Gorgeous photo by @sarahscosysorner!

Hey fairy fam!

Happy Thursday and welcome to day 4 of our readalong of Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan. 

Our villainous team are so close and yet so far to getting what they want… but will they do it. 👀

Today we’re reading from chapter 22 to the end of chapter 26. Let’s do this!

When you’ve finished today’s section, catch up with me in the comments down below so we can discuss!

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Please be warned, the following section will include spoilers for Long Live Evil, from chapters 22 to 26. Please only read on if you’ve finished this section!

-!SPOILERS!-

So… I thought fifteen lashes didn’t sound that bad. Like it’s bad but fifteen doesn’t sound like that many, right??? Except… it’s an enchanted whip so Key could well die from it.

Everything is going wrong, the Cobra has to tell Rae he no longer has the key after Marius launched it.

The only upside? Our fave character Key managed to survive the whipping, barely though. Rae’s soft side comes out and she takes care of him.

Rae and the Cobra are blissfully unaware of everything crumbling around them. Emer bumps into Marius, but that’s not really the bad part. She sticks around to eavesdrop on Marius snitching to the King. He tells him almost everything. That they wanted the key to get the flower, that they’re evil and scheming. And yet the King only seems to care to know whether the Cobra has “had her”. Charming!

Octavian honestly doesn’t seem all that bothered? He does mention that they don’t know the Cobra’s true name though and Marius must hold some semblance of respect for the Cobra still, because he doesn’t give it to he King.

Emer, shook, is on her way back to tell Rahela and the Cobra everything she just witnessed… but catches the pair mid fight. Ultimately, she decides to keep this VERY IMPORTANT INFO to herself.

Rahela visits the King and I am getting REAL nervous about how much she’s changing! She tells him he needs to reforge the sword and rename it ‘Longing for Revenge’. I totally get WHY she’s doing this, I can see she’s trying to get the story back on track but this just feels like a dangerous game!

They take a stroll together and she convinces him to take her to the greenhouse. This is painful cause she has absolutely no idea that he knows she’s trying to get the flower. 😭😭😭

BUT, things get weirder because his reaction to the flower as well as what he said happened between them in the past with the flower differs to what Rae remembers from the book. Either the story’s changed again… or he’s lying. And I genuinely don’t know which!

Either way, they call it a date and vow to come back. Is this how Rae will get the flower? 👀 Key is healing and unbeknownst to Rae, he just witnessed that whole thing. He seems ok with it? But as much as I love him I’m still seriously worried he’ll betray her, and this probably didn’t help!

After making up with the Cobra, things seem to be back on track and they’re heading out! Rae wants to invite Lia to their box but the Cobra warns her getting entangled with the main characters will lead to disaster. Eric, I think that ship sailed in section one?

She invites Lia anyway and… she outs her. Rae tells her she knows her game. Knows she schemes just as much as she does. It’s allllll coming out!

Marius finds them and this doesn’t bode well for Rae and Eric’s plans, cause he’s disgusted at the company Lia is choosing to keep.

It’s battle time!!! True to how the rest of the story has gone so far, it doesn’t go to plan at all. Rae and Eric are really good at scheming, just not so good at actually getting their way! Marius isn’t volunteering to be Lia’s champion like he’s supposed to, like they hoped.

Despite the Cobra’s efforts to force him to volunteer, they’re too late. Lia declares she’ll be her own champion. So, I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’m starting to think maybe Lia entered the story too? I could be way off though!

It looks like the chains holding the manticore have been tampered with, sabotaged on purpose. Rae knows if Lia dies, it’s all her fault. Key can’t go because he’s still hurt – so it’s on Rae to save the day. Despite her being suspicious of Rahela though, Emer won’t let her go in alone. She steals the generals battle axe and makes it to them.

Are things starting to come together? 👀 The King did indeed take Rahela’s advice and reforge the sword. The prophecy is coming true! Rae declares Lia the winner and the new Queen… and that is what makes it all click into place for Emer, she’s really questioning who Rahela is now.

With the King having won the love triangle and Rae telling Vasilia his interests do indeed lie elsewhere, Vasilia decides she’ll go home and save her brother. In one of the most wholesome moments we’ve seen so far though, Lord Fabianus stands up to declare his love! He wants to go with her but his sister is too sick, he wants to know if she’ll wait for him.

Hortensia joins the fray and reminds Lord Fabianus she tried to drown him once and urges him to go. I love that even in the cutest moments Sarah Rees Brennan still manages to coax a laugh out of me! 😂

The day seems to have been a success and Emer draws Rae a bath, or as she likes to call it, her “plot tub”. But, things aren’t as calm as Rae thought, cause as she settles down she starts to hear a lot of noise and realises a storm is coming her way.

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Things were going SO well until the end!!

What kind of storm do you think the author means? I’d like to think it’s a literal weather storm but I don’t think Rae will be so lucky!
Do you think Emer or Key will betray Rae?
What do you think the King will do when he and Rae go back to the flower, given he knows she wants it?

I’m SO SCARED for this final section! For Rae’s sake, I hope it goes well!

Love,
Shannon