
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And it's just like it's this underlining tension that's there the entire time and becomes more and more strong the further they get in this tournament.
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They keep taking turns, saving each other's life.
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And it's it's wild.
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So while they're in this moon palace going through this incredibly deadly tournament, there is, it becomes increasingly obvious there is something going on.
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A war is being begun outside of this tournament, and they don't know because they're in this moon palace and they're not allowed to leave.
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So it's just becoming obvious that there's some kind of political tension going on as well.
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There's some, they don't even know what they're gonna find once they get out of this.
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There's been some attacks.
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There was an attack even on the moon palace, and it's all being blamed on the Rishon.
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However, we guess who's a Rishon?
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Rain.
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Rain's a Rishon.
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And I guess technically, Aurelia will be aligned with the Hiaj side.
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So they're supposed to be enemies a couple of different ways.
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They're supposed to be enemies.
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So it's crazy that they formed this friendship and then they formed this alliance, and now they're forming this deeper connection, knowing that they're on opposite sides of this line.
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It's a Romeo Juliet situation here, y'all.
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And that they're gonna have to eventually turn on each other because of the nature of this tournament.
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So these attacks are being blamed on the Rashawn, and Rain's like, it's not us.
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Okay, it is not the Rashawn.
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I'm telling you, it's not the Rashawn.
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Do you believe me?
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And she's not sure if she should believe him.
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But because he's him and she's become so close to him, she's starting to believe him.
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And it's just like there's all these different pieces in play.
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And it's like, what is going on?
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Are we gonna find out?
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Well, like I said, they pair up and they get through the trials and they become a very formidable team in the half moon.
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And um, in the final trial, it does come down to the two of them.
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They work together up until the very end of the final trial.
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And then heartbreakingly, they turn on each other.
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And Rain is goading Area.
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He he is goading her, and you can kind of see on the outside what he's doing, and you're like, oh, my heart is shattering, y'all.
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He is pushing her to fight him, he is pushing her to show her anger, he is goading her to attack.
00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:10.319
And then when she finally does, he guides her hand and he pushes the blade into his own heart so that she wins.
00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:11.440
And I'm gonna cry.
00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:12.640
Oh, it was crazy.
00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:16.799
So she's just like devastated, and she's like, I didn't do that.
00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:20.640
I was pulling away, I was gonna, you know, like, what happened?
00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:22.559
And she's like, Did he do that?
00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:23.839
Did what happened?
00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:34.079
I didn't push the blade in that far, but here he is, he's dead, and her heart is shattered, and she's like, Oh my god, I can't live without him.
00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:35.839
I love him so much.
00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:47.039
And then Nyaxia comes floating down in all her devastating, horrendous beauty, and is like, What's your wish?
00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:49.759
You won! Congratulations.
00:18:50.400 --> 00:19:03.839
Well, Aurea, in her heartbroken state, looks into the crowd at Vincent and then tells Nyaxia, my wish is that Rain won the tournament.
00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:05.200
Oh my god.
00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:32.000
Vincent just like is looking at her in devastation because you are going to pass your power onto a Rishon ex-slave, and you don't know what his you're putting your family, your father, the only life you know into danger because you fell in love with basically your enemy.
00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:33.599
It is insane.
00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:41.519
And then you're like, oh my God, is he gonna just wake up and they just he he say, Okay, well, I want to be together.
00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:42.559
Get ready, all.
00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:44.559
Here's the big surprise ending.
00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:50.559
And if you don't want to hear it, then shut this off, baby, because I'm about to spoil the fuck out of it.
00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:54.000
Because these things happen in very quick succession.
00:19:54.160 --> 00:20:01.519
When Rain comes back and he sees what happened, and he is like, Oh, Araya, why didn't you just take my sacrifice?
00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:02.480
What did you do?
00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:11.039
Then he's like, Okay, I I have to follow through with what my original plan was because he has a higher reason, a higher power for this.
00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:17.039
He uses his wish to kill Vincent, to kill Araya's father right in front of her.
00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:22.319
And then everything goes crazy, and the following things are revealed.
00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:24.400
We find all of this out immediately.
00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:25.519
Vincent's dying.
00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:31.599
We find out that the person that turned Rain was the king Vincent overthrew.
00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:34.640
So Rain is the Rishon heir.
00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:37.440
So Rain was a turned vampire, okay?
00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:42.400
And the Rishon king that Vincent overthrew was an asshole.
00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:44.480
He was a crazy asshole.
00:20:44.720 --> 00:21:00.640
He he used um Rain as a slave, and he did some horrible things to him, but he also is the one who turned him, and he rain ended up aiding Vincent in overthrowing this king because he's such a shitty person.
00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:02.799
And Rain was like, I want to be free.
00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:05.920
I want the Rishon to be free from this guy.
00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:20.480
And when Vincent came into power and he had had the help of Rain, though he didn't know that's who it was at the time, he used his power to push the Rishon down and to also become a tyrant of sorts, which Aurelia didn't know.
00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:29.359
And then she's learning all these things about how he's starting this war, and her father is kind of a a tyrant in a in a way as well.
00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:36.160
And it breaks her heart, which is why she ultimately chooses to align herself with Rain.
00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:39.680
Not know she didn't ever know what his his intention was.
00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:47.759
But her thing is like, I don't know if I could trust my father, even though I love him and I know he loves me, and he's always been good to me.
00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:53.119
There are some questionable things that I see he's doing, so she's not sure who to trust, y'all.
00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:59.599
And then Rain kills her father, and then we find out Rain is the heir, so now he is the king of.
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:00.880
The Nightborn.
00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:16.400
He is in a rocky, tumultuous cahoots with the Bloodborne, who nobody they're kind of known as like the black sheep outcasts of the vampire community because they go crazy, because they really can't be trusted.
00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:23.279
So he got in cahoots with them, and they're the ones who did the attacks on the moon palace and stuff.
00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:25.279
They're the ones who got this war started.
00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:27.039
And Vincent just blamed the Rishon.
00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:30.160
He used it as because he's blinded by hatred for the Rishon.
00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:34.079
So he used that as a reason to further push them down and to get this war started.
00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:40.000
Meanwhile, it was the bloodborne who just are off doing the shit and nobody even knew about it.
00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:46.319
We also find out, y'all, that Araya is Vincent's biological daughter.
00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:53.200
And now that Vincent's dead, she is the heir of the Hiaj, right?
00:22:53.599 --> 00:23:01.039
So now the heir of the Rishon and the heir of the Hayash have been hooking up.
00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:04.880
It truly is a Romeo and Juliet Sitch here, y'all.
00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:06.640
Truly is, okay.
00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:08.559
Area's half vampire.
00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:16.559
And that's the whole reason that Vincent went to that town during this war was he wanted to find her.
00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:24.559
And he just let her think all this time that it was a certain, you know, like circumstantial, that it just happened to have, and it was a coincidence.
00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:26.960
He just happened to come across her in the rubble.
00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:28.799
He went there looking for her.
00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:30.559
And she has no other family.
00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:33.359
And he knows she has no other family because he's killed them all.
00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:38.559
And on his dying breath, he told her, I was going to tell you, I wanted to tell you.
00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:42.160
So now she's finds out she's a half-bite vampire.
00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:46.319
During this trial, she developed the use of night fire.
00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:50.000
So now Rain's followers are like, we've got to kill her.
00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:50.880
You have to kill her.
00:23:51.039 --> 00:24:05.200
You cannot have, I don't care how you feel about her, you cannot have the Hiaj heir be alive when you're just starting your reign, especially since you have so many other people who are against you, being as your Rishon.
00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:11.359
And we've been living under a rule where the king of the nightborn hate the Rishon.
00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:15.599
So you're, you know, like you're already kind of at a disadvantage.
00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:17.440
Do not let her live.
00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:22.720
And he tells everyone, he announces it, I'm not killing her, I'm marrying her.
00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:27.440
And she will be under my control because she will be my bound wife.
00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:28.799
So he does.
00:24:28.960 --> 00:24:33.759
He immediately drags a priestess to the room and forces a marriage.
00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:36.400
And the marriage binds the two of them together.
00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:39.039
At this point, we're set up for book two.
00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:40.799
Rain and Araya are married.
00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:42.720
They don't know if they can trust each other.
00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:49.519
He is like honor bound to get this stuff done for his for his life, for his family, for his followers, for everything.
00:24:49.839 --> 00:24:53.119
And because he wants to be a better king than Vincent.
00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:56.240
He wants to be the kind of king that Vincent said he was going to be.
00:24:56.400 --> 00:25:00.000
And Aurrea is just like, I don't know if I could trust you.
00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:01.440
I fell in love with you.
00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:02.640
I gave you my body.
00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:04.000
I gave you my heart.
00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:05.680
I gave you my loyalty.
00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:09.440
I won the trial and then I gave it all to you.
00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:13.759
And you turned around and killed my father in front of me.
00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:16.480
The only remaining family I have.
00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:20.160
And then I find all this other stuff out, and I don't know who to trust.
00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:28.079
And Vincent's like right hand person, his leader of the guard, this is badass woman named Jasmine.
00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:34.079
And she finds Area and she's like, You have my loyalty.
00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:36.160
Let's figure out a way to get you out of here.
00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:38.559
And you're like, is she gonna have an uprising?
00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:39.920
What's gonna happen?
00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:42.880
Are they going to work together to build a better world?
00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:46.240
Or are they gonna end up having this inner fighting?
00:25:46.319 --> 00:25:48.960
Like, what is going on with the nightborn?
00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:51.359
So that's how book two is set up, y'all.
00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:54.640
It was a wild ride going through these trials.
00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:56.160
It was great.
00:25:56.559 --> 00:25:59.119
And it was very poetically written.
00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:01.519
I love a romanticy.
00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:02.480
I've mentioned it before.
00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:04.319
I'm a Renaissance Festival girly.
00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:06.720
I love Shakespeare.
00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:08.960
I mean, I'm all about all that stuff.
00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:11.440
And so this was a lot of fun to me.
00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:15.599
Okay, so I rated this book a four.
00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:18.960
The spice rating here is a 1.5.
00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:21.119
It happens.
00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:22.880
We're there for it.
00:26:23.119 --> 00:26:28.400
It's not closed door, but it's in no way spicy.
00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:31.279
I mean, it is purely plot driven.
00:26:31.359 --> 00:26:34.880
It is a way for us to realize how they're connecting.
00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:37.519
They're not even using naughty words.
00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:38.640
It's sexy.
00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:40.480
It's like there's biting.
00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:41.599
It's not smuddy.
00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:45.599
It was so well done that I'm not even mad about the lack of smud.
00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:47.440
So I'm gonna move on to quotes.
00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:50.640
This first one, not even really said by a person.
00:26:50.799 --> 00:26:52.559
It is in the prologue.
00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:55.680
The narrator is setting up everything.
00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:01.839
And this is right after Vincent decides he's going to take Aurea home.
00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:04.799
And he has decided to adopt her.
00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:10.400
And we're not really sure why, except that he's just impressed that she fought back at such a young age.
00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:12.559
She's got a warrior's heart, and that's all we think.
00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:14.640
And then we find out everything at the end.
00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:17.759
But here is here's the writing in the prologue.
00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:20.240
And man, does it set up beautifully?
00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:22.480
It makes you wonder what's going on.
00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:31.680
Hundreds of years later, historians and scholars will look back at this moment, this decision that one day would topple an empire.
00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:34.400
What a strange choice, they would whisper.
00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:36.160
Why would he do this?
00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:37.440
Why indeed?
00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:44.480
After all, vampires know better than anyone how important it is to protect their hearts.
00:27:44.799 --> 00:27:48.880
And love, understand, is sharper than any stake.
00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:51.119
It sets up so many things, right?
00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:51.759
Okay.
00:27:52.240 --> 00:28:02.640
Then you know just from the very pro the prologue, the very opening of the book, you know that somehow Aurora is going to bring an end to Vincent and his empire.
00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:08.559
And you know that somehow love is going to be at the forefront of that.
00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:15.519
And if love is sharper than any stake, then yes, it's going to kill Vincent, but is it also going to kill Aurelia?
00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:20.079
I mean, it gets you thinking before you even get into chapter one, y'all.
00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:21.279
This is Elena.
00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:30.079
And I didn't talk about Elena, but growing up in the Nightborn Palace, she doesn't really have any friends, right?
00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:35.119
She is the only human that's not there as a blood bank, essentially.
00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:38.160
Elena is there as a blood bank.
00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:40.960
She has been there for several years.
00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:44.400
She is the longest-lasting donor.
00:28:44.559 --> 00:28:49.200
She's older, but she is super spunky and super bright and super fun.
00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:54.400
And she has become like a family member to Araya.
00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:57.359
It's the only human she interacts with.
00:28:57.599 --> 00:29:02.400
And she just describes this cranky old woman and they give each other shit.
00:29:02.559 --> 00:29:12.000
And she is just like, oh man, she's sassy and she's funny and she smokes cigars and she's like, look, I'm living my life, baby.
00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:16.240
Like, I'm doing, and you know, I'm not gonna go live in the human slums.
00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:17.359
I don't want that life.
00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:26.480
So yeah, this one's hard, but really, in my opinion, I will take the trials here than the trials out there, because at least I'm living some kind of life.
00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:30.000
I have my little apartment, I know what my job is.
00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:35.519
They've not tried to kill me yet, and I'm living every moment to the fullest that I can.
00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:38.640
So that's kind of how Elena lives life, right?
00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:42.160
But their dynamic was so it was so sweet.
00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:44.480
It was so fun, it was just cute.
00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:51.759
But unfortunately, the very night of the opening of the tournament, Elena's killed.
00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:58.880
And it breaks Aurelia's heart, and she tries to go after, and that's when Rain comes in and he pulls her back.
00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:07.119
So Elena does say this before the trials begin, before all of that, when it's just like chapter one, we have her interactions with Elena.
00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:10.640
And this is what Elena says, and I wrote it out because it was so funny and I liked it.
00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:15.119
You're sweet, prickly, but sweet in an acidic sort of way.
00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:16.559
Like a pineapple.
00:30:16.720 --> 00:30:18.000
I'm gonna tell that to somebody.
00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:20.400
You're sweet like a pineapple.
00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:22.559
I just thought it was so cute.
00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:25.440
And that's gonna be like the only cute and quirky.
00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:28.240
Everything else is like in-depth, man.
00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:29.440
Okay, here's Area.
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:38.000
And then I realized that fear, when embraced, hardens and sharpens, that it becomes rage, that it becomes power.
00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:39.599
I would not die here.
00:30:39.759 --> 00:30:42.000
I let my fury explode.
00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:45.279
And that's when she starts wielding that nightfire, y'all.
00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:48.640
BAM! She gets through the trials.
00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:57.039
And this is Rain when he starts talking there like in one of their many conversations where they start kind of opening up to each other.
00:30:57.359 --> 00:31:00.319
Because Rain was a turned human.
00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:03.519
He knows what it was like to be a human.
00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:07.920
He tells this to Area, don't be so quick to throw away your humanity, Area.
00:31:08.480 --> 00:31:10.720
You might find you miss it once it's gone.
00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:14.319
And we really like begin to love and feel for Rain.
00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:16.799
And we know why he's so tough on the outside.
00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:24.960
And, you know, like we really start to learn his heart, and we're really rooting for them and just so worried about the end of this trial.
00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:30.319
And then the end happens, and we're like, we're we're betrayed along with Area.
00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:33.359
Like, can we fucking trust this man?
00:31:33.680 --> 00:31:34.319
You know?
00:31:34.799 --> 00:31:41.519
Okay, and this was then they finally hook up, like when they do the deed, he tells her this this is rain.
00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:42.960
You don't even know Area.
00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:47.279
The things I've thought about want doesn't even fucking cover it.
00:31:47.599 --> 00:31:48.720
I have a list.
00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:50.960
Woo! He has a list.
00:31:51.119 --> 00:31:54.480
Well, we don't get to know the list, but he has a list, okay?
00:31:54.720 --> 00:32:00.079
And apparently during that night they start working through the list, but we we don't we don't get to hear about it.
00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:01.119
This is rain.
00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:02.000
I would beg.
00:32:02.160 --> 00:32:03.119
For you, I would.
00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:05.119
You have fucking destroyed me, Araya.
00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:06.079
Do you know that?
00:32:06.319 --> 00:32:12.640
Whoo, to bring this strong, powerful vampire man to his knees.
00:32:13.359 --> 00:32:14.720
Wow, go Area.
00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:18.960
And this is Araya when she meets um Nyaxia.
00:32:19.200 --> 00:32:24.720
When Nyaxia comes down and she is struck by the sheer terrifying beauty of her.
00:32:24.880 --> 00:32:36.640
Like she is described as like having skin of silver and just curtains of black hair to her knees, and she's naked, and the shadows are caressing her curves, and she has a dribble of blood.
00:32:36.960 --> 00:32:43.920
And Area is struck first in all of her of her beauty, but then she's like, it's danger.
00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:45.200
It's dangerous.
00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:46.960
I am like drawn to her.
00:32:47.119 --> 00:32:51.759
I want to lick the blood off her beautiful chin, and it's terrifying.
00:32:51.839 --> 00:32:52.880
So this is what she said.
00:32:53.039 --> 00:32:53.359
Area.
00:32:53.920 --> 00:32:59.680
I had learned long ago that vampire beauty was dangerous, a trap set with silver teeth.
00:32:59.839 --> 00:33:02.240
Their allure was made to draw in prey.
00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:06.240
Nyaxia's allure dwarfed it and it terrified me.
00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:11.279
Nyaxia tells her this when she sees that Area's upset about the fact that Rain is dead.
00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:15.759
Niaxia says, A dead lover can never break your heart.
00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:26.000
The whole trials are built around Nyaxia's story and how she lost her lover and she was looking for him and she ended up losing him.
00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:30.880
And like the whole trials of what she went, the trials she went through to try to try to find him.
00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:31.920
Here's Rain.
00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:39.359
After he's alive again, and he kills her father, and this is when he's talking to her after he's announced to everybody, I'm gonna marry her, and so you can't kill her.
00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:44.160
This is what Rain tells her because she's fighting, she doesn't want to marry him, she's fighting against him.
00:33:44.400 --> 00:33:46.400
So Rain says, I can't kill you.
00:33:46.480 --> 00:33:47.759
I tried, I can't.
00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:51.119
A world without you would be a dark, depressing place.
00:33:51.200 --> 00:33:56.160
And I've already inflicted enough pain without committing that fucking injustice too.
00:33:56.319 --> 00:33:57.680
So let me save you.
00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:00.160
He is begging her, marry me.
00:34:00.480 --> 00:34:02.720
This is the only way I could save you.
00:34:02.880 --> 00:34:16.800
I want you by my side to rebuild this entire empire, to make it right, to make it to where humans and Rishon they can they can live, they can have a life too, and they're not just a cattle ground.
00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:19.039
He's like, Let me save you.
00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:20.880
And she's like, I can't trust you.
00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:22.800
Oh my god, the intrigue.
00:34:23.039 --> 00:34:28.559
All right, and this is the final quote, and this is Area, and this is like one of her closing lines of the book.
00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:31.119
For one moment, it was all laid bare.
00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:46.800
My friend, my enemy, my lover, my captor, king and slave, human and vampire, and perhaps the only other person that would ever really understand what it was like to have a heart that bled both red and black.
00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:49.760
I hated him and I loved him.
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:53.280
You finish this book, you immediately want to jump into book two, y'all.
00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:54.320
It's so good.
00:34:54.559 --> 00:34:56.079
I'm pleased with my casting.
00:34:56.159 --> 00:34:57.599
I'm always pleased with my casting.
00:34:57.679 --> 00:34:59.199
Come on, but this one I nailed.
00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:08.960
For Area, I'm going with Ella Balinska, and she was in the 2019 make of Charlie's Angels, and she is a badass.
00:35:09.119 --> 00:35:16.159
Listen, this girl grew up learning martial arts, various kinds of martial arts, and doing weapon training.
00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:24.880
She is very physical, she is just a badass, and she really honestly carried that Charlie's Angel movie.
00:35:25.119 --> 00:35:28.159
She was also in a movie called The Occupant.
00:35:28.480 --> 00:35:35.360
She was in the Resident Evil TV series, and recently she was in the forespoken video game.
00:35:35.599 --> 00:35:41.760
Like she was the voice actor, and then she also did the you know, the animated acting.
00:35:41.920 --> 00:35:43.440
It was it's all her too.
00:35:43.599 --> 00:35:44.639
I mean, it's cool.
00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:47.440
And y'all, I finally did it.
00:35:47.599 --> 00:35:50.400
For Rain, I'm casting Jason Momoa.
00:35:50.480 --> 00:35:55.360
And you know I've been wanting to cast that man for a while because I love Jason Momoa.
00:35:55.679 --> 00:35:58.159
But who else could be Rain?
00:35:58.639 --> 00:36:12.800
Honestly, there are other actors, other men out there who could be a wall of a man who have the brutish, just hyper masculine, strong, rough appearance.
00:36:13.039 --> 00:36:18.239
Jason Momoa has the scar already, which Rain is described as having.
00:36:18.480 --> 00:36:23.199
And Rain, he has dark red eyes and dark red, homeless black hair.
00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:35.440
So imagine Jason Mamoa in all his masculine, buffed out glory with tattoos and dark, dark red eyes.
00:36:35.840 --> 00:36:37.760
I mean, and wings.
00:36:39.039 --> 00:36:40.480
I'd watch that.
00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:53.440
But I'm going Jason Mamoa in his Game of Thrones or Aquaman era, like the younger Jason Mamoa, not the Minecraft Jason Mamoa.
00:36:53.679 --> 00:36:56.239
Whatever, I'll take Joseph Mamoa anyway.
00:36:56.559 --> 00:37:05.199
But you can find other actors who might have that like larger-than-life, hyper masculine, just warrior look.
00:37:06.079 --> 00:37:23.280
But Rain is also really witty, and he has a sense of humor and he has emotional depth, and we need someone who can also be witty and charismatic and have that charisma and have that like personality behind it.
00:37:23.440 --> 00:37:27.519
And I could not think of anyone that could fit that better than Jason Mamoa.
00:37:27.760 --> 00:37:29.119
So that's it.
00:37:29.360 --> 00:37:35.280
I have finally cast Jason Mamoa and I am fucking ecstatic about it.
00:37:36.159 --> 00:37:38.559
Like he is the perfect reign.
00:37:38.960 --> 00:37:45.760
And I can just be be happy that that that task has been done.
00:37:46.320 --> 00:37:48.639
This was a great, great series, y'all.
00:37:48.719 --> 00:37:49.920
I had a blast all June.
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:52.079
I mean, this was right up my alley, babes.
00:37:52.400 --> 00:37:56.320
I had so much fun with all of the dark drama of it all.
00:37:56.719 --> 00:38:02.079
And I I'm equally excited to go into something lighthearted, sun-soaked, and sexy.
00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:11.199
So if you've liked this episode, please like and subscribe, rate and review all the things, and invite more people to this crazy book club because it's so much fun.
00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:12.239
Thank you so much.
00:38:12.320 --> 00:38:14.239
And until next time, stay sponsored.
00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:17.280
That's it for this episode of Book Tea.
00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:22.880
Book and theme reveals and episode commentary can be found on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook at Book Tea Pod.
00:38:23.440 --> 00:38:26.400
Each episode can also be found on YouTube at BookTeap.
00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:05.120
Welcome to Book Teams.
00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:09.039
I'm you're not joining the Salty Southern Mama that likes our football filthy.
00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:12.960
Join me each week as we celebrate the power of well-written smut.
00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:18.079
We explore new themes every month, and book titles are revealed before episodes are released.
00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:23.440
So read a hard and treat book teams like your own personal, slightly chaotic book club.
00:00:23.760 --> 00:00:24.960
Let's get spicy.
00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:28.559
Hi, welcome to Book Tees.
00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:33.280
I'm your host, Jamie, and this is the podcast that celebrates the power of well-written smut.
00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:40.960
We are in our final book of our sexy murder series, you know, murder, but in a sexy way.
00:00:41.119 --> 00:00:48.479
We have enjoyed a lot of Morally Gray and just dark romance this month.
00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:53.840
And this book is going to be an awesome closer for that series.
00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:57.920
This book is a romanticy novel.
00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:11.920
It's got vampires, it's got intrigue, it's got politic, it's got like Forbidden Love, it's got a crazy trial, it's it's got it all, man.
00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:14.719
This book is fire, and I can't wait to get into it.
00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:15.439
So let's go.
00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:17.120
Couple of housekeeping notes.
00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:24.480
By the time this episode comes out, our July theme and books for that month will have been released.
00:01:24.719 --> 00:01:28.480
And it's going to be such a change from this month.
00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:32.959
We've been going dark, we've been going morally gray and murder.
00:01:33.120 --> 00:01:38.159
And we're about to flip it to Sunshine Rom com.
00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:43.040
So July is for sizzling summer and it's gonna be a blast.
00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:44.239
So get ready for that.
00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:48.560
It's gonna be a huge tunnel shift from our current month.
00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:54.319
The next item I want to bring up is a reminder that this podcast does contain spoilers.
00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:57.120
I spoil the whole damn book, y'all.
00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:11.680
If you don't want to know the surprise ending on this one, if you don't you want to stay surprised and you want to just experience it organically, then pause, read the book, and then come back because you're gonna want to talk about it once you get to this ending, y'all.
00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:15.199
Okay, without further ado, let's get into it.
00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:24.319
We have The Serpents and The Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent, and it is book one in the Crowns of Niaxia series.
00:02:24.479 --> 00:02:28.000
Okay, I've read the second book and it's equally fire.
00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:30.080
I love Carissa Broadbent.
00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:34.879
This whole world she's built with these vampires and the crazy, it's excellent.
00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:42.159
So if you like romantic and you want to read about a world ruled by vampires, then come on.
00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:44.639
How have you not picked this book up yet?
00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:46.159
So let's talk about it.
00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:48.000
First, we have Aurea.
00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:54.400
And these names, y'all, you know you're in a romanticy when you have names like Aurea and Niaxia.
00:02:55.120 --> 00:03:01.840
Anyway, Aurea is a human that has been adopted by the Nightborn Vampire King.
00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:03.759
And that's how the book opens up.
00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:08.400
The book opens up where you know there's a like something that's going on.
00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:17.039
They're talking about how this one race or this one group of vampires have been eradicated and they're sweeping the area.
00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:18.719
And it's Vincent.
00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:20.879
He is the Nightborn King.
00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:26.560
And he's there and he finds in the rubble this little girl.
00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:28.479
She's only like six.
00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:29.840
She's really young.
00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:35.039
And he doesn't know how old she is because I've been around for centuries.
00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:36.800
I cannot tell human age.
00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:38.240
You know, that sort of thing.
00:03:38.479 --> 00:03:44.159
So he's uh he says she could be seven, she could be, you know, like ten.
00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:44.960
I don't know.
00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:45.840
She's young.
00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:51.840
So we get the idea that she's not a toddler, but she's not a teenager, you know.
00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:55.840
So I'm thinking around five to ten.
00:03:56.319 --> 00:04:00.400
Probably we're gonna say about six or seven, just to keep it, you know, average.
00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:02.159
So she's about six or seven.
00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:12.319
And uh he finds her and she bites one of his guards when he tries to reach for her to treat her like a little snackarooski, I guess.
00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:19.600
She bites him hard enough to draw blood, and Vincent is very intrigued and amused and kind of impressed.
00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:22.959
Like, oh, she's got teeth like a little serpent.
00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:29.279
And so he nicknames her Little Serpent, and he decides he's going to adopt her.
00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:30.800
He treats her like a daughter.
00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:47.199
So now in this book, she is in her 20s, she's like 23, 24, and she has been raised by Vincent in the nightborn palace or whatever, and she is treated like his daughter.
00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:55.519
He loves her, but she can't go many places because she's human, and all these vampires might either know.
00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:57.759
So that's the opening of the book.
00:04:57.839 --> 00:04:58.879
That's where we're set up.
00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:00.959
Now, I said nightborn king.
00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:03.600
There is the whole world that's been built here.
00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:11.839
So I'm gonna take a second because it's nice to know and have it all written out, the stuff that you just kind of learn throughout the book, right?
00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:16.319
So here are the vampire types according to this world.
00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:20.720
We'll start with nightborn because that's the highlighted type here.
00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:30.560
It is this book is basically the battle between the two sides of the nightborne group, the nightborn type.
00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:42.639
The nightborns are from the house of night, pretty self-explanatory, and their magic is um of the night sky, specifically night fire.
00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:50.319
So it's like a fire that burns really bright, and it's like almost star fire, and they shoot it out or whatever.
00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:53.120
That's the main power of the nightborn.
00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:55.839
And there are two types of nightborn.
00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:09.360
We have the head, and that's the kind Vincent is, and that is the kind that is currently in power, currently in charge is the Hiage, and they have bat-like wings.
00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:11.839
Area's adopted father is this type.
00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:13.360
Then they have the Rishon.
00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:17.439
Well, when the book opens, that's what they mention.
00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:20.879
Oh, the Rishon in this area have been eradicated.
00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:32.079
So we kind of know, okay, um, they're constantly at battle, the Hiaj versus the Rishon types, but they're under the same umbrella as the nightborn.
00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:35.920
So currently the Hiaj are in control, they are in power.
00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:37.199
That's what Vincent is.
00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:50.240
The Rishon have feathered wings and they're the former ruling class, but when Vincent took over, he oppressed the Rishon, and they're currently living in shadows and being hunted by the Hiash.
00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:52.319
So that sets up that.
00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:56.240
The other types of vampires we have are the bloodborne.
00:06:56.399 --> 00:07:01.920
And the bloodborne, obviously, come from the house of blood, and their magic is blood magic.
00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:12.319
Basically, and it's pretty fucking creepy, they can, if you're cut and they see your blood, then they can control you via your blood.
00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:18.720
They can literally boil your blood and make you explode, or they can make you do what they want you to do.
00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:20.560
They can control you through your blood.
00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:25.680
They are also, though, cursed by Niaxia because she got mad at them and threw a temper tantrum.
00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:27.680
That is the vampire goddess.
00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:28.800
She cursed them.
00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:30.720
So they go mad and die young.
00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:37.279
So they have this crazy powerful blood magic, but they tend to go crazy and die young.
00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:39.279
Then we have the shadow born.
00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:42.000
And hey, I guess you can guess this.
00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:48.480
They're from the house of shadow, and they have shadow magic, which is kind of a mind magic.
00:07:48.639 --> 00:07:50.079
They can control your thoughts.
00:07:50.240 --> 00:07:52.560
The nightborn, the bloodborne, and the shadow born.
00:07:52.639 --> 00:08:00.319
But this book mostly pertains to the nightborn and the battle between the two types of nightborn, the hiaj and the rishon.
00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:11.600
The main plot line in this book is that Orea, who has been training and she's a badass fighter, she is going to enter the Kajari.
00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:18.879
And the Kajari is a trial-based tournament hosted by the goddess of death who is Niaxia or Nyaxia.
00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:22.720
She is the goddess of death, the ruler of all vampires.
00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:25.519
That's where they get their power from.
00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:31.279
And there's a trial or a tournament in her honor every like hundred years or so.
00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:35.840
And you enter it, and there's only one survivor.
00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:38.559
So basically, there's different trials.
00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:42.639
And I actually wrote down, let's go ahead and talk about that real quick.
00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:45.919
There are five trials total in the Hijari.
00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:55.039
There is the full moon trial, there is the waning moon trial, there is the half moon trial, there's the crescent trial, and there is the new moon trial.
00:08:55.200 --> 00:09:04.480
Of course, it's all moon theme, and takes place in the moon palace because Niaxia is the goddess of death and she loves the moon.
00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:12.000
The half moon trial, the third trial in this tournament requires teams, and that becomes really important later on.
00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:18.399
And by the end of the final trial, the new moon trial, it's to the death down to just one person.
00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:20.480
Only one person can win.
00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:26.559
And so whoever you partnered up with in the half moon trial, you have to turn around and try to kill.
00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:27.840
They become your enemy.
00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:33.759
So you have to partner up with them and really trust them to become your partner and get you through that trial.
00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:38.720
And then you have to basically just all turn on each other and what a mind fuck.
00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:40.320
Seriously, that is insane.
00:09:40.559 --> 00:09:43.120
Okay, what's the purpose of the Hajari, right?
00:09:43.279 --> 00:09:51.840
There's gotta be a reason why these people wanna give their whole soul and life to Nyaxia and enter this crazy trial, right?
00:09:52.080 --> 00:09:53.200
And fight to the death.
00:09:53.279 --> 00:09:55.759
There's one winner out of like hundreds of people.
00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:58.639
Seriously, there's gotta be a good reason for this, right?
00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:04.879
Well, the standing survivor of the Hajari is granted a single wish by the goddess.
00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:09.679
This is how Vincent won his rule of the nightborn.
00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:19.679
Aurea wants to win so she can connect herself with Vincent, which would make her a vampire without actually turning her.
00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:29.360
And the reason is because she's basically wanting to bind her life force with Vincent because he's a vampire, he's gonna live forever, he's incredibly powerful.
00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:34.799
And that way, she has all the power of being a vampire.
00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:40.000
But in this world, being turned is really problematic.
00:10:40.240 --> 00:10:43.519
The chance of survival is like 30%.
00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:47.919
Most people that go to be turned just end up dying.
00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:51.279
It's not as often that you can get turned in this world.
00:10:51.440 --> 00:10:53.679
So she doesn't want to risk her life.
00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:57.200
And Vincent doesn't want her to risk her life to become immortal.
00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:00.559
But he's like, I'll you can bind your life with me.
00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:07.440
It's an added benefit because he doesn't have to worry about whoever wins the kajari trying to take power over him, right?
00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:10.320
He's like, Okay, you're not gonna try to kill me and gain power.
00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:11.440
That's my benefit.
00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:19.519
Plus, I think of you like a daughter, you can be my daughter, and you can officially be my heir once you have that power.
00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:31.039
Her benefit, not only about the safety and the power and being something other than prey in this world that she lives in, she wants to also go avenge her family.
00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:40.159
She needs to go deep into that territory and find out like what really happened to her family, if she has any surviving relatives.
00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:44.559
And she can't do that until she has this added power.
00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:45.759
So that's her benefit.
00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:46.799
That's what she wants.
00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:51.919
Well, on the very first night of the tournament, she meets Rain.
00:11:52.320 --> 00:11:55.440
Rain is our MMC, he's gonna become very important.
00:11:55.600 --> 00:12:02.480
So she meets Rain, and they kind of have a little tenuous allyship.
00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:05.039
You know, he helps her and she's like, fine, whatever.
00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:07.759
But I mean, they're kind of there's tension.
00:12:08.000 --> 00:12:20.720
And he's like, look, I want to go ahead and have you agree to be my ally for the um half moon trial, because I think it'd be a benefit.
00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:26.240
I know who you are, I know that you've been trained by Vincent, the the king of the nightborn.
00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:27.360
I know that.
00:12:27.759 --> 00:12:32.879
So I know that there'd be a benefit to having you as my ally.
00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:34.480
I'd make a badass ally.
00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:38.320
I've already saved you once that night, the very first night of the tournament.
00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:42.639
So he's like, okay, he's trying to push for this allyship.
00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:46.240
And eventually she agrees and they they grow closer.
00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:49.279
There's him and he has his best friend there.
00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:51.600
His best friend also enters the tournament.
00:12:51.679 --> 00:13:01.120
And so the three of them shack up in a room together in an apartment area together, and they protect each other.
00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:07.519
But later on in the tournament, Nyaxia cuts food supply off to everyone.
00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:10.799
And Aurea's the only human there.
00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:13.039
So she's getting attacked left and right.
00:13:13.120 --> 00:13:15.840
There's vampires trying to fly up to her window.
00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:21.440
So her having rain there to help protect her is a huge benefit.
00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:23.440
So they end up becoming really close.
00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:25.440
All three of them do, honestly.
00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:29.600
His best friend ends up getting hurt before the half moon trial.
00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:32.080
So when they go into it, it's just Rain and Area.
00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:34.799
But they had worked together prior.
00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:38.080
So they're one of the strongest groups because they work together.
00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:43.759
They actually have formed this true partnership, they've actually taken time to train together, to learn each other.
00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:44.879
It really is nice.
00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:51.919
And it kind of balances out to where Araya is the brains and rain is kind of the bronze.
00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:54.000
Like he's really powerful.
00:13:54.240 --> 00:13:55.759
This dude is huge.
00:13:55.919 --> 00:13:58.639
He is described as a wall of a man.
00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:00.639
He is a big, big dude.
00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:02.960
And he looks mean and he's all scarred up.
00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:07.360
He's got the scar on his eye, and he's just this big dude.
00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:10.000
And Aurelia is really cunning.
00:14:10.159 --> 00:14:11.600
She's really clever.
00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:17.279
She has to be because she is a human that has grown up in a world of vampires.
00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:29.279
So not only has she had to train herself to be strong and fast and brutal, but she's also had to, because she's at a disadvantage, she's a human, she's not as strong.
00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:31.120
She can't, she's easier to kill.
00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:35.120
She's had to really hone her skill and and be clever.
00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:42.639
And so it really plays into her benefit and it really benefits their team because he's not had that problem.
00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:45.759
So it's it's ends up being a really great partnership.
00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:58.159
And they end up just becoming so close during these trials, always knowing it's always looming over their heads that they're going to have to turn on each other eventually.
00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:05.840
Like they can make it down to where it's just the two of them and keep helping each other, but then they're gonna have to turn on each other because there can only be one renter.
00:15:06.080 --> 00:15:15.360
And they just try to not think about that part and just watch them tiptoe around the part that eventually we're gonna have to turn on each other.
00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:21.919
It starts to become so heartbreaking to think about the closer they get, the more they trust each other.
00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:30.879
The you could tell they're falling in love with each other, and yet they're going to to get out of this tournament, they're going to have to turn on each other.
00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:36.080
One of them is going to have to kill the other to finish this tournament out.
00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:47.279
And it's just like it's this underlining tension that's there the entire time and becomes more and more strong the further they get in this tournament.
00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:50.320
They keep taking turns, saving each other's life.
00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:51.440
And it's it's wild.
00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:59.679
So while they're in this moon palace going through this incredibly deadly tournament, there is, it becomes increasingly obvious there is something going on.
00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:07.440
A war is being begun outside of this tournament, and they don't know because they're in this moon palace and they're not allowed to leave.
00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:13.519
So it's just becoming obvious that there's some kind of political tension going on as well.
00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:16.720
There's some, they don't even know what they're gonna find once they get out of this.
00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:18.000
There's been some attacks.
00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:21.919
There was an attack even on the moon palace, and it's all being blamed on the Rishon.
00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:25.200
However, we guess who's a Rishon?
00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:26.320
Rain.
00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:27.919
Rain's a Rishon.
00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:32.480
And I guess technically, Aurelia will be aligned with the Hiaj side.
00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:36.159
So they're supposed to be enemies a couple of different ways.
00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:37.840
They're supposed to be enemies.
00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:46.559
So it's crazy that they formed this friendship and then they formed this alliance, and now they're forming this deeper connection, knowing that they're on opposite sides of this line.
00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:49.279
It's a Romeo Juliet situation here, y'all.
00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:54.720
And that they're gonna have to eventually turn on each other because of the nature of this tournament.
00:16:54.879 --> 00:17:01.519
So these attacks are being blamed on the Rashawn, and Rain's like, it's not us.
00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:03.919
Okay, it is not the Rashawn.
00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:05.759
I'm telling you, it's not the Rashawn.
00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:06.799
Do you believe me?
00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:09.440
And she's not sure if she should believe him.
00:17:09.759 --> 00:17:14.160
But because he's him and she's become so close to him, she's starting to believe him.
00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:18.240
And it's just like there's all these different pieces in play.
00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:20.559
And it's like, what is going on?
00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:22.079
Are we gonna find out?
00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:29.440
Well, like I said, they pair up and they get through the trials and they become a very formidable team in the half moon.
00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:33.920
And um, in the final trial, it does come down to the two of them.
00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:38.799
They work together up until the very end of the final trial.
00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:42.720
And then heartbreakingly, they turn on each other.
00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:45.039
And Rain is goading Area.
00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:53.279
He he is goading her, and you can kind of see on the outside what he's doing, and you're like, oh, my heart is shattering, y'all.
00:17:53.599 --> 00:18:01.519
He is pushing her to fight him, he is pushing her to show her anger, he is goading her to attack.
00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:10.319
And then when she finally does, he guides her hand and he pushes the blade into his own heart so that she wins.
00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:11.440
And I'm gonna cry.
00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:12.640
Oh, it was crazy.
00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:16.799
So she's just like devastated, and she's like, I didn't do that.
00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:20.640
I was pulling away, I was gonna, you know, like, what happened?
00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:22.559
And she's like, Did he do that?
00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:23.839
Did what happened?
00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:34.079
I didn't push the blade in that far, but here he is, he's dead, and her heart is shattered, and she's like, Oh my god, I can't live without him.
00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:35.839
I love him so much.
00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:47.039
And then Nyaxia comes floating down in all her devastating, horrendous beauty, and is like, What's your wish?
00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:49.759
You won! Congratulations.
00:18:50.400 --> 00:19:03.839
Well, Aurea, in her heartbroken state, looks into the crowd at Vincent and then tells Nyaxia, my wish is that Rain won the tournament.
00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:05.200
Oh my god.
00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:32.000
Vincent just like is looking at her in devastation because you are going to pass your power onto a Rishon ex-slave, and you don't know what his you're putting your family, your father, the only life you know into danger because you fell in love with basically your enemy.
00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:33.599
It is insane.
00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:41.519
And then you're like, oh my God, is he gonna just wake up and they just he he say, Okay, well, I want to be together.
00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:42.559
Get ready, all.
00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:44.559
Here's the big surprise ending.
00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:50.559
And if you don't want to hear it, then shut this off, baby, because I'm about to spoil the fuck out of it.
00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:54.000
Because these things happen in very quick succession.
00:19:54.160 --> 00:20:01.519
When Rain comes back and he sees what happened, and he is like, Oh, Araya, why didn't you just take my sacrifice?
00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:02.480
What did you do?
00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:11.039
Then he's like, Okay, I I have to follow through with what my original plan was because he has a higher reason, a higher power for this.
00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:17.039
He uses his wish to kill Vincent, to kill Araya's father right in front of her.
00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:22.319
And then everything goes crazy, and the following things are revealed.
00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:24.400
We find all of this out immediately.
00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:25.519
Vincent's dying.
00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:31.599
We find out that the person that turned Rain was the king Vincent overthrew.
00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:34.640
So Rain is the Rishon heir.
00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:37.440
So Rain was a turned vampire, okay?
00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:42.400
And the Rishon king that Vincent overthrew was an asshole.
00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:44.480
He was a crazy asshole.
00:20:44.720 --> 00:21:00.640
He he used um Rain as a slave, and he did some horrible things to him, but he also is the one who turned him, and he rain ended up aiding Vincent in overthrowing this king because he's such a shitty person.
00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:02.799
And Rain was like, I want to be free.
00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:05.920
I want the Rishon to be free from this guy.
00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:20.480
And when Vincent came into power and he had had the help of Rain, though he didn't know that's who it was at the time, he used his power to push the Rishon down and to also become a tyrant of sorts, which Aurelia didn't know.
00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:29.359
And then she's learning all these things about how he's starting this war, and her father is kind of a a tyrant in a in a way as well.
00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:36.160
And it breaks her heart, which is why she ultimately chooses to align herself with Rain.
00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:39.680
Not know she didn't ever know what his his intention was.
00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:47.759
But her thing is like, I don't know if I could trust my father, even though I love him and I know he loves me, and he's always been good to me.
00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:53.119
There are some questionable things that I see he's doing, so she's not sure who to trust, y'all.
00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:59.599
And then Rain kills her father, and then we find out Rain is the heir, so now he is the king of.
00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:00.880
The Nightborn.
00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:16.400
He is in a rocky, tumultuous cahoots with the Bloodborne, who nobody they're kind of known as like the black sheep outcasts of the vampire community because they go crazy, because they really can't be trusted.
00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:23.279
So he got in cahoots with them, and they're the ones who did the attacks on the moon palace and stuff.
00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:25.279
They're the ones who got this war started.
00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:27.039
And Vincent just blamed the Rishon.
00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:30.160
He used it as because he's blinded by hatred for the Rishon.
00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:34.079
So he used that as a reason to further push them down and to get this war started.
00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:40.000
Meanwhile, it was the bloodborne who just are off doing the shit and nobody even knew about it.
00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:46.319
We also find out, y'all, that Araya is Vincent's biological daughter.
00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:53.200
And now that Vincent's dead, she is the heir of the Hiaj, right?
00:22:53.599 --> 00:23:01.039
So now the heir of the Rishon and the heir of the Hayash have been hooking up.
00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:04.880
It truly is a Romeo and Juliet Sitch here, y'all.
00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:06.640
Truly is, okay.
00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:08.559
Area's half vampire.
00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:16.559
And that's the whole reason that Vincent went to that town during this war was he wanted to find her.
00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:24.559
And he just let her think all this time that it was a certain, you know, like circumstantial, that it just happened to have, and it was a coincidence.
00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:26.960
He just happened to come across her in the rubble.
00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:28.799
He went there looking for her.
00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:30.559
And she has no other family.
00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:33.359
And he knows she has no other family because he's killed them all.
00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:38.559
And on his dying breath, he told her, I was going to tell you, I wanted to tell you.
00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:42.160
So now she's finds out she's a half-bite vampire.
00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:46.319
During this trial, she developed the use of night fire.
00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:50.000
So now Rain's followers are like, we've got to kill her.
00:23:50.079 --> 00:23:50.880
You have to kill her.
00:23:51.039 --> 00:24:05.200
You cannot have, I don't care how you feel about her, you cannot have the Hiaj heir be alive when you're just starting your reign, especially since you have so many other people who are against you, being as your Rishon.
00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:11.359
And we've been living under a rule where the king of the nightborn hate the Rishon.
00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:15.599
So you're, you know, like you're already kind of at a disadvantage.
00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:17.440
Do not let her live.
00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:22.720
And he tells everyone, he announces it, I'm not killing her, I'm marrying her.
00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:27.440
And she will be under my control because she will be my bound wife.
00:24:27.680 --> 00:24:28.799
So he does.
00:24:28.960 --> 00:24:33.759
He immediately drags a priestess to the room and forces a marriage.
00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:36.400
And the marriage binds the two of them together.
00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:39.039
At this point, we're set up for book two.
00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:40.799
Rain and Araya are married.
00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:42.720
They don't know if they can trust each other.
00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:49.519
He is like honor bound to get this stuff done for his for his life, for his family, for his followers, for everything.
00:24:49.839 --> 00:24:53.119
And because he wants to be a better king than Vincent.
00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:56.240
He wants to be the kind of king that Vincent said he was going to be.
00:24:56.400 --> 00:25:00.000
And Aurrea is just like, I don't know if I could trust you.
00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:01.440
I fell in love with you.
00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:02.640
I gave you my body.
00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:04.000
I gave you my heart.
00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:05.680
I gave you my loyalty.
00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:09.440
I won the trial and then I gave it all to you.
00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:13.759
And you turned around and killed my father in front of me.
00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:16.480
The only remaining family I have.
00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:20.160
And then I find all this other stuff out, and I don't know who to trust.
00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:28.079
And Vincent's like right hand person, his leader of the guard, this is badass woman named Jasmine.
00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:34.079
And she finds Area and she's like, You have my loyalty.
00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:36.160
Let's figure out a way to get you out of here.
00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:38.559
And you're like, is she gonna have an uprising?
00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:39.920
What's gonna happen?
00:25:40.160 --> 00:25:42.880
Are they going to work together to build a better world?
00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:46.240
Or are they gonna end up having this inner fighting?
00:25:46.319 --> 00:25:48.960
Like, what is going on with the nightborn?
00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:51.359
So that's how book two is set up, y'all.
00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:54.640
It was a wild ride going through these trials.
00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:56.160
It was great.
00:25:56.559 --> 00:25:59.119
And it was very poetically written.
00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:01.519
I love a romanticy.
00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:02.480
I've mentioned it before.
00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:04.319
I'm a Renaissance Festival girly.
00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:06.720
I love Shakespeare.
00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:08.960
I mean, I'm all about all that stuff.
00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:11.440
And so this was a lot of fun to me.
00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:15.599
Okay, so I rated this book a four.
00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:18.960
The spice rating here is a 1.5.
00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:21.119
It happens.
00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:22.880
We're there for it.
00:26:23.119 --> 00:26:28.400
It's not closed door, but it's in no way spicy.
00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:31.279
I mean, it is purely plot driven.
00:26:31.359 --> 00:26:34.880
It is a way for us to realize how they're connecting.
00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:37.519
They're not even using naughty words.
00:26:37.680 --> 00:26:38.640
It's sexy.
00:26:38.799 --> 00:26:40.480
It's like there's biting.
00:26:40.559 --> 00:26:41.599
It's not smuddy.
00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:45.599
It was so well done that I'm not even mad about the lack of smud.
00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:47.440
So I'm gonna move on to quotes.
00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:50.640
This first one, not even really said by a person.
00:26:50.799 --> 00:26:52.559
It is in the prologue.
00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:55.680
The narrator is setting up everything.
00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:01.839
And this is right after Vincent decides he's going to take Aurea home.
00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:04.799
And he has decided to adopt her.
00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:10.400
And we're not really sure why, except that he's just impressed that she fought back at such a young age.
00:27:10.559 --> 00:27:12.559
She's got a warrior's heart, and that's all we think.
00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:14.640
And then we find out everything at the end.
00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:17.759
But here is here's the writing in the prologue.
00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:20.240
And man, does it set up beautifully?
00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:22.480
It makes you wonder what's going on.
00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:31.680
Hundreds of years later, historians and scholars will look back at this moment, this decision that one day would topple an empire.
00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:34.400
What a strange choice, they would whisper.
00:27:34.640 --> 00:27:36.160
Why would he do this?
00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:37.440
Why indeed?
00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:44.480
After all, vampires know better than anyone how important it is to protect their hearts.
00:27:44.799 --> 00:27:48.880
And love, understand, is sharper than any stake.
00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:51.119
It sets up so many things, right?
00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:51.759
Okay.
00:27:52.240 --> 00:28:02.640
Then you know just from the very pro the prologue, the very opening of the book, you know that somehow Aurora is going to bring an end to Vincent and his empire.
00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:08.559
And you know that somehow love is going to be at the forefront of that.
00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:15.519
And if love is sharper than any stake, then yes, it's going to kill Vincent, but is it also going to kill Aurelia?
00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:20.079
I mean, it gets you thinking before you even get into chapter one, y'all.
00:28:20.240 --> 00:28:21.279
This is Elena.
00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:30.079
And I didn't talk about Elena, but growing up in the Nightborn Palace, she doesn't really have any friends, right?
00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:35.119
She is the only human that's not there as a blood bank, essentially.
00:28:35.599 --> 00:28:38.160
Elena is there as a blood bank.
00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:40.960
She has been there for several years.
00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:44.400
She is the longest-lasting donor.
00:28:44.559 --> 00:28:49.200
She's older, but she is super spunky and super bright and super fun.
00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:54.400
And she has become like a family member to Araya.
00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:57.359
It's the only human she interacts with.
00:28:57.599 --> 00:29:02.400
And she just describes this cranky old woman and they give each other shit.
00:29:02.559 --> 00:29:12.000
And she is just like, oh man, she's sassy and she's funny and she smokes cigars and she's like, look, I'm living my life, baby.
00:29:12.079 --> 00:29:16.240
Like, I'm doing, and you know, I'm not gonna go live in the human slums.
00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:17.359
I don't want that life.
00:29:17.440 --> 00:29:26.480
So yeah, this one's hard, but really, in my opinion, I will take the trials here than the trials out there, because at least I'm living some kind of life.
00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:30.000
I have my little apartment, I know what my job is.
00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:35.519
They've not tried to kill me yet, and I'm living every moment to the fullest that I can.
00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:38.640
So that's kind of how Elena lives life, right?
00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:42.160
But their dynamic was so it was so sweet.
00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:44.480
It was so fun, it was just cute.
00:29:44.720 --> 00:29:51.759
But unfortunately, the very night of the opening of the tournament, Elena's killed.
00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:58.880
And it breaks Aurelia's heart, and she tries to go after, and that's when Rain comes in and he pulls her back.
00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:07.119
So Elena does say this before the trials begin, before all of that, when it's just like chapter one, we have her interactions with Elena.
00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:10.640
And this is what Elena says, and I wrote it out because it was so funny and I liked it.
00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:15.119
You're sweet, prickly, but sweet in an acidic sort of way.
00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:16.559
Like a pineapple.
00:30:16.720 --> 00:30:18.000
I'm gonna tell that to somebody.
00:30:18.319 --> 00:30:20.400
You're sweet like a pineapple.
00:30:21.200 --> 00:30:22.559
I just thought it was so cute.
00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:25.440
And that's gonna be like the only cute and quirky.
00:30:25.680 --> 00:30:28.240
Everything else is like in-depth, man.
00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:29.440
Okay, here's Area.
00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:38.000
And then I realized that fear, when embraced, hardens and sharpens, that it becomes rage, that it becomes power.
00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:39.599
I would not die here.
00:30:39.759 --> 00:30:42.000
I let my fury explode.
00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:45.279
And that's when she starts wielding that nightfire, y'all.
00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:48.640
BAM! She gets through the trials.
00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:57.039
And this is Rain when he starts talking there like in one of their many conversations where they start kind of opening up to each other.
00:30:57.359 --> 00:31:00.319
Because Rain was a turned human.
00:31:00.559 --> 00:31:03.519
He knows what it was like to be a human.
00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:07.920
He tells this to Area, don't be so quick to throw away your humanity, Area.
00:31:08.480 --> 00:31:10.720
You might find you miss it once it's gone.
00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:14.319
And we really like begin to love and feel for Rain.
00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:16.799
And we know why he's so tough on the outside.
00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:24.960
And, you know, like we really start to learn his heart, and we're really rooting for them and just so worried about the end of this trial.
00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:30.319
And then the end happens, and we're like, we're we're betrayed along with Area.
00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:33.359
Like, can we fucking trust this man?
00:31:33.680 --> 00:31:34.319
You know?
00:31:34.799 --> 00:31:41.519
Okay, and this was then they finally hook up, like when they do the deed, he tells her this this is rain.
00:31:41.680 --> 00:31:42.960
You don't even know Area.
00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:47.279
The things I've thought about want doesn't even fucking cover it.
00:31:47.599 --> 00:31:48.720
I have a list.
00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:50.960
Woo! He has a list.
00:31:51.119 --> 00:31:54.480
Well, we don't get to know the list, but he has a list, okay?
00:31:54.720 --> 00:32:00.079
And apparently during that night they start working through the list, but we we don't we don't get to hear about it.
00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:01.119
This is rain.
00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:02.000
I would beg.
00:32:02.160 --> 00:32:03.119
For you, I would.
00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:05.119
You have fucking destroyed me, Araya.
00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:06.079
Do you know that?
00:32:06.319 --> 00:32:12.640
Whoo, to bring this strong, powerful vampire man to his knees.
00:32:13.359 --> 00:32:14.720
Wow, go Area.
00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:18.960
And this is Araya when she meets um Nyaxia.
00:32:19.200 --> 00:32:24.720
When Nyaxia comes down and she is struck by the sheer terrifying beauty of her.
00:32:24.880 --> 00:32:36.640
Like she is described as like having skin of silver and just curtains of black hair to her knees, and she's naked, and the shadows are caressing her curves, and she has a dribble of blood.
00:32:36.960 --> 00:32:43.920
And Area is struck first in all of her of her beauty, but then she's like, it's danger.
00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:45.200
It's dangerous.
00:32:45.440 --> 00:32:46.960
I am like drawn to her.
00:32:47.119 --> 00:32:51.759
I want to lick the blood off her beautiful chin, and it's terrifying.
00:32:51.839 --> 00:32:52.880
So this is what she said.
00:32:53.039 --> 00:32:53.359
Area.
00:32:53.920 --> 00:32:59.680
I had learned long ago that vampire beauty was dangerous, a trap set with silver teeth.
00:32:59.839 --> 00:33:02.240
Their allure was made to draw in prey.
00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:06.240
Nyaxia's allure dwarfed it and it terrified me.
00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:11.279
Nyaxia tells her this when she sees that Area's upset about the fact that Rain is dead.
00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:15.759
Niaxia says, A dead lover can never break your heart.
00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:26.000
The whole trials are built around Nyaxia's story and how she lost her lover and she was looking for him and she ended up losing him.
00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:30.880
And like the whole trials of what she went, the trials she went through to try to try to find him.
00:33:31.119 --> 00:33:31.920
Here's Rain.
00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:39.359
After he's alive again, and he kills her father, and this is when he's talking to her after he's announced to everybody, I'm gonna marry her, and so you can't kill her.
00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:44.160
This is what Rain tells her because she's fighting, she doesn't want to marry him, she's fighting against him.
00:33:44.400 --> 00:33:46.400
So Rain says, I can't kill you.
00:33:46.480 --> 00:33:47.759
I tried, I can't.
00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:51.119
A world without you would be a dark, depressing place.
00:33:51.200 --> 00:33:56.160
And I've already inflicted enough pain without committing that fucking injustice too.
00:33:56.319 --> 00:33:57.680
So let me save you.
00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:00.160
He is begging her, marry me.
00:34:00.480 --> 00:34:02.720
This is the only way I could save you.
00:34:02.880 --> 00:34:16.800
I want you by my side to rebuild this entire empire, to make it right, to make it to where humans and Rishon they can they can live, they can have a life too, and they're not just a cattle ground.
00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:19.039
He's like, Let me save you.
00:34:19.119 --> 00:34:20.880
And she's like, I can't trust you.
00:34:21.039 --> 00:34:22.800
Oh my god, the intrigue.
00:34:23.039 --> 00:34:28.559
All right, and this is the final quote, and this is Area, and this is like one of her closing lines of the book.
00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:31.119
For one moment, it was all laid bare.
00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:46.800
My friend, my enemy, my lover, my captor, king and slave, human and vampire, and perhaps the only other person that would ever really understand what it was like to have a heart that bled both red and black.
00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:49.760
I hated him and I loved him.
00:34:50.000 --> 00:34:53.280
You finish this book, you immediately want to jump into book two, y'all.
00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:54.320
It's so good.
00:34:54.559 --> 00:34:56.079
I'm pleased with my casting.
00:34:56.159 --> 00:34:57.599
I'm always pleased with my casting.
00:34:57.679 --> 00:34:59.199
Come on, but this one I nailed.
00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:08.960
For Area, I'm going with Ella Balinska, and she was in the 2019 make of Charlie's Angels, and she is a badass.
00:35:09.119 --> 00:35:16.159
Listen, this girl grew up learning martial arts, various kinds of martial arts, and doing weapon training.
00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:24.880
She is very physical, she is just a badass, and she really honestly carried that Charlie's Angel movie.
00:35:25.119 --> 00:35:28.159
She was also in a movie called The Occupant.
00:35:28.480 --> 00:35:35.360
She was in the Resident Evil TV series, and recently she was in the forespoken video game.
00:35:35.599 --> 00:35:41.760
Like she was the voice actor, and then she also did the you know, the animated acting.
00:35:41.920 --> 00:35:43.440
It was it's all her too.
00:35:43.599 --> 00:35:44.639
I mean, it's cool.
00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:47.440
And y'all, I finally did it.
00:35:47.599 --> 00:35:50.400
For Rain, I'm casting Jason Momoa.
00:35:50.480 --> 00:35:55.360
And you know I've been wanting to cast that man for a while because I love Jason Momoa.
00:35:55.679 --> 00:35:58.159
But who else could be Rain?
00:35:58.639 --> 00:36:12.800
Honestly, there are other actors, other men out there who could be a wall of a man who have the brutish, just hyper masculine, strong, rough appearance.
00:36:13.039 --> 00:36:18.239
Jason Momoa has the scar already, which Rain is described as having.
00:36:18.480 --> 00:36:23.199
And Rain, he has dark red eyes and dark red, homeless black hair.
00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:35.440
So imagine Jason Mamoa in all his masculine, buffed out glory with tattoos and dark, dark red eyes.
00:36:35.840 --> 00:36:37.760
I mean, and wings.
00:36:39.039 --> 00:36:40.480
I'd watch that.
00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:53.440
But I'm going Jason Mamoa in his Game of Thrones or Aquaman era, like the younger Jason Mamoa, not the Minecraft Jason Mamoa.
00:36:53.679 --> 00:36:56.239
Whatever, I'll take Joseph Mamoa anyway.
00:36:56.559 --> 00:37:05.199
But you can find other actors who might have that like larger-than-life, hyper masculine, just warrior look.
00:37:06.079 --> 00:37:23.280
But Rain is also really witty, and he has a sense of humor and he has emotional depth, and we need someone who can also be witty and charismatic and have that charisma and have that like personality behind it.
00:37:23.440 --> 00:37:27.519
And I could not think of anyone that could fit that better than Jason Mamoa.
00:37:27.760 --> 00:37:29.119
So that's it.
00:37:29.360 --> 00:37:35.280
I have finally cast Jason Mamoa and I am fucking ecstatic about it.
00:37:36.159 --> 00:37:38.559
Like he is the perfect reign.
00:37:38.960 --> 00:37:45.760
And I can just be be happy that that that task has been done.
00:37:46.320 --> 00:37:48.639
This was a great, great series, y'all.
00:37:48.719 --> 00:37:49.920
I had a blast all June.
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:52.079
I mean, this was right up my alley, babes.
00:37:52.400 --> 00:37:56.320
I had so much fun with all of the dark drama of it all.
00:37:56.719 --> 00:38:02.079
And I I'm equally excited to go into something lighthearted, sun-soaked, and sexy.
00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:11.199
So if you've liked this episode, please like and subscribe, rate and review all the things, and invite more people to this crazy book club because it's so much fun.
00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:12.239
Thank you so much.
00:38:12.320 --> 00:38:14.239
And until next time, stay sponsored.
00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:17.280
That's it for this episode of Book Tea.
00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:22.880
Book and theme reveals and episode commentary can be found on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook at Book Tea Pod.
00:38:23.440 --> 00:38:26.400
Each episode can also be found on YouTube at BookTeap.
