Chapter 13 begins with Merry asking Maeve what she requires
of her. Maeve does the stupid fucking sidhe “I have told you what I would have
of you, Meredith.” NO YOU DIDN’T. You’re being stupid and subtle and stupid. I
have absolutely no patience for this level of subtlety and I hate this so much.
I hope you all appreciate how much this is torturing me to read and review.
Merry is all “I don’t know how I can help you” and Maeve asks Merry to send her
bodyguards away, so they can discuss it further. Doyle won’t let Merry out of
his sight, Merry doesn’t want to let Maeve try her magic on her again, blah
blah blah. There’s like a full page of this back and forth we’ve ALREADY
DISCUSSED IN THE LAST CHAPTER and Maeve eventually offers Merry another drink.
When Merry declines, Maeve realizes that Merry fears she may have placed a
spell upon or poisoned the beverages, so Maeve gives her oath that she did not.
Merry asks her to give her oath that she and her guards will
not come to any harm of any kind while in Maeve’s presence, and Maeve refuses
to give that oath. They bicker again, because of course, but eventually Maeve
agrees that Merry and Co will come to no harm while they are with Maeve this
day. Maeve announces that she would not have made that oath had Merry left off
the “while you are here” bit of the bargain, as had Maeve just made an oath to
protect Merry and Co, she would have been responsible for all their safety
forever, even when at the Unseelie Court. She does not believe the Unseelie
Court is safe, as she has heard of the debaucheries that occur there. Merry
tries to convince her that the Unseelie Court is full of light and laughter and
sexy, sexy happenings, but Maeve will have none of that.
Remember LIGHT IS GOOD, DARK IS BAD in this world, or so the
light, Seelie Court believes. Casual racism, much?
Merry looks around the outside area and notices that Rhys is
flirting with Maeve’s assistant, Marie. Merry first worries that perhaps Rhys
and Marie had sex, as Marie’s hair was a bit messed up, but she didn’t look
happy. Merry knew that had Marie and Rhys had sex, Marie’s face would look
quite pleased, as Rhys would never take pleasure without making sure the woman
was pleased first.
I
tried to be hurt, jealous, or even miffed that he might have been playing slap
and tickle with Marie, but I just wasn’t. Maybe it was because I was sleeping
with the other men. Maybe to be truly jealous you have to have some pretense of
monogamy. I didn’t know why, but it simply didn’t bother me. If he’d had
intercourse with her, that would have bothered me, because I was the one that
we needed pregnant, not some assistant to some star. Other than that, I didn’t
seem to care.
Ughhhhh.
Rhys comes over to Merry and tells her that Marie had
offered herself to him, and that it would have been rude to ignore such an
offer. He asks Merry if she was jealous, and Merry responds that she was not.
So Rhys says “I knew you were more fey than human” because this is an intrinsic
human trait I guess? Shut up, I hate you so much book.
IT DOESN’T EVEN MATTER because fucking Marie tattles on Rhys
to Maeve that he declined her advances. UGHHH. Merry then announces that she’s
had enough of Maeve’s games. Maeve tells her that she never meant any offense,
but Merry calls bullshit. “You sent your servant to seduce my lover. You tried
to seduce me, not out of plain desire, but out of a desire to gain control over
me.” SERVANT? What? Seriously?
Maeve again says she was not intending to offend Merry and
Co, but Merry won’t let it go. “You have insulted me and mine, “ she tells
Maeve.
“You’re
Unseelie Court,” she said again.
I shook my head. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“You would not try on the swimsuits,” she said, voice soft, eyes downcast.
“What?” I asked.
“If Marie had seen him nude, then she would have known his body was pure,
except for the scars.”
I frowned harder. “What in the name of the Lord and Lady are you babbling
about?”
“You are all Unseelie Court, Meredith. I had to be sure you are not… unclean.”
OH THAT’S RIGHT, THEM DIRTY DARK COURT FOLKS ARE OBVIOUSLY
DEFORMED AND DISEASED. CAN’T SLEEP WITH SOMEONE WHO’S LIKE THAT, CAN WE? This
whole scene is so unsettlingly disturbing, and not in the author’s intended
way.
Cutesy racism, is that a thing? I think it’s now a thing.
Maeve then divulges her fears to Merry. “If anyone who aids
me in such an endeavor is impure, then… “ and Merry finishes her thought, “The
child will be deformed.”
HELPS HER HOW? This hasn’t even been answered yet.
Merry turns to her guard and tells them that she is sick of
being around Maeve, and Doyle says the most fucking reasonable thing ever “Then
we leave.” BUT OH NO, Merry turns back to Maeve and demands that Maeve tell
them why she was exiled from the Seelie Court. If Maeve will not, then Merry
walks away and will absolutely not assist Maeve in whatever Maeve has planned.
Maeve refuses, saying she fears what Taranis will do if he finds out that she
told them his secret, and Merry gets all ranty.
“The
great pure Seelie Court, how they look down on us. If a child is born deformed,
then it is killed, or was, until you all stopped having children. Then even the
monsters were precious. Do you know what happened to the babies after a while,
Maeve? Do you know what happened in the last four hundred years or so to
deformed Seelie children? Because, make no mistake, inbreeding catches up, even
with the immortal. … My own cousin was kept because she was part brownie. You
didn’t throw her out, because brownies are Seelie – not court, but creatures of
light. But when the sidhe themselves breed monsters, breed deformities,
monstrosities, then what happens, where do they go? … The babies go to the
Unseelie Court. We take in the monsters, those pure Seelie monsters. We take
them in, because we welcome everyone. No one, no one is turned away from the
Unseelie Court, especially not tiny, newborn babies whose only crime was to be
born to parents who can’t study a genealogical chart well enough to avoid
marrying their own fucking siblings. … I give you my oath that I and Frost and
Rhys are pure of body. Does that make it easier? Does that help? If you just
wanted to sleep with the men, you wouldn’t have cared if you saw me in a
swimsuit, but you did care. You want a fertility rite, Maeve. You need me, and
at least one man.”
Merry then again demands that Maeve tell her why she was
exiled from the Seelie Court. That Maeve tell them now, or she will walk away
and Maeve will never have this opportunity from anyone again. Maeve finally
agrees, but only after Merry agrees to help Maeve have a child. Merry refused
to agree to that until Maeve swears she will tell them the truth. Maeve wants
Merry to swear first. THIS IS HOW THE ENTIRE LAST FEW CHAPTERS HAVE FELT. SHUT
UP AND AGREE, JESUS CHRIST.
SO THEY BOTH SWEAR THAT THEY WILL DO THE THING THEY SWEAR TO
DO AND THE CHAPTER ENDS AND NOTHING HAS HAPPENED. I HATE THIS BOOK SO MUCH I
HATE IT.
I hate this so much. This fucking book. I hate reviewing
these CHAPTERS OF FUCKING NOTHING. WHERE IS THE DUMB SEX, I WOULD RATHER REVIEW
THAT RIGHT NOW. I would fucking rather read and review 30+ chapters of pure sex
than this goddamn drivel ever again. I hate the dialogue in these stories so
goddamn much. If I ever meet LKH I am going to punch her in the face.
I SWEAR.
Labels: book review, Caress of Twilight
