Hermione's Bookshelf

By the time the meds got there, I was half-out, the professor breathing slow and steady by my side. My eyes were closed and, what with burnt flesh and the rest of my skin too hot for thinking, I don’t know if he stayed with me the whole rest of the night. Knowing him, he probably did.

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Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett, Havemercy, Ch 10, p. 290

#Rook’s narration

‘I hate fire.’

‘I —- Oh,’ he said, pretty damn stupidly. “So do I.’

I wondered why he’d ever let me take him up into the air without putting up more of a fight if he hated it that much, but he’d won something out of me for not asking the fucking stupid question I’d been expecting: What sort of airman hates fire, that kind of shit, and I just wasn’t in the mood.

‘It spreads very quickly from house to house, on the Mollyedge and in Molly especially,’ he continued.

‘Yeah,’ I said, and I don’t know what I’d got into my head, whether it was the burn, or my coat melting into my shoulder, or the fact that I hadn’t got more than catnaps for longer’n I could remember, but I didn’t stop talking there like I should’ve. ‘My brother died in a fire like that. Guess it was about—-well, a long fucking time ago, that’s for sure. I mean, I must’ve lost track of how long it was.’ That was a pretty lie, and no mistake. ‘His name was Hilary. He was goin’ on four and he used to eat fireflies. I don’t know. I think he thought they’d make him glow.

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Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett, Havemercy, Ch 10, p. 289

Rook’s narration

# Love this conversation

# Such a sad passage

# I’m really enjoying this part of the book, in which Rook and Thom sort of have their secrets and they’re interacting with one another with their own motives but still slowly getting to know one another.

‘It’s good to see you again,’ Adamo said. ‘And looking so healthy. For a while your letters had me thinking i needed to fly in there and pull you out myself.’

‘As dashing as that would have been,’ I replied dryly, ‘I did manage to take care of myself.’

”Course you did,’ Adamo said, as if he didn’t believe me for a single second. ‘And the new, ah, apprentice you brought with you tonight had nothing to do with it?’

‘Bastion,’ I swore, a little too loud for propriety. ‘Hal.’

‘I think he was in the bathroom, last I checked, having a fascinating conversation with Raphael—-he’s one of mine, flies Natalia—-about third-edition gold print,’ Adamo told me. ‘Weirdest damn conversation I’ve ever been privy to, if you don’t mind me saying it.’

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Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett, Havemercy, Ch 9, p. 250

Royston’s narration

# ‘Weirdest damn conversation’ - I kind of want to read that conversation …

# The thought of Hal talking to an Airman just makes me smile …

# I love the interaction between Royston and Adamo, even if it is brief.

‘You get to do whatever you want,’ the professor returned, shaking, but holding his ground. ‘You think you’re above the common laws of courtesy—-decency—-basic humanity. You take what you want and don’t think about anyone else—-and it isn’t that you’re stupid, either. You’re like every other Mollyrat who never bothered to learn beyond the gutters. You think that because your mother raised you in the streets, you can live by their rules—-‘

That was when I grabbed him by the collar and threw him up against the railing. His lower back hit against it and his breath whistled sharp between his teeth, and then we stared at each other for a long time, that same metallic scraping and flashing passed between us.

‘We’re not so different as you think,’ he said finally, just like Have. It was like he had some kind of death wish.

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Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett, Havemercy, Ch 8, p. 245

Rook’s narration

# I love Thom.

# As frustrating as I find Rook, I do very much enjoy the passages with interaction between him and Thom. He’s a fascinating character.

# This is the part of the book about which I’ve heard some fans say that Rook and Thom should have kissed or something …

# I find it interesting how Rook was totally trying to display his interactions with Isobel so that Thom would see them …

According to Adamo, we really were winning the war, and while I was grateful for my reprieve from country life, the facts didn’t exactly add up. There was a bad taste in my mouth about the entire business, and it wasn’t just the bloodless, bodiless white wine that seemed to have come back into fashion during my absence from the court.

‘Disgusting, isn’t it,’ Adamo said. ‘Like drinking some horse’s piss.’

‘I can’t be sure if your comparison is entirely apt,’ I replied as we clinked our long-stemmed flute glasses together in a toast to our similar tastes, ‘but I’ll take your word for it.’

‘Whoreson,’ Adamo said fondly. ‘It was a turn of phrase.’

‘Oh, yes, of course it was,’ I said.

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Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett, Havemercy, Ch 9, p. 247

Royston’s narration

# I was really hoping there would be a passages in which we get to read Royston and Adamo talking to each other, since there were mentions earlier that they were friends.

I only thought—-from the way he was looking at you—-the man in blue, with the braids—-I only thought you might have been particular friends—-

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Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett, Havemercy, Ch 8, p. 235

Hal speaking

# “the way he was looking at you”

# Rook is obsessed with Thom

# Seriously, Rook, are you sure there isn’t something you want to tell us?