Our Vicious Oaths

Grab your drink and settle in, because this time we’re diving into Our Vicious Oaths by N.E. Davenport and for the first time ever… we didn’t finish the book before filming the episode 👀

Between the cutthroat Fae politics, the grueling battles, and the kind of romantic tension that makes you want to scream into a pillow, we had thoughts. Join us as we break down Princess Kadeesha’s warrior energy and why King Malachi is officially our new favorite vengeful "morally gray" obsession.

In this episode, we’re discussing:

• The Alliance: Was it logic or just pure chemistry? (Spoiler: It’s both, and it’s messy).
• Enemies to Lovers: Why passion hits different when you kinda hate each other.
• The Spice Meter: We’re rating the heat levels and how these two managed to stay focused on the mission while looking at each other like that.
• Political Intrigue: Navigating the Fae courts and the High King we collectively love to hate.

Whether you’ve already finished the book or just want to hear us lose our minds over the enemies-to-lovers arc, tune in for all our thoughts, theories, and chaos before we head into our final episode before the mid-season finale 

Content warning: sexual discussions

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hey, hey, hey, book lovers. Welcome to Plot on the Rock, the podcast where representation is crucial and it's always for the plot.

SPEAKER_04 0:10

We're your hosts, Alicia, Rikia, and Tia, three friends dedicated to honoring the brilliance and the power of black and PLC authors.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

We got some hot takes, some spoilers, don't worry, we'll always warn you, and deep combos on culture, identity, and everything in between.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Each week we dive deep into a new book, share our unfiltered thoughts, and celebrate the writers who are reshaping the literary world one story at a time.

SPEAKER_04 0:35

And fair warning, if you're here for a calm, quiet book club, this might not be what you're looking for.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Grab your favorite drink, curl up with us, and let's talk books. The ones that move us, excite us, and keep us flipping pages way past our bedtime.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

So lower your expectations and let's get into the plot. All right, welcome back to Plot on the Rock. Yes. Y'all, we are down. One member today, our girl Rikia, celebrating her B Day.

SPEAKER_04 1:13

Yes. Happy birthday.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Happy birthday. So we are gonna be talking about today Our Vicious Oaths by N. E. Davenport, which is a romanticy. Um and you know what? I'm I'm coming to I'm coming to like romanticies. I really am. I'm and I I think part of me kind of always did because you know stuff like Game of Thrones and stuff like that. Like, you know, I've been partial. I mean, technically, no. However, I will I will live on the hill that Brienne and Jamie Lannister is a beautiful love story that just should have ended differently.

SPEAKER_04 2:00

That is okay, that is true. I don't know. I did I liked her in that little the ice ice guy, the the big one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's his name? Because he liked her. Because he was into her.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

No, they would have been good together too, honestly.

SPEAKER_04 2:15

If she wasn't called like that big woman.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

So, okay, it might not be technically romantic, but there are romantic elements.

unknown 2:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Okay. Yeah, I'm I'm starting to like this genre. Um, one sentence reaction to the book.

SPEAKER_04 2:37

Um you go first.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Okay. My one sentence. Obviously, y'all can tell I do not practice before. This is this this show is off the cuff for everybody, okay? No, for real. Um, let me okay. One sentence. Not what I was expecting. I'll say that. Not what I was expecting.

SPEAKER_04 3:04

Okay. Um what's that? What's that? The TikTok server's like, be nice. Try to find it. Try to find it. Um I don't I I think I would say the same thing. I guess I guess it's not what I expected. Yeah, I would say I would say it's not what I expected. Yeah. I was happy.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

And y'all, this is gonna be the first episode where we have not finished the book before we recorded. So we have all gotten just about halfway through because this is a longer book than what we usually read. Yes. Um, and on top of that, we just got a lot going on right now, you know? Yes. So we're about halfway through, so we're gonna discuss our feelings up to this point, and then towards the end, kind of go into what we think is gonna happen next because I have theories. Um I mean, and okay, so I don't even got a glass, y'all. My drink is in a cup cup, so I can't do a clink. But how many clinks you have it?

SPEAKER_04 4:21

Me, um, I know my cup is not that good, but I honestly, as of right now, because again, I'm only 40-50% of the way through to the book, but from what I have read so far, I'm gonna give it two clinks.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 4:38

Out of five. I'm gonna give it two. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Okay. So I'm gonna give it, I'm gonna give it three point five.

SPEAKER_03 4:51

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

I'm gonna give it a three point five.

SPEAKER_04 4:54

Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

I like it. Like the I there are points, especially towards the beginning, where it was hard for me to get into flow into the flow of it because it was so descriptive. But honestly, I think that is a that's a normal part of fantasy books.

SPEAKER_04 5:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

Especially the world building kind. So even though that was a little difficult for me, I could kind of push past it. And once I know where I'm at, they've already described everybody and their their physical attributes and the castles and what they look like. Now that I know where I'm at, oh Lord. Now that I know where I'm at, I can kind of get into it more, and that's how I felt. It took a little bit, and then there were a little couple of things that was like, but again, yeah, I'm good and into it now.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

That's good. I was I'm I feel like I'm the most brutally honest out of the group because I'll have to do that. I I was on page 16 and I was like, I don't know if I could do this. Genuinely, I don't know if I could. I wasn't a fan of the writing. Really? And the first thing I asked in the group chat was, is this her first adult novel?

SPEAKER_03 6:17

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_04 6:18

And I Googled it, and it is her first adult novel.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

Why do we why have this whole season we have been either YA or new adult?

SPEAKER_04 6:28

I don't know. And I but I think okay, but here's the thing with last week's episode for I Don't Wish You Well, like we knew it was YA, we knew we were jumping in, and we loved it. Like we ate that book up, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:41

Right? Well, no, he that's because he did that. Yeah, that's just that was wonderful.

SPEAKER_04 6:45

But take like with I'm a Deucer, for example, another book that's like the first adult book. This one's her first adult book. There's another romance that I read. Uh I think it's the neighbor favorite series. That was her first adult book. But there I find that there's a trend with that or a theme with that where it's like they're trying to find the adult voice. And it's like they're working their way through it in the book because they're so used to writing YA because I think it's two completely different beasts. But it reminds me of like a Nickelodeon star or a Disney Channel star who's trying to segue into adult media and then.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

Oh my god, it's not JoJo Seawa.

SPEAKER_04 7:30

No, honestly, I would think I'm gonna do that. I was thinking like Miley Cyrus. Um, I was thinking Miley Cyrus specifically, but that's what it feels like to me, where it's like, it's almost like, yeah, this is gonna be badass, and this is gonna be hot, so I'm gonna write this down.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Oh god. I like okay, I like the spicy scene. I know you didn't like that first one.

SPEAKER_04 7:56

The first one, the first one, the ones after that, yes, like the court, the when they were at this point, girl. Yes, the one where I don't know, it's well one, you know I don't like the word cock.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

I don't like wait, did she say that in the moment?

SPEAKER_04 8:15

She missed she uses that.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Should tell you right there that I was into that shit because I did not notice it at all, and usually that will ick me out to the point that I'll put something.

SPEAKER_04 8:26

I know I'm a I'm a I'm a dick person, that's the word that I like. Yeah, cock takes me out of it. But she fluctuates, she switches she switch yes, she switches between cock and dick, which I also don't like. Like, pick one, pick one and stick with it. I'll go back and forth. But like every time she said cock, I was like, oh my god. Because that's not sexy. I didn't know.

SPEAKER_03 8:44

That's not sexy at all.

SPEAKER_04 8:46

Even though I do, I mean, Malachi's a little crazy, a little crazy, so I do kind of like that. I do like that a lot.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

I like I like their dynamic. I think this is and you know, I'm not usually a fan of enemies to lovers. Welcome, come to my side bag. That is not usually my bag, but this is one story where I'm like, okay, this makes sense to me. Like, this this works for me. They're two monarchs, they're both powerful, they're both beautiful, and they hate each other, but they gotta work together. Yeah, like this. Exactly. I like that.

SPEAKER_04 9:22

I like it, and I I feel like the scenes are so strong, is the only way that I can describe the spicy scenes. Yeah, I feel like they're so strong because they're so fueled by that hate, yeah, that just makes it so much hotter because y'all. I don't know if you read that, but if you read the book, don't obviously don't let us sweat your opinion. If you want to read the book, read the book. But the spicy scene, again, like we always say, there's spoilers here. The spicy scene were Malachi, Malachi's read, however the hell you say the name. Oh, well, first of all, you gotta describe the book. We're tripping.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

We you know, we be doing that. We be doing that. Let me let me give y'all an overview of the book, okay.

SPEAKER_04 10:00

We got the two people that got ADHD that are just literally Rick's usually keep us on track.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Oh my gosh. Okay, we miss it again. Um, okay, let me give you an overview. So, Khadisha is the arch princess of the Aether Dominion. This is these are Faye, okay? These are not human beings, they are Faye. And Kidisha has her own magic, she's a warrior princess, giving Xena, but black, and her father has essentially sold her away to by marriage to the um, I guess, I don't know. My brain wants to say big king.

SPEAKER_04 10:49

The Hyperion king. Hyperion King.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

Yes. The Hyperion King, Rashad. She had he had sold her away. She didn't want to be married, she didn't want to marry him. She wanted to, you know, do military stuff for her kingdom and take care of her people. That's what she wanted. Her father wasn't having it, so they moved forward. And then on the other side of the aisle, we have Malachizrian, who goes, who we gonna just say Malachi, because that's too much. And he is the king of the Apollyan court, newly appointed king. He is being currently fueled by rage at the fact that his parents and a whole bunch of monarchs were massacred by Rashad um in an attempt to take his throne. But he survived, and now he is king, and he's hunting everybody down. So they meet at our girl Khadisha's pleasure club, okay? Khadisha owns a pleasure club, okay? Okay, and they meet there, it turns out to be a whole thing, and pause pause right there.

SPEAKER_04 12:09

Okay, you know what irritated me about that? What? First of all, she's she's there, she's like, I'm gonna have one last problem. I'm gonna get my nut in before I have to marry this man that I don't like. You're you're a military person. Granted, obviously, like this is hers, her kingdom is very patriarchal, which I hated, but anyway. You know everybody, you know all of your enemies. You're telling me you did not know that man was Malachi. You didn't know his, you only knew his government name. You're supposed to know everybody, girl. You were that blinded, you were that horny that you were just like, oh my god, I Malachi.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

She was though, she was that horny. Because listen, he didn't his plan, his plan walking into that club was to pursue her and to distract her. She ain't even give him a chance, honey. Soon as he walked through the door, she walked up to him, like, hey, my room, let's go.

SPEAKER_03 13:02

She put that dick.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

And that's how it went. Literally, she didn't give him a chance. And that at that point, she might have forgot he had a face because she was focused on the body, like, let's go. So I although I can understand that frustration, I'm like, she's she's emotional, she's distraught, she's horny at the same time. She's trying to, I don't think she was even thinking about none of that.

SPEAKER_04 13:32

That's true. That's true, and I think that's what bothered me too, because again, this is supposed to be an adult woman where I think we have seen in real life that female politicians tend to not lead with their emotions as much as male politicians do. This is true. But in these books, oftentimes the women do. I would I think I would have left her to be more like clear-headed and like cunning versus run on like straight emotion. I think it relied on a lot of like I don't I don't want to say misogynist stereotypes, but I guess like certain stereotypes of of a woman leader, basically.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

I can see that yeah, I can see that so yeah, they are that's how they got started, y'all. It all started with sex, so that should tell y'all the the level of what second, third chapter. Second, I mean second, yeah. It was immediate and and and real quick. Yeah, they was not playing games.

SPEAKER_04 14:37

But his plan was to also kill everybody at her wedding because again, she's doing this before the wedding. But Rashad ends up finding out, which we can assume that his hit that Malachi's people were the ones the ones that spilled the beans, and Rashad ended up being the one that slaughtered everybody.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:55

So then Malachi takes her back to his court as a war prize, but it's giving the enemy of my enemy as my friend situation.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:05

So I do definitely like it.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Yeah. The the one thing that that that annoyed me a little bit, um, and like part of me understands, but like, I mean, her daddy got burnt up in front of her at her wedding. She does not care.

SPEAKER_04 15:25

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

She's mad about the the innocent people in the you know, her kingdom who who died. But I ain't heard her mention that man one time. She was like that. Oh my god. That's one problem taken care of.

SPEAKER_04 15:44

Like, I think it was true. Yeah, she was more concerned about the little girls in the corner about to get burnt up. But like, I mean, her dad was kind of a dick.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

So I mean, he was. That's why I'm like, you know, I can understand on some level, but dang, girl. We ain't gonna talk about it. No, she just means done. That's it, that's done. Well, you you remember that Joya the skimmer? She used to be like, that's it, that's done. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 16:11

Oh, I miss her.

SPEAKER_01 16:13

We're done.

SPEAKER_04 16:13

I know every day much.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Every day.

SPEAKER_04 16:18

I miss her so I used to want to get, they had a doormat, and I realized it was not a good idea to get, which I never got. But it was a doormat.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

I already know what you're gonna say.

SPEAKER_04 16:29

It was a doormat that said, get out of my location house. You know, I'm married to a white man, so I really didn't. That's not the best funny is he was the one that talked me out. He was like, uh I don't think that's gonna be. I was like, I was like, oh yeah, yeah, you're right. But I do want to get the Jasen, Jocelyne Hernan's Ho, Why is You Here? I want to get that because I don't like welcome mats. Um that welcome is too much energy. I don't like welcome mats to say welcome. So I kinda wanna do the ho why is you here because you know, outside of like you and like my parents, I really don't like people at my house. So literally.

SPEAKER_03 17:08

I get it.

SPEAKER_04 17:09

Oh Joanne that took me out too single. I know I'm gonna find him. I feel like one thing that took me out too is the modern language that was used throughout took me out. Because when I'm reading fantasy, like again, this is fantasy. The only time to me that that works is with um the Granger series. Um I'll say that book again.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Maggie Gray. Yes, Maggie Gray. Which y'all, I'm sorry, I have to answer Lou because it is necessary that anytime she is mentioned that I proselytize her work. Listen, I love Granger, all of her books. Okay, but Maggie Gray, we start with Maggie Gray. This is top tier, top tier urban fantasy uh monsters, all that.

SPEAKER_04 18:02

Love it, and it like, but and that works because it takes place in the real world, so like the stuff that goes on makes sense. But I highlighted, I highlighted a few things. Um, you have to have a different description or out over a stiletto shape nail. A stiletto shape nail, you you can't use other descriptors like pointy, because again, this is fantasy. Why why are we why are we using stiletto? Um what else? What else? Dick down. Why are we using dick down? That doesn't make any sense. You don't know what that means. Using things like it pissed her off. Oh, this one, this one got me. I clocked your magic levels the moment you stepped into this room. Bitch, get out of here. What do you mean? And then um, as much as I love the girls, as much as I love the girls, because you know I love me a girl, that took me out to because I think there are ways to describe these things in a fantasy-like way without using modern words, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

But if it wasn't for the fact that the languages were so like imperial towards the beginning, it probably wouldn't have standed out so much. But yes, um, and she flipped it, probably wouldn't have stood out so much, but yeah, at the beginning it was like super imperial. I shall, I must, you know, things like this, and then all of a sudden, you know, they didn't say this for real, but like they were like, Oh, fuck you, nigga. I don't know where, but like it wasn't really that, but you get what I'm trying to say. Like there's another part too where brick swing where she said, How could she not feel the type of way?

SPEAKER_04 19:32

Like, are you kidding me right now? But that I think that's that's the biggest thing that took me out of it because it's like, and it was again that that back and forth of speaking very properly and then going into modern speak, and then I feel like I feel like stuff like that works. I think it works in spicy scenes though, because I mean what what is what is fancy imperial dirty talk gonna sound like, you know what I mean? Like I mean, like I can think of some ways that I think would have been like more eloquent and very sexy, but I mean, granted, it was all from what I have read, it was it was sexy. I would have been I would have been I would have been with Malachi too, so I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 20:18

He was he was he was different. This is a different MMC. He's like ruthless, he does not care, but he's extremely passionate. Yeah, this was good. I and you know, like I said towards the beginning, like a lot of this stuff got easier for me the more I read. And I guess because I got more into the story, but like it it does stand out initially when you're reading you know the language changes, or then they're describing things that are seem more modern. But I you know, as the story goes, I'm like, okay, I'm I'm liking it, and I I want to finish it eventually because like I said, y'all, we're like five, we're like halfway through. This one was long, and I don't mind a long book, but you know, for the show, we usually read a little bit shorter stuff.

SPEAKER_04 21:09

So do you think it was an easier read? It would have been we would have finished it. As I've read long books, I can finish long books, but I think because it took us a second to really dive in, do you think that was a reason?

SPEAKER_01 21:21

I think that was definitely a part of it because it was it was it was a hard start, I'll say that. It was a hard start. Um, for one, I don't think I like I knew this was a fantasy, I didn't realize it was like a world building fantasy type thing. Um and that's very different, and that that does take a lot of concentration in any in any style. Because like I said, I love fantasy, but oh, is it yes?

SPEAKER_04 21:48

I think it's a one off so I think she could put everything in one that that's making sense.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

You can sprinkle in, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:57

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

No, she had to describe all the world. And all the creatures and all the powers in one book. And it, you know, you could kind of tell it was a little um, it felt like it was a little hard at first to kind of get into the flow of it, but once you're in the flow of it, it's a good story. Um and like my thing was, and I guess we can use this as a segue into the first question. With everything that was going on in the story, do you think that the motivation that Kadesha had and Malachi had was worth the massacre at the wedding? And everything that's happening now.

SPEAKER_04 22:42

No.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Okay. No, me neither! Now, and that's me liking the story and everything, but it was just like, oh, y'all give it a queen.

SPEAKER_04 22:51

I think yes, I think she needed a catalyst, but like I was, I mean, that was a plot twist for me because I wasn't expecting Rashad to be like, hold the phone. We're not getting there. I wasn't I wasn't expecting that. I was fully expecting Malcolm to just yeah, so I wasn't expecting that. But like that's a lot because you can easily start a war without like doing all that, like he really did the most, but at the same time, it's like she hated Rashad, so I feel like she needed to meet Malachi in a way because even when when when Khadija and first of all, also side note, then I love the names because as I'm reading this, I was like, damn, like black typical black names are magical as fuck.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

Yes, they are.

SPEAKER_04 23:40

Like I loved all of that, but yeah, so anyway, when her crew, the Nikita come come to Malachi's kingdom, and you know, they're they're giving her shit for happen beating an orgy, like somebody told me that what you were doing, but she was like, No, bitch, like he has this power that I've never seen before. So I think she she eventually is gonna need him because yeah, when he like when she when he showed off his power the first time, I was like, Oh my god. Oh my god. Like, oh my god, but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Ugh, I agree. They they're they and they're starting to realize they need each other at this point in the story that we're in. Um, I guess we'll give spoilers up to this point. Yeah, the point of the story that we're in now, she's good and back at his castle. Somebody done tried to kill her after the orgy. Where, okay, I want y'all to understand, this is this is yes, yes, it was spicy, okay. But there was a point to the spice, okay? Because Malachi's goal is to make Rashad jealous because he has his fiance. I mean, whether she wanted to be or not, that was his fiance. They was finna get married. He has him. He fucked her in front of everybody. He wanted it to get back to him. He wanted it to because he wants Rashad to come to the castle or to start the war so that he can get revenge for his family.

SPEAKER_04 25:11

Wait, but no, he didn't because remember when they were done, they had like that shadow cloud around them. So like in this.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Oh no, that's just because he wanted to finish a different place.

SPEAKER_04 25:19

But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:22

He was just too into it.

SPEAKER_04 25:24

Y'all, that scene was crazy. Listen, my face the whole entire time. I'm sitting there just like my eyes are like wide almost like oh my god. It got nasty. Which that made up to me for the first scene. Because the first scene wasn't that hot to me, but this one was like, oh my god. Yeah, he was. So I do kind of I do kind of want to read more for that. I feel like my brain is full of is full of like freaking TikTok sounds. I feel like you're just here for the zipline. Like I just want, because it's just nasty. It's just nasty, and I like it. And then like what I like about too, because you know, I'm not a I don't know if this is too personal. I don't like it when a man tells a woman what to do in bed. I don't like it. Absolutely not. But I like that there's a push and pull with them, that they're both dominant. Oh, I ate that shit up.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

They're dominant together, yes. Uminating the other.

SPEAKER_04 26:39

Yes, and that's great about each other.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

They're yeah, yeah, their dynamic is very, oh, okay, we're both powerful. So let's basically be powerful against each other in bed. Basically, and they like that, yeah. They like that, they like the challenge because I mean we meet we meet Malachi in bed with somebody random. That's how we meet.

SPEAKER_04 27:04

That's that was our introduction.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

Yeah, like oh and okay, our girl Khadisha owns a sex club, so they're both, you know, sex is nothing for them, but to have this dynamic with someone equally as powerful as them, that's what's like good, good, good. Good for them.

SPEAKER_04 27:24

So, like, what other scene that I did I like that was so little that like I don't know why I liked it when it's when she gets when she's about to get assassin, he's like, the guy's like feeling her womb to see if she's pregnant or whatever, and she's like, Oh, not my fertility year. And Malachi's like, Yeah, I know. And then she's like, What the hell? She's like, Oh, we can smell it.

SPEAKER_01 27:41

I was like, Oh first of all, how lucky are they? They get a whole year without period, like just free to do whatever's okay. Oh my god, wow, to be a fee, to be a fee.

SPEAKER_04 28:00

I know that's true.

SPEAKER_01 28:02

Um, okay, so speaking of them being powerful and stuff like that together, each Fey Kingdom in this book has different powers, they have the elemental powers, but then Khadisha and Malachi have special powers. Kadisha has Aether power, which is basically like the power of the air. Aether?

SPEAKER_04 28:30

I don't know, let's look it up.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Creation? Something like that. Energy.

SPEAKER_04 28:36

Hold on. They call it aether flames. Yeah. Okay. Aether refers fundamentally to the pure upper air or bright blue sky view pathology personified as a primordial primordial deity. So, yeah, so I guess what exactly is Aether? The pure bright upper air breathed by the gods and the mythical fifth element of the cosmos. Okay. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:06

Yeah. And then Malachi's power is from the void, which is the space between realms and between worlds. So it's like nothingness, but can also heal because there's nothingness. So they're really cool. And so my next question is which one would you like to have if you had if you got to manifest some fei powers?

SPEAKER_04 29:35

I would probably do the void. Really? I would do the void because it seems very powerful. And it just seems better than all the other ones. I like the one character, the one female character in Malachi's cadre that like she's able to also manipulate temperature. Well, I think they all they all can basically, but they they can teleport. They can again create void spaces to get to where they like I I would love that. And they can they can create weapons out of nothing. Like, yeah, yeah, I would want that.

SPEAKER_01 30:15

I would I would like to teleport. That would be the the one thing that I would want from the void powers, but I think I would rather be Aether. Only because it's framed in the book as more like energy and like being able to like you know create from the air. And then they get the animals. What's the animals called again?

SPEAKER_04 30:38

Um I kept saying Komodo Dragon.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 30:46

I think that's right.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

Which is basically a dragon, right? I mean called the serpent.

SPEAKER_04 30:52

Thing, yeah.

unknown 30:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

That's true.

SPEAKER_04 30:54

That was very Pandora, very Pandora Avatar-ish. So yeah, I guess that's cool that they get the animals.

SPEAKER_01 31:01

Yeah. Yeah. I would like to fly on the serpent dragon flying thing. I really like that. So, okay. Here is I'm going, I'm gonna go back to the um, because I forgot about this question. But this kind of goes back to my my my thing with enemies to lovers. Because like this is kind of trauma bonding, right? It seems like it to me. Like, do they actually like each other?

SPEAKER_04 31:37

I don't think like sometimes I think they do, but like I well, when they first met, she didn't know it was Malachi, and she was immediately attracted to him. She was like, What is going on? Like no other man has been. I also hate that she kept saying male, like that irritated me too bad anyway.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

Okay, wait, wait, wait. I want to address that because I have like two moments highlighted here where they call each other female or male. But then I thought about it and I was like, okay, wait. Well, they're not people, they are a male fee and a female fee.

SPEAKER_04 32:14

True, but I'm trying to remember like other fantasies I've read where they do they describe themselves as man and woman.

SPEAKER_01 32:21

Like that's a great question. I don't know. I don't think I've read many besides besides Granger, honestly, that had like that focused a lot on their I know.

SPEAKER_04 32:37

No. I'm trying to think back to Lord of the Rings, because that's like the biggest fantasy that I read. But this was also if they use that, like, but I've noticed that a lot in in some fantasies now, whereas like they use male or female to describe you know whatever creature that it is. But that a lot bothered me, but that's fine. But I think it is, I think it is what I think now that you asked that question, I do think it is trauma bonding. But I don't know what it is, but it is what it isn't, but they're also just really horny for each other. Yeah, they are outside of the trauma because they didn't trauma bond to begin with.

SPEAKER_01 33:27

You know what I mean? Yeah, this is true. But it was on site, they they were and then when they when she was walking to her wedding, she saw him.

SPEAKER_04 33:36

Yeah, but he was in a disguise. And he wasn't she was in she was in a whole disguise, and she was still just like, wait, who was that? Who's that man? So I mean I think it's just literally his aura.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

It must be, and he's the same way with her. Yeah, I just gosh. I really this is my rub with enemies to lovers, though. And I go back and forth about it because I like this story. I do, I like this book. I'm gonna finish this book, but it's just like dang, like, why we gotta, you know, like you did you done threatened my life 18 times. That's what makes it hot. That's what makes it hot. But you wanna kill me. I don't I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 34:19

You wanna kill me, I want to kill you, but there's also this really big sexual tension, and we're just gonna fuck it out.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

I mean, yeah, but damn, that's a lot to fuck out. I mean, and they're doing it.

SPEAKER_04 34:31

The way the way I think about it, and this is not like this is such a bad analogy, such a bad analogy, but like makeup sex, like that's kind of the same thing because you just get I don't know, like I don't you've just been so like irritated with each other that you also get turned on by each other. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

Maybe maybe I've just tried you know no no no, but this this might be the answer to why I don't like it, because I don't do that. Stay away from me. Fuck you, get out of my face. You better not touch me. Like that's I wish I would. If I'm mad, I'm mad. Don't come around me. And this this explains it. I'm glad we talked it. This is a good talk. Because this explains it, because I've never I've never really done, I've never really been into enemies of lovers, because that I just don't be getting it. Like, no, I want the one where they immediately love each other and immediately he's doing things for her, and immediately we get married.

SPEAKER_04 35:38

Like maybe I think that's like the top, that's like the toxic part because I don't know if if you've ever seen like the TikToks of like your basic like New York City couple, and it's like the couple on the street, like cussing each other out, going back and forth, and somebody like steps in, like, are you good? They're like, Yeah, what like what what the fuck you what mind your own business like it's between them, and then a couple hours later they're fine. So I think I think that's also what it is for me, too. Cause that's like very because I'm I'm 10 times more aggressive than my husband is, and my aggression comes out of nowhere, and he's just like, What? Like, he's like, What?

SPEAKER_03 36:17

What did I do?

SPEAKER_04 36:20

So I think I'm always like, I'm trying to think what got me into enemies to lovers to begin with, like that made me like that. I watch something, did I read something? No, I know what it is. Cheetah Girls, Cheetah Girls, Cheetah Girls, bitch. Listen, the first movie was David's mother fine-ass white boy, because they cheated, like he would he was on to her, but like they had the little thing going on, but then eventually she just gave in. I was like, oh yes. So that's like a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

I didn't like that either. And I love Cheetah Girls. I hated that boy. I didn't want her to do it. I no doubt.

SPEAKER_04 37:01

He's ugly now, he did not age very well, but he's on some like cop show now. He's like a receding hairline, but anyway. Lord, I was like, that can't be the same one. But what's the thing? And besides your head is boo, like ate that up. But I think that's what like that's what started it, and then now it's just like and now I tend to like the toxic men in TV shows. What's the what's another TV show? Good girls, Rio from Good Girls. Absolutely. He's he's an outlier, he's an outlier.

SPEAKER_01 37:35

I wanted Ray to do it from the beginning.

SPEAKER_04 37:38

No, for the neck time. Immediately, yeah, yes, like she took too long for me.

SPEAKER_01 37:44

That was a good show. That really was easy to cancel.

SPEAKER_04 37:48

I know.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

I want to rewatch some of the best shows.

SPEAKER_04 37:51

I know. That was the album.

SPEAKER_01 37:54

That's my girl anyway. I love her and everything. Me too. Um, because I was re-watching um Mad Men.

SPEAKER_04 38:01

Did you tell me to watch that?

SPEAKER_01 38:03

Yes, I did tell you to watch that. I gotta watch too much stuff. It's crazy, but it's good.

SPEAKER_04 38:07

Girl, I got I gotta watch Mad Men. I have to watch Mr. Robot.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

Girl, you still haven't watched Mr. Robot.

SPEAKER_04 38:16

No, then my friend Lula, shout out Lula. But I feel like I'm watching too many shows that are like are too trauma-ish, because right now I'm doing Animal Kingdom, which that's a lot, and six seasons. But I feel like if I could do Shameless, I can do this. Because Shameless, that was that was Shameless was a lot. Shameless was a lot. So good, though. Really good. But that I trucked, I trucked through, but do I have to do Mr. Robot? I have to do Mad Men. There's a new show on HBO Max called Half Man. It's by the same guy who did Baby Reindeer.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

Oh no. Absolutely not. Baby Reindeer gave me nightmares. Absolutely not. I will not be watching anything else.

SPEAKER_04 39:04

And apparently it's just as crazy. It's only episode two, and people are like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_01 39:08

Half Man.

SPEAKER_04 39:09

Let me look this up. So I think it's about like two brothers. They're not brothers or like, you know, brothers from another mother. They're not blood brothers. There might be some gay stuff going on. I don't know. Oh, Jesus. So, but you know, that gets my attention. So I'm like, oh yeah. So watch that.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

Oh my gosh. Okay. Yeah, this looks insane. Um, yeah, I won't be watching it. I need low stress at the moment. Uh-uh. Yeah, I need to find out. Yeah, Mr. Robot is good.

SPEAKER_04 39:43

I watched that one.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

Mad Men is pretty low stress, I would say.

SPEAKER_04 39:49

Okay. And there's some Korean show I want to watch. I forgot the name of it. I think it's also like an enemies to lovers type of thing. But damn. We beered so off. I think it I think personally, I think, I think it is top tier and it is trauma bonding. So I think it's both.

SPEAKER_01 40:08

Because I both and together.

SPEAKER_04 40:10

Like that.

SPEAKER_01 40:11

That's fair. That's fair. Because I mean, honestly, this is this is the first time where I've been like super into it. Now, granted, you know that Jick Jacoby? Yes.

SPEAKER_04 40:22

I was like, when they when they got each other's faces, I was like, no, kiss. No kiss each other. Basically.

SPEAKER_01 40:31

No, I I see that coming. And I guess we can start talking about what we think is gonna happen. Because I definitely see that coming. Um I also think that Malachi's cousin is the one that's portraying him. Tristan? Tristan. I think he's the one who's betraying him. And I'm gonna tell you why. Yes, I'm gonna tell you why. Okay, before I before I say this, what part are you at again in the book?

SPEAKER_04 41:03

I'm at I'm at the part like right when like right after like she gets the attempted assassination, and they're all coming together, and he's like, what the fuck is going on? They find it's Lady Nayari or whatever, like one of her people, and I'm at that chapter 15 basically.

SPEAKER_01 41:18

Okay, you're not there yet. I'm not gonna say why, I think, but you will see. I think it's Tristan, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_04 41:25

No, baby Tristan, I love him.

SPEAKER_01 41:28

Yeah, I think it's I think it's a trick. I can't tell yet if I think the aunt is in on it or not. I don't want to, I don't want her to be in on it. Because what does she gain though?

SPEAKER_04 41:39

What does she gain? Because she's already Queen Mother, basically.

SPEAKER_01 41:43

Yeah. So what does she think? But she's not anymore, remember? Because now he's kind of taking his place. I think it got something to do with that. I really do.

SPEAKER_04 41:55

That's gonna break my heart. That's gonna break my heart.

SPEAKER_01 41:58

Yeah, that wasn't even interesting. I like his character, but he just trusts him so implicitly at this point, and I think that's like a tale.

SPEAKER_04 42:09

He wasn't even on my radar. I'm gonna be absolutely devastated if that's the case.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

Like, I can't wait till you know the next chapter. I need you to. I know you're not sure, but I need you to at least read. Like I said, I'm here for the zipline. Give me all the give me how many more. You won't okay. Okay. Well, then when you get to that part, I want you to text me because I know you're gonna see it as soon as I do.

SPEAKER_04 42:33

What chapter? What chapter now?

SPEAKER_01 42:34

It's literally the next chapter. Okay. You got maybe maybe two chapters, maybe two.

SPEAKER_04 42:39

Okay, okay, okay. But I think so. Outside of that, I wasn't even thinking that about the betrayal. I was thinking, to me, I feel like, because you know how they have like one United Kingdom and like the the Apol Apolly Apollyon Kingdom, their goddess was the main goddess that everybody worshipped, which is why I think they're so powerful. But I think the Aether Kingdom and the the Apollyon Kingdom are supposed to be together. Yes. So I think their powers are supposed to be together. Of course, they're gonna end up together. I would hope that they're gonna end up together. They're gonna have a little Aether Apollyon baby that's gonna be like powerful, kind of reminds you of like Jack Jack from The Incredibles, just doing a bunch of shit like that's basically.

SPEAKER_01 43:22

I think that's why people are so like trying to get him out of here, because you know, the prophecy that they haven't told us what the prophecy is yet exactly, but yes, it's got something to do with whoever his baby's gonna be.

SPEAKER_04 43:33

Yes. So I think that's gonna happen. But oh my god, I'm so stuck on Tristan because no.

SPEAKER_01 43:44

I know. But it's gotta be somebody that's close to him. Because whoever these whoever like these people who are against him, they keep knowing exactly where he's doing where he's at. But it could be anybody in his group though. Anybody. It's Tristan. His his his cadres be with him. Yeah. Tristan disappears and appears. He's gone and he comes in the room. He was also there all of a sudden when the other cousin busted up in there, like, oh yeah. You but they were fighting. Take your throne. Yeah, but Tristan just happened to be there. That's all I'm saying. He just happened to be there to stop it. It's giving suspect. It's giving right place, right time all the time.

SPEAKER_04 44:40

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 44:42

I can't wait to see, honestly. And this is like I'm I'm gonna finish this. I can't, I'm gonna have to finish it probably this week, but I yeah, I need to know because I really do think it's him. And also I need to know what the freaking prophecy is. Like they're hinting towards it, but I want to know the fool.

SPEAKER_04 45:00

I know. And then they keep saying that with with Rashad, he wants her to be pregnant because her baby is supposed to be like Yeah. Wait! Wait, because her baby's supposed to like what? Like bring everybody together, right? Of the six kingdoms, and then his baby is supposed to destroy. So what if it's both?

SPEAKER_01 45:23

That makes sense. Because think about it, her power comes. Wait, no, no, no. Is it her power that comes from the moon?

SPEAKER_04 45:30

No, it's it's his, it's his power comes from the moon.

SPEAKER_01 45:32

His power comes from the moon. Yeah. Her power comes from whatever the air, fifth elbow.

SPEAKER_04 45:39

We're gonna go with that.

SPEAKER_01 45:41

It seems like it's you know, compatible, build up on each other type thing.

SPEAKER_04 45:50

I'm I'm so stuck on oh my god, I'm so stuck on Tristan. That really that's really gonna devastate me. But one, I think one question you had too that I liked, um how they talk about systemic corruption and the cost of war. Oh yeah, which is very fitting for, you know.

SPEAKER_01 46:14

We're just you know a specific time out of work of the book, of course. However, some people just really use war to control and to grab power without considering what's going on, and this is part of why I asked the earlier question like, is this all worth it? Like, all of this yard, like you want your freedom, yes. I understand you're not wrong for that. He wants to avenge his parents. Okay, I get it. You're not necessarily wrong for that, but y'all playing with the lives of people who ain't really got nothing to do with this, basically, basically, you know, so and I don't like that and they both and they both sides wanted to start a war.

SPEAKER_04 47:04

Mainly, well, obviously, Khadija, she just wanted to be with her girls and ride her little dragon. But Rashad wanted to start a war, and then I think Rashad wanted to start the war out of greed, yeah, and then Malachi is just more vengeance driven, which for me I can get behind that.

SPEAKER_01 47:26

Not the war part, but being vengeance-driven versus just like I mean, he's not wrong, they killed his people, yeah. So of course he wants revenge. It's just like, man, y'all, y'all could have as hard as they fighting each other, y'all could have kept this in the in the throne room, y'all could have talked it out, you know. We we we blowing up castles and we massacring the people. I'm just like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 47:56

No.

SPEAKER_01 47:57

I mean, and this she did give a little content warning at the beginning. By the way, there is a content warning. Obviously, if you can't tell by this episode, which I will be putting a content warning in the show notes. Um, it is it is it is very war focused. It is a they are war in kingdoms, and you see that in this book.

SPEAKER_04 48:20

Yes. Ugh, but we will finish it. We will finish it. But again, like we said, life life is lifing. We all got stuff we gotta do. We're getting ready for the Black Romans Book Fest at the end of the month. Which aren't you if you got from this episode and the next one? We're reading books from authors who will be at the Black Romans Book Fest. Um, with our next one being Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming by Monique Fisher, which is also available on Kindle Unlimited. Um, and that'll be our next episode before we head out to Atlanta.

SPEAKER_01 48:57

Super excited about that.

SPEAKER_04 48:59

What just happened? What my Kindle like glitched.

SPEAKER_01 49:04

Uh oh. Well, I really like this book. Um, if you're into romanticy, romance and fantasy and fee and magic, then this might be up your alley because I'm really enjoying it so far. Um, and we will see y'all next time.

SPEAKER_04 49:31

Yes. Thank you so much for listening. Yes. Um, this is probably our short session.

SPEAKER_01 49:36

Oh wait, follow our follow our thing.

SPEAKER_04 49:40

Yes, where can we find this? Forget. Well, you can find us at for oh my god, are you doing this? You could we we can have so many name changes. We might as well just be Prince. Literally. Or just formally known as Prince. The symbol like, oh my god. You can find us at Pop on the Rocks on all social media platforms. We have a thread now too.

SPEAKER_01 50:01

Right?

SPEAKER_04 50:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 50:01

We do have a thread. So don't boost that thread because it's it's kind of dead right now. We we get us some pop follow us. So follow us. I'm trying to be a bear.

SPEAKER_04 50:12

Like I get like sometimes I'll see I'll see things, but then I think I just forget I have it, and then it's I have too many. TikTok is the one that I'm on mostly because it's just that that just has me in a dopamine hit. Even though I do MS Mello training.

SPEAKER_01 50:34

I've been kind of stuck on threads lately. Threads is like it feels like Twitter times. Yeah. To me. And I've been up there a lot, but I um I need to get I need to do a better job of refining my my like you know my stuff for the for the podcast threads to book threads. Because there is a book threads, and I keep forgetting to tag them. Yeah, there's a black book threads, there's all of this, and I just keep forgetting to do it like that. So I'm working on it, but yeah, y'all follow.

SPEAKER_04 51:14

Yeah, so we'll see you in our next episode. We're gonna, like I said before, we're gonna be reading Tell Me I'm Dreaming by Monique Fisher. She's also gonna be attending the Black Roman's Book Festival in Atlanta, and we will see you guys next time. Bye.