Wonderful photo by @cosycoffeereader!
Hey fairies,
I hope you are all loving the story and are ready for Day 4 of the March Adult Book readalong of A Feather So Black by Lyra Selene. Yesterday, we left off with Rogan and Fia deciding to end their relationship with each other!
Today we are reading from chapter 26 to the end of chapter 38. I’m excited to see where the story goes next!
Please be warned, the following section will include spoilers for A Feather So Black by Lyra Selene from Chapter 26 to the end of Chapter 38. Please only read on if you have finished this section!
-!SPOILERS!-
Irian’s taking Fia to a wedding in Tír na nÓg that they both weren’t invited to! Why would they go? I think they could be going so he can make a statement to Fia and the other Fair Folk.
While waiting for the wedding to begin, Irian takes Fia to the Heartwood tree, where most Fair Folk rituals are said to occur. The magic is said to pass through the tree; everything from weddings to tithing occurs there.
After the ceremony, Irian approaches the couple to bless them. However, it’s more of a curse as he says, ‘I bless you to love one another wholly- and only.’ He believes it’s balance and vengeance, as the groom’s father killed his family and hunted him down.
Irian dances with Fia after the blessing, distracting her from watching Eala and Rogan dance by leaning to kiss her! He’s stopped by someone trying to harm Fia with a blade! No, they were so close to kissing!
It was the bride’s brother who tried to kill Fia, but Irian managed to kill him! This is no longer a happy wedding, as Irian’s surrounded by Fair Folk who want to kill him! Chandi arrives and makes Fia flee with her so Irian’s not distracted!
Irian finds Fia after killing everyone, as he believes they deserved it for wanting to harm her! I might’ve swooned; who doesn’t love a protective love interest? He gives her a quick kiss that she didn’t manage to return before she has to go back to the mortal realm!
In Tír na nÓg, Irian admits to Fia that he believes her to be the child of the human King and Deirdre as she’s a mixture of both realms! I think he’s correct!
After Fia comes to terms with that, Irian tells her he wants her for the final months of his life! They can finally be together due to Fia wants him as well!
Every time Fia and Rogan try to patch things up and stop arguing, they start another argument. This time, it was about Irian and how Fia should protect her heart, which is very good advice—I don’t want to see her get hurt!
Rather than seeing Irian, Fia’s convinced by all the swan maidens to attend another party! Chandi shows Fia some flowers that are the opposite of the ones they use for their dresses. These flowers, when ingested, can show forgotten memories and unknown futures! Fia decides to ingest the flowers, which I think is the wrong choice, as she isn’t 100% Fair Folk, it might affect her differently.
Fia sees something in the woods and chooses to follow it. Irian arrives after Chandi calls for him and saves Fia from dying! I wonder what was so dangerous that she needed saving from?
To make the toxin leave Fia’s system, she and Irian must cuddle to sweat it out! In her dazed state, Fia tries to kiss Irian until he pushes her away. He doesn’t want to do anything with her when she’s drugged.
Once Fia’s awake, Irian drops her off at the gate, where Rogan doesn’t seem to care about her wellbeing and where she was all night, but instead, who she’s been kissing! Why would he be asking that when it’s clear something else happened to her?
To make amends, Rogan helps Fia celebrate the next holy day. He gets very drunk and admits to Fia that Eala’s annoyed about Rogan and Fia being together. Wasn’t she the one who told Fia to go after him? Eala’s playing too many games!
The summer heat is upon them even in Tír na nÓg and Irian takes Fia to a secret underground pool where she can cool off! They finally end up properly kissing, and Irian admits that he wants her heart and will wait for her! I love that her nickname ‘colleen‘ has turned into a sweet pet name!
On Fia’s journey back to the gate, Eala and Chandi try to warn her away from Irian by placing doubt in her mind about him; they tell her that Irian has tried to seduce all of the girls as he wants their hearts. I don’t trust Eala. Why would Irian do that?
After much deliberation, Fia’s decided to choose her more human side and save Fódla by taking the Sky-Sword! I think she’s chosen wrong; why would she pick the people who’ve treated her poorly?
In Tír na nÓg, Fia begins to seduce Irian but ends up tying him up with her magic so she can steal the sword. My heart breaks for him as he seems truly hurt. Why did she listen to Eala?
Irian admits his heart is already Fia’s, so she doesn’t need to take it to undo the geas and save the swan maidens. Eala has made it all up! Irian doesn’t need Fia’s willing heart to tithe the sword again. Instead, it needs his life only as he’s the Sky Sword! Does that mean he’s going to die soon?
I hope that Irian and Fia can return from her betrayal, I’m rooting for them!
How are you feeling about Irian and Fia?
Do you think Fia is the child of Deirdre and the human King?
How do you feel about Chandi making Fia eat the flowers?
We have one more day left of this book and I’m excited to see how it ends!
Love,
Emily
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I totally buy that Fia is the daughter of the king and Deirdre. She’s the only changeling we’ve seen, but who put her in the human world if both parents are supposed to be dead?
She is so unbelievably gullible to eat those black flowers. How in the world would Chandi know what they would show Fia when there was a list of things they can do? That seems like a shot in the dark to see the one thing they are all trying to accomplish by eating a magical flower. I wonder if Eala put Chandi up to it by suggesting it might be a solution to their problem and let Chandi be the one to decide to enact it, thereby making Eala blameless. That would make sense that Chandi then called for Irian to help when Fia started to run towards the darkness.
OMG I can’t believe she listened to Eala about Irian! Gah, how frustrating for Fia to be so unbearably naive after all she’s learned about her mother’s manipulations and Eala’s duplicitous nature.
Fia was very gullible this chapter as she listened to all the wrong people! 💜
I loved this chapters, so much happens!
I really never trusted Eala, and still can’t trust her. Chandi seems a bit better but she is in cahoots with Eala too. Why make her eat the flowers without telling her the dangers?
I really wish Irian and Fia can find a HEA but it feels very difficult right now if he is going to die so soon and there is no salavation, no heart to offer in his place.
I’m wonderinf if Fia being daughter of the human king is what made the Queen keep her even though she clearly doesn’t love her. Of course, she’s prove of her husband’s infidelity. Poor Fia!
I’m unsure that the Queen knows that Fia could be the King’s daughter unless she looks like the King. 💜
She looks like Eala, so she might also have some ressemblance to the king, but I don’t know if her resemblance is casual or just magic.
I can’t cope with all the betrayals! I think Fia is the daughter of Deirdre and the king and that’s why she was sent there and kept (a real family connection.)
I hope Fia and Irian can come back from this, I’m firmly on team Irian.
I wonder if Eala has been manipulating the other maidens, including Chandi. I wanted Chandi to be a friend.
I’m excited to find out what happens but don’t want the story to end 🙁
I think they can return from the betrayal; well, I hope so! 💜
How are you feeling about Irian and Fia?
I also really hope they come back from this and figure something out for them to both live and be free.
Do you think Fia is the child of Deirdre and the human King?
Yes.
How do you feel about Chandi making Fia eat the flowers?
Definitely felt like Eala was behind that but placing the blame on Chandia. Eala knows that Fia and Chandia are friends so hurt more from her.
How are you feeling about Irian and Fia?
I kind of wish there were more scenes with them together – things went from 0-100 really quick
Do you think Fia is the child of Deirdre and the human King?
For sure! I’ll be shocked if not!
How do you feel about Chandi making Fia eat the flowers?
I think Chandi regrets it and was coerced into doing it by Eala
I hope we see more of them together! 💜
How are you feeling about Irian and Fia?
I’m still very conflicted over Irian – I don’t think he could ever be fully trusted or honest with Fia – I wish he would just come out with the truth instead of hiding behind “stories”. It’s making me feel slightly annoyed at him and don’t get me started on the name Colleen it makes me cringe everytime I read it 😬
Do you think Fia is the child of Deirdre and the human King?
No – I think it’s perhaps too obvious. I think potentially Fia is Deirdre with forgotten/ lost memories but maybe I’m reaching 😂
How do you feel about Chandi making Fia eat the flowers?
I don’t think Chandi done it maliciously either Eala convinced her they were safe for Fia or Eala threatened Chandi someway. Either way I think it was definitely Ealas idea.
See I loved the nickname but it’s interesting how different readers like different things! 💜
How are you feeling about Irian and Fia?
I still love Irian and Fia together. But, like ther person mentioned above me, i wish there were more scenes with them. It did feel kind of insta-love.
Do you think Fia is the child of Deirdre and the human King?
I do. Because why tell those stories if not?
How do you feel about Chandi making Fia eat the flowers?
I didnt really trust Chandi from the start. I think Chandi is just thinking about herself.
Chandi is an interesting character as I want to trust her but I don’t! 💜
1. How are you feeling about Irian and Fia?
I’m really liking them together and their dynamics!
2. Do you think Fia is the child of Deirdre and the human King?
She might be! I do believe her to be a child of a Fae and a human, since it would explain her being not one or the other.
3. How do you feel about Chandi making Fia eat the flowers?
I think she didn’t do it of her own, but was made to make Fia eat the flowers without warning her.
Fia really annoyed me in this section by being so gullible. Eala is clearly not being honest with her…I also hate that she is still loyal to her ‘mother’ even though we’ve seen so many times that her mother is properly evil.
I know that a lifetime of being treated the way she has been and being manipulated isn’t going to be easy to break but it’s so frustrating to read.
I agree that her and Irian caught feelings very quickly but from Irian’s side I think he already knew her… Still Fia is so easily swayed by a few words from Eala…maybe she isn’t ready to choose herself yet.
Fia is just a little bit too trusting! 💜
So far I still like him. I don’t think he was lying about his attraction to her.
I do think she is their daughter. It would make the most sense.
I don’t like Chandi very much. I know she wants to escape and be freed but I don’t think she’s a good person. I think Eala is bad as well.
If she’s not their daughter, I wonder who she’s related to? 💜
Look at smooth-talking Irian. 😏 I kinda wished they kissed during the ceremony, but I also think a kiss would mean more than just a kiss (why else would those other Gentry be demanding a kiss from her at the Feis of the Nameless Day). “… he does not deserve you… If I had your heart, I would not be dancing with another.” 💚 “Another time, I might have let them live. But they tried to hurt YOU. So I killed them all.” 🥹 He’s almost confirmed Fia is the Heir to the Sept of Antlers, a tánaiste, like him, if ½ human, & truly (½) sisters with Eala through their shared father, King Rían (“bound in love,” maybe, but bound in blood). Yay! Consensual kissing. Lol. I hope she can give all of herself to him, to really cut out the Rogan thorn. I hope he isn’t doing this as just a calculating move because of the heart magic he referenced at the wedding. Even if Rogan had good intentions, it would’ve come off badly, but that “someone like you”? Ouch. Oh, I just remembered that the ocean Gentry is going to claim a kiss from Fia, but he “will choose the time,” & now Irian is saying that he is “not willing to share” which just sounds like a setup for a 3rd act breakup type issue later. I think the Feis of the Wild Hunt idea is a bad idea because so much could go wrong, but there’s a small chance the insight will help Fia somehow. So, Chandi had to summon Irian because Fia’s reaction to the dark star flowers was alarming. Meanwhile, she saw what I assume is King Rían & Dierdre along with all the other faces calling her by her birth name. Irian respects her enough to refuse her advances because she wasn’t sober/in her right mind: good. Rogan is jealous she kissed someone when he’s been kissing (at the very least) Eala. Every time she talks to Rogan, I like him less. He insists on somehow bad-mouthing her Greenmark, & constantly throwing pity parties for himself & drinking 24/7 are not endearing qualities either. Irian, still respectful, is willing to put his wants & desires aside to listen to her concerns – to let it kill the mood without blaming her, pouting, or guilt-tripping. Eala is a poison. Even if Irian is trying to save his doomed life, as it’s tied with the swan maidens’ lives, it would still be in-line with Fia’s goals. See? Eala speaks false. Again. Irian IS the Sky-Sword, so he has no need of Fia’s heart (freely given or not), & even after her betrayal, he gives her his heart & was more hurt than angry that she chose to kill him.
Daily Q&A:
Q:
1.) How are you feeling about Irian and Fia?
2.) Do you think Fia is the child of Deirdre and the human King?
3.) How do you feel about Chandi making Fia eat the flowers?
A:
1.) I feel like a lot of things (people, events, etc) are going to keep trying to tear them apart, but he’s still my love interest, so they better find a way to keep him alive!
2.) It would make a lot of sense, especially if Queen Mother &/or oily Eala found out as they would surely want to take out their petty emotions on her (jealousy, etc). But to mention the timing of being a changeling, how she’s the same age as Eala, why she looks so similar but with differences beyond coloring, & why she seems of both worlds (including having magic).
3.) I think it was pretty fucked up. Even if Chandi is only being manipulated or threatened or whatever by Eala, who seems to run the swan maidens of whom Chandi is the youngest, she seemed trusted by both Fia & Irian yet still put Fia’s life in danger.
I think Irian and Fia could be a power couple, they make a good team and have a lot of potential (I’m obviously hoping that Irian will not die). I truly hate Eala, she’s so petty and plainly cruel, already from the time she was a child, playing games with others. I definitely dislike her the most, even though the Queen and Cathair are not far behind.
I think it makes sense that Fia is the child of Deirdre and the human King but I’d love to know what happened to Deirdre then. It’s definitely interesting to get to know the actual childhood of Fia and her descendants.
I don’t think Chandi actually meant for Fia to get lost in the drugs and it makes a lot of sense that it was actually Eala who suggested to Chandi that she should get Fia to eat the flowers. Chandi seems sweet and tries to be helpful. So fur I’ve quite liked Chandi.
I agree that Eala’s not a good person! 💜
How are you feeling about Irian and Fia?
– i really like them!! i know it’d be hard for them to be endgame but i think they’re a good match :,)
Do you think Fia is the child of Deirdre and the human King?
– it makes a lot of sense! hopefully we’ll find out in this book, because i know there’s supposed to be a sequel…
How do you feel about Chandi making Fia eat the flowers?
– i see why chandi wanted fia to eat the flowers, but it was definitely too risky.
Eating the flowers was one of the riskiest things Fia did! 💜