#MY GOD POOR MERCYMORN.

[franzias-cave]

she HATED the sexy parties!!!!

[athetos]

Mercymorn is my poor little meow meow she’s a sopping wet kitten who tried to kill god and would have destroyed 9 planets if she succeeded, she watched a teenager get violently assaulted by an immortal beefcake and complained that he was making a mess and to do that somewhere where she isn’t forced to intervene, she can’t draw, she references millenia-old memes, she seduced god with the help of her worstie and stole his cum, nobody does it like her, she’s so cunty and nasty and miserable I think she’s neat

[sepulchritude]

ianthe and Coronabeth are soooooo normal. it kills me that harrow genuinely just did not want to become a lyctor. She was SO unenthused. She would do anything to get 5% bonus credit on a test but not this. The toxic codependency is real as fuck. “GOD I miss Gideon’s narration” is the fandom mood!!! (For some nonzero portion of HTN/NTN, that may be all of it, and also may be only part of it, depending on whether Gideon IS gone-gone or not, which you don’t know). We ALL just wanna hear about biceps, broadswords, and broads. also. We can probably trust horrible godman. I bet he’s, like, cool and normal about people and events. Also unironically he’s one of my faves. At the time I finished GTN it was my greatest hope to have more Ianthe Activities and I will not specify to you whether that hope was fulfilled or not

Okay so I’ve kept this in my inbox specifically so I could reply once I know more (approx halfway through htn rn) and god!! Okay so.

Ianthe and Coronabeth. I wanna put them in a jar and shake them, I’ve seen spoilers that Coronabeth comes back at some point but not whether she and Ianthe get to be in the same room as each other. I guess I can see why Ianthe couldn’t take her as her cavalier (too toxically codependent to risk never seeing her again and living like that) but I stand by my point that now Ianthe has to exist in unholy fusion with Babs of all people

And okay like I don’t know things yet but I’m hearing the 2nd person/3rd person switches between current vs past events, and I’m hearing snippets of Gideon-like phrasing in the 2nd person narration and Harrow’s thoughts, and I’m very 👀👀👀 about it. I know lobotomy brain hemorrhage etc etc spoilers so I’m thinking Gideon is existing in her brainspace someway that’s imperceivable to Harrow. But I don’t know what exactly the past Harrow knew that made her do things the way she did. Gnawing on drywall about it tbh

And I love all of the “is this really how it happens?” in the flashbacks, no idea what’s actually going on with them (I thought it was just Harrow’s scrambled brain attempting to make sense of the events without Gideon but they seem too detailed and divergent for that at this point tbh!) but I love the slow horror of everything being different in confusing ways! When Palamedes and Camilla died I was like ohhhh, uh oh we’re in for something weird here!

And then poor Harrow is just so wretchedly alone in a way she’s never had to be and it highlights how much of a pillar Gideon was in her life! Her and Ianthe’s dynamic is everything to me though, absolute perfection. I didn’t know I needed more Ianthe after reading gtn but I’m delighted to get it.

And the soup scene was *chef’s kiss* incredible especially because Harrow at the time was so fucked up she was staring at a spoon trying to divine its purpose and then forgot the word for bone marrow. Mercymorn said “I can’t tell if you’re a once in a lifetime genius or a brain damaged imbecile” and I was grinning because, both! :D

And then God. Based on spoilers I’ve seen I think I haven’t really seen everything John’s got going on, but I’ve been struck the whole time I’ve been reading htn by the sheer charisma he has. He says all the right words, he gives all the right praise, he’s empathetic he’s kind he’s supportive—he has clearly spent the last 10000 years developing a level of diplomatic personable grace that works on damn near everybody. I saw a post about how another reader kept expecting it to be a facade that he would drop eventually and show himself as a manipulative villain, but that the truth is more banal and somehow worse because of it. Idk I don’t remember the rest because I didn’t have context at the time, but something about “how can you just sit there and eat peanuts after everything you’ve done?” And I’m really looking forward to seeing how that all comes together, I want to see what’s going on with this wretched little man.

[harrowharks-iliac-crest]

37

Ninth skull - whole.

“A myriad ago, I resurrected nine planets,” he said. “And I reignited the central star, and I called it Dominicus. As a reminder. Dominus illuminatio mea et salus mea, quem timebo? God is my light. Harrowhark, if I went under—I’d enter that senseless state, and I am God. What if, forty billion light-years away, my people looked up to see Dominicus falter and go out? What if the very House beneath their feet died all over again, as I turned my back upon it?”

The Latin means "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?"

Okay, well, this is... scary. God resurrected entire planets - created resurrection beasts, nine total - ten thousand years ago.

But hang on, - God didn't have a cavalier cus he's not a Lyctor - but he has another initial, "J G" - or does the G just stand for God?

“If I fought the Resurrection Beast I’d leave my Houses to die,” he said. “If I fought the Heralds, I might well go mad, which would be the same thing. So I’m shut in here—walled in, really—to prevent the Nine Houses becoming none House, with left grief.”

I do enjoy the random memes coming up now and then.

Though - that does sound really scary - and also inevitable, given we've been counting down the time until he dies from the start of the book.

Are you and Ianthe being safe?” It was your turn to sit up straight in your chair and intone, constructing each syllable with the same rigid emphasis you might give to a skeleton: “We—are not—intimate.” “Sorry—I mean, you’re about the same age, I don’t really know how this goes anymore, we’ve all been alive for too long…” “Neither are we romantic—neither are we, frankly, platonic—” “Sorry! Sorry. Sorry,” he added, “I should not assume these things.”

God is so awkward Dad coded. Lmao this made me laugh as wel.

No,” he said. “Let’s talk about her. Let’s talk about my bodyguard.” Carefully, you sat back down. God said, “You’ve been listening to Augustine and Mercymorn.” “Yes.” “It wouldn’t be Ortus. Poor Augustine. Poor Mercy. They still feel badly … they still carry their apportioned blame. I think, yes, that it’s time for you to know about A.L.”

So he did have... someone. Not quite a cavalier - a bodyguard.

“I like to think that she would like you. You’d make a hell of a daughter, Harrowhark. I sometimes indulge in the wish that you’d been mine.” What dismantled you—you bereft idiot—was not even the God who made the Ninth House, the Emperor All-Giving, the Kindly Prince; your end appeared in the form of a grown adult telling you that they might have liked you for their own.

Oh this fucking KILLS ME. Haaarrrrooooowwwwww 😭😭😭

And he said, “Harrow, whatever you thought you did, you didn’t.” “I opened the outer door.” “Okay,” he said. “I went up the passage.” “I’ll accept it, though that thing’s a literal death trap,” he said. “I broke the ward and I rolled away the rock—” “There’s where you’re wrong,” he said.

Ohohohohoooooooo, this is sooooo interesting. Harrow didn't actually break into the tomb?

So even - even Gideon thought Harrow broke in, and she told Harrow's parents, who killed themselves immediately after. Gideon was wrong about this as well???

Ohhhh, this is soooooooo interesting ----

though not as interesting as this next part ----

Then God’s eyes widened fractionally, and his voice became altogether different when he said: “Harrow, who the hell’s been tampering with your temporal lobe?”

And also -

Your body rolled itself off the table, with such a reflexive suddenness that you were not sure that the action was through your conscious effort. Your meat floundered to stand, wild with shards of lead crystal and a dozen cuts through your clothes, and you turned away. The Emperor said, “Harrowhark?” as you stumbled away from the table, and more plaintively —“Harrowhark!” as you unerringly careened to the door, but he did not follow. Somehow your hand slapped the pad that slid it open—somehow your meat dragged itself away from him—and you walked, and you walked, and you walked.

That really sounds like it's not Harrow controlling Harrow's body here.

And with good reason -

she's been RUMBLED!!!! The emperor himself found out about the memory alterations!!! Or at least, changes to her brain!!! The jig is UP!!!!!!

..... much to think about.

[panthera-tigris-venenata]

Orchids

The Locked Tomb fanfiction, about how Mercy might have learned about the events at the Canaan House. Probably an AU since, lets be honest here, I have no idea what was going on in Harrow. Or in general.

Anyway, enjoy?

There is an orchid in Mercy’s room.

An actual, real, honest-to-god orchid, with no teeth or eyes or bodily fluids leaking out of weird places. Which meant John hadn’t grown it himself – his brief gardening hobby somewhere around their third millennium, please don't remind her – and flowers? Gifts in general?

Well, that could only mean one thing: John has done something exceptionally stupid. Again.

(It could be Augustine being stupid, too, but that fucker still hadn’t apologised for when he ate the last of her favourite biscuits four hundred and sixty six days ago. Yes, Mercy has been counting.)

Alas, John; and Mercy has no choice but to ask, god, what is going on?

She lets himself into his room without knocking; if he didn’t want her to come, he’d lock it. He knew she was coming anyway.

„Mercy,“ he greets her, and he offers her tea and biscuits, that bastard. She grits her teeth as she watches his smile grow nervous – she can almost feel the speeding heartbeat in the black hole that he is.

„Anything is the matter, Joy?“ he asks, and why, yes, everything is the matter! „Did you like my present?“

Another insufferable presence shows up by the doors; Augustine, leaning on the doorframe and smoking a cigarette. She sends him a glare just to remind him that nothing is forgiven, then she turns back to John and marshes to his desk.

She hits her hands on it, spilling the tea her beloved emperor poured for himself anyway, and for her too, and says: „My Lord, what did you do?!“

His smile grows wider and his eyes twitch as he answers: „What did I do? Mercymorn my dear, can’t I just give you flowers?“

By the door, Augustine falls into a definitely unrelated coughing fit, the effect ruined by occasional wheezing laughs.

Mercy wrinkles her nose at that and then accuses The King Undying: „You never give me flowers! Only when you did something exceptionally stupid, beyond mortal comprehension stupid – actually, you don’t give me flowers enough for that either. So, what did you do, John Gaius?“

The God mutters something about full-naming and women that Mercy chooses not to hear, and Augustine gets out in between his barely subdued coughing: „You don’t give me flowers at all!“ He even manages to sound genuinely hurt enough for John to bloody get him some, and:

„This isn’t about you, Augustine!“ Mercy scolds, „John, stop trying to divert attention, what did you do?“

„…Tea?“ he says instead.

„I’m going to skin you alive and have you wear itchy sweaters and listen to It’s Raining Man for all eternity,“ complains Mercy as she takes the tea. She is seriously tempted to dump the hot liquid into God’s face. It’s not like it would hurt him. Much.

„Augustine, tea?“

„Nah I’m good.“

„John!“

And so, God sighs, and tells her that he didn’t have a choice, and that it wasn't his fault it all went so terribly askew, and that he had no control over what happened at the Canaan House, and poor Cytherea, horrible that this happened, neither of us saw that coming, I just wish we could have helped when we had the chance–

And Mercy listens to him as he speaks, sipping her cooling mint tea. Mint, she doesn’t even like mint!

The Mithareum is quiet as a graveyard.

Finally, he stops speaking – not his fault, and a funeral, and two new Lyctors, two new baby Lyctors – and Mercymorn the First looks God in the eyes as she says: „Flowers aren’t going to fix this, my Lord.“

(Maybe nothing isn’t going to fix this – she shoots a quick look at Augustine.)

On another completely unrelated note, Mercymorn would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone about her own meticulously planned funeral, the by half-a-minute program to be found in the second drawer of her bedside table–

She doesn’t get the bloody opportunity, as John speaks again: „…You could choose which one of the new Lyctors you want to mentor. I was just going to assign you one, but, for you, you can choose.“

„I don’t want a Baby Lyctor to mentor!“ bursts out Mercymorn, „Have you considered that?!“

„Well, the first pick is still yours,“ the God smiles, ever so bloody understanding, and Mercymorn doesn’t have the nerves for this anymore.

She pushes past Augustine and towards her room, which is not nearly far away enough. She can still hear the men, feel their presence. And she would rather not.

„Well now you’re just playing favourites,“ accuses Augustine.

„I don’t have favourites,“ the God answers, and: „I need to buy her more flowers, don’t I. Help me choose some?“

Flowers.Flowers. The only flowers that had ever fixed anything were the poisonous ones, and even these are no good for her.

Flowers.

With that thought projected into the aether, Mercymorn slams the door behind herself.

She hopes God all-knowing gets the freaking message.

[menotthatkindoforc]

Harrow the Ninth Part 14: chapters 50-51

Poor Gideon thinks she's a side character, to the point where she can't fathom meeting Jod.

Wait, Wake was bound to the sword? But why though? Trying to use Harrow to open the Tomb?

My heart is breaking for Gideon. All those times of wishing goodbyes to her mom's cell for THIS.

Oh good. Eat shit, Wake. And Cytherea too for that matter. (If you can't tell, if you hurt Gideon you earn my unending anger.)

Okay, Gideon's the child of God, half the Lyctors are traitors, and Gideon I looks entirely different now! What is happening?!

At least I now know why Gideon didn't die to sickness like all the other babies. God blood.

The dad joke is very in-character and I hate it.

Phew... I wondered if A.L. was Alecto and had a vague idea that she might be a cavalier, but I did NOT see the eye color thing or Mercy and Augustine's motivations coming.

Mercymorn, what the -?! You done murdered God!

.

[iampresent]

okokokokok. guys. guys. hear me out.  OFMD and The Locked Tomb crossover AU. 

LISTEN. So Jod is like a pirate-lord-guy-thingy in charge of a whole-ass pirate fleet.  The insanely uncreative names of these ships (The Sixth, The Ninth) annoy Ed so much that he decides to pirate the fleet.  So he goes up to the ship that’s called The First (Canaan House) and is met by a startling mix of insanely loyal fighters who would never even THINK of betraying Jod, and people going “Please for the love of GOD get us the FUCK off this boat”.  And so Ed ends up kidnapping all the heirs to the pirate ships and their cavaliers, kinda by accident, and bringing them back to The Revenge (bc they don’t break up or something insane like that wdym?).

And. And. Ok here’s my list of interactions.

-Ed and Gideon.  Fucking perfection. My two ADHD gremlins just vibing together. Ed thinks Gideon’s puns are hilarious. This interaction is made even funnier (to me) by the fact that Tamsyn Muir imagines Jod to look like Taika Waititi.  Also Ed is a huge fan of Gideon’s longsword preference.

-Harrow and Buttons. Look i know you might be surprised but like.  Imagine if Buttons can see the body too.  They would literally just be like. chilling together.  I think he would be really good for her.  Buttons would, however, probably tell seagulls about the bone girl who is haunted but also like. Not stable. or ok. at all.  Just very much a weirdness squared kind of dynamic I need it so much.

-Camilla and Izzy Hands.  I literally just want to see them swordfight guys help I want to see Camilla beat Izzy’s ass seriously i really do.  But also some really cool parallels or contrasts between Camilla + Palamedes and Izzy + Ed.  Very juicy stuff there.

-Abigail and Magnus Pent (because she’s not dead, haha what?? Why would she be dead that’s crazy guys) adopts the entire crew. Full stop. Yes, including Ed and Stede.

-You know that post about Harrow being Palamedes’ poor little meow meow?  Yeah, Ianthe is Stede’s poor little meow meow.  Evidence: I think it would be hilarious.

-Judith Duetoros ends up being in charge of the chase for The Revenge, and she and Coronabeth are not at ALL quietly pining for each other.

-Later on Mercymorn and Augustine defect to the Revenge and that is just. 10/10 comedy

-The Revenge crew generally just thinks that the Ninth objectively cooler and better than any of the other pirate ships because of all the skulls.  Silas Octakierson is horrified by this fact.

-Harrow and Palamedes steal literally all of Stede’s books.  Like he goes into his quarters one day and they’re both just there and all the books are scattered on the floor and they’re discussing them and then they both look up at him like cats who have just been disturbed from a nap and Stede is just like “ok then”

-Ed steals Gideon’s sunglasses for the sole purpose of running up to Stede, tipping them down and smirking, to see what happens. Stede faints is what happens.  Gideon and Izzy are vibrating with anger in the background, Gideon because its HER sunglasses and she was gonna try that out on Harrow but now it will seem like she’s copying, and Izzy because ya know.  Izzy’s just like that.

-Also everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, gets involved on betting how long it will take Harrow and Gideon to confess their love for each other. Like, every single person.  Because it’s the single most obvious thing on the entire ship.

So like... please add on if you have more please please please I want to see your thoughts

[ladytabletop]

The Locked Tomb for blorbos etc. I NEED to know.

OH HELL YEAH I HOPED SOMEONE WOULD ASK THIS this post is gonna have spoilers so it's beneath the cut

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most)

Gideon Nav. Hands down. Child of God and his most hated enemy?? Her blood therefore unlocks the tomb??? (literally Harrow fighting with Gideon and ending up with blood under her fingernails and her subsequently being able to open the tomb? chef kiss) living loophole? walking bag of jokes willing to sacrifice herself for Harrow, someone who tormented her and whom she cared for before she knew that's what it was? she was 100% in for Harrow well before the impossible Lyctor choice. AND SHE'S SUCH AN IDIOT BABY. "I gave you my whole life, Harrow, and you didn't even want it" honey PLEASE she loves you and didn't want to eat your soul!!!

Anyway. The number of days I don't think of Gideon Nav is zero.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped)

wildly, Ortus Nigenad. Who'da thought I would be so enamored with a hulking poet coward? couldn't have given a toss about him in book one, but book two just absolutely cemented his place in my heart.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)

Not enough people talking about real Dulcie. She's so excellent and just enough like how Cytherea acted as her but just enough herself.

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week)

JUDITH DEUTEROS. I would literally kill for more scraps of Judith Deuteros.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave)

it's mercymorn. she's so *extra*. she's so vile. she's so sarcastic and dripping with vitriol and she cared so much, in her own weird way, about the right things, and I love and hate her and just cannot get enough of her.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)

silas ocktakiseron. what a snooty little zealot asshole. even in death, he thought he was always right. fucker.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)

John Gaius, God himself, I was so fuckin mad about Ianthe choosing him over Augustine even though it was telegraphed from several miles away, like jfc Ianthe you slimy perv, just let God die.

ANYWAY

none of this covers how much I love Pyrrha Dev's slutty, slutty ass and Gideon the First's equally horny ass, and how Coronabeth is the tragic hero we all deserve, and how Camilla and Palamedes are literal perfection, and Harrow captured more of my heart than any emotionally stunted perfectionist ever should, and Alecto is such a weird mystery creature, and Abigail Pent and Magnus Quinn are relationship goals and I must someday know how it is they came to be necromancer and cav AFTER being married, and the fourth teens make me so very sad by nature of their existence, and the absolute badass war criminal milf that is Commander Wake, and whoever the fuUuUuUck Nona the Ninth is!! And whoever is in Gideon's body now! And again, harrowhark nonagesimus, who replicated the tomb in her head for Gideon's soul to live in and who now lives there herself in the place that reflects her old crush and her current crush and where hopefully she will now find rest!!

[lexbien]

gtn / htn / tlt spoilers ahead !!

i finished reading harrow the ninth last night and honestly, it was so incomprehensible and i lost every remaining bit of my sanity it was just so insane and half of the time i'm just like "WTF IS HAPPENING"

the most memorable moments (in no particular order) for me were:

- harrow investigating ianthe's mouth using HER mouth (very gay i liked it very much)

- gideon original flavour trying to kill harrow my poor goth lesbian every chance he gets

- cyth's corpse being defiled (poor cyth deserved better than being treated like that)

- m(h)arrow soup, gideon beta version go boom

- mercymorn referring to harrow and ianthe in decreasing ages even though they're clearly adults and not toddlers

- sexy skeleton arm scene with ianthe and harrow

- augustine and mercymorn seducing god into a drunken threesome ft. very disgusted harrow and ianthe saying "old people should be shot" (i agree, they should)

- the whole group making fun of mercymorn's drawing

- harrow literally being in love with a popsicle corpse she saw when she was 10

- cam just vibing with sex pal's bones (or whatever that remains of him)

- gideon (our butch lesbian gideon) telling ianthe that harrow isn't into her, IT'S JUST THE BONES

- "i love a little gall on gall" 10/10 joke i liked that one very much

- ianthe saving the universe (can't say i was surprised)

IN CONCLUSION:

i want my sanity back.

also, ianthe tridentarius is a terrible person and i love her very much and if u compare her to god and the other lyctors, she's actually not that bad imo they're all very insane.

also in my head, ianthe seems like she looks half-dead so maybe that's why harrow finds her pretty. it's true though, she is pretty. fight me if u disagree.

on that note, pretty sure gideon has a chance with harrow considering that she's currently dead (technically) and that harrow is clearly into dead people.

also gideon and ianthe hate each other (do they?) and they are very funny together i wanna see more of them

in conclusion, i liked it very much and i can't believe i got hooked into it

P.S i signed up for necromancy not necrophilia but i probably should have expected that

[antique-symbolism]

Even though I don’t go there, I’d like to hear your blorbos et al. for Locked Tomb

Oh I will answer this HAPPILY :D

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most)

always thinking about them (Camilla Hect and Palamedes Sextus)

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped)

Jeannemary and Isaac of course :(((

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)

If the Locked Tomb fandom will not love and appreciate Ortus Nigenad I will do it enough for everyone

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week)

I actually don't think Locked Tomb has any 'obscure' characters really, everyone is given the weight they deserve in the narrative, I think

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave)

@wardoffthenight did such a good job reading Mercymorn's dialogue out loud that I gotta give it up for her as my poor little meow meow

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)

Silas Octakiseron, you pasty motherfucker. Also Crux

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)

I know Ianthe is most people's poor little meow meow but I would send her to superhell in an INSTANT. My hatred for her is probably only topped by my hatred for God, who should also go to superhell

[birgittesilverbae]

the locked tomb

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most)

Cam. dual-wielding scholar? check. completely Done with the idiots? check. dedicated and feral about pursuing her goals? check. too good for anyone else in the universe? you fucking bet

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped)

Jeannemary. (Don’t mention me!) Meeting and immediately crushing on the animated garbage heap that is Gideon Nav? Comparing biceps? relatable baby gay. She’s so smol and tough and the dictionary definition of ‘fight me’. I wanna wrap her in a sleeping bag and stuff her somewhere safe

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)

Abigail. She knows she's dead and still goes out of her way to be the mother Harrow never had (the mother Harrow’s had to puppet for herself before now). She’s so soft and kind and patient and gentle with Harrow and and horrible teens and she can fuck shit up too. 

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week)

Marta. Perfect gay cav whomst I adore. The Judith report made me foam at the mouth.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave)

Mercymorn. She just wants a nap and a substitute teacher to take over teaching the awful children. She’s valid okay sometimes stuff just resembles a muffin

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)

Harrow. She’s already undergone so much torment but gosh if her reactions aren’t scintillating. Performs brain surgery on herself because she’s too gay? What’s next? Only trauma will tell.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)

God. (RIP Augustine you tried your hardest)

[harrowharks-iliac-crest]

52

Fifth skull...

The Emperor is dead - now the Nine Houses will start dying...

I understand, Mercy, I really, genuinely do - but -

oh my GOD -

“I wanted it to be me,” she said, in this weird, unearthly calm. “I didn’t want it to be you. I didn’t want it to be you, Augustine, after all … the sin needed to be mine.”

In a really terrible, fucked up way, Augustine and Mercymorn do love each other.

Somehow I managed to say: “We have to go get everyone out. Now.” “There is no way,” said Mercy, cool as death. It was Ianthe of all people who said, “How can you say that? Will you not even try?” “Dominicus will collapse in a few minutes, chick,” said the other Lyctor. He too had the calm of a dying man. I only met that calm once, and it wasn’t on a living human being: it was the calm on a dead girl’s face, speared and mangled in a bed I’d told her to lie down in.

Oh, ouch...

They will not even try? They will just let the planets die?

We’re going to go round up the ships—everyone who’s left—sue for peace as best we can—get the Edenites on side. And then we’ll find a place to fulfil the old promise … Somewhere out there exists a home not paid for with blood; it won’t be for us, but it will be for those who have been spared. Babies always get born. Houses always get built. And flowers will die on necromancy’s grave.” Her throat was working. “Augustine—” The Lyctor took her silently in his arms: they held each other like children who’d had a nightmare and had woken in a fright. Just as silently, they detached. She said in a low voice, “He was right. There can be no forgiveness.” “Then let us not seek out forgiveness, but forgetfulness,” he said. “Bury me next to you in that unmarked grave, Joy. We knew that was the only hope we ever had—that we would live to see it through … and pray for our own cessation. Oh, we’ll still hate each other, my dear, we have hated each other too long and too passionately to stop … but my bones will rest easy next to your bones.”

I LOVE them. I love them so much.

Gideon stared at the dead cigarette in his hand, and then he said, “Well. Augustine, there’s something you should know—” White light.

Oh god there's more.

It happened in an instant. It happened over a myriad. A wet red construct knitted itself back together, [...] The Emperor of the Nine Houses—the King Undying—the Prince of Death—the Necrolord Prime—stood behind Mercymorn. He reached out with his naked hand. Her chest blew outward in a hot shower of ribs, meat, and diaphragm. Her body stumbled forward—he tapped the back of her head, something went crack—and the Saint of Joy fell facedown before Augustine, whose chest was decorated with the desecrated remnants of her heart.

Oh GOD.

Literally. Should've known it wouldn't be that easy to kill him.

Oh Mercymorn. She might be a goner for real though. :(

“It was a lovely bit of work on Mercymorn’s part. She must have been training for thousands of years, to bring that off. But I didn’t get to where I am by being able to die, you know?”

It seems all the anatomy knowledge in the world isn't enough to kill God. What a damn shame. Poor, poor Mercymorn, I'm going to fucking miss her.

I said, “You told that bastard to beat up Harrow?” That was my job, after all. God said, “I was trying to save her.” Also my job. “Go to hell, Pops.”

God asked Mercymorn to try and kill Harrow, out of mercy. Hah. Mercy. Geddit.

“Do I get the opportunity?” he asked. “Yes,” said the Emperor. “You do. I didn’t offer it to Mercy because Mercy really pissed me off, I’m sorry to say.” “Understandably,” agreed Augustine.

I mean, she did just try and kill him. Fair enough. I guess. I'm still gonna miss her though.

Is Augustine going to take this?

“No, John,” he said. And Augustine raised his hand.

Is he gonna try and kill God again? After it already didn't work the first time - after Mercy did such an exquisitely thorough job, and it still didn't work?

The River burst through the window in a high-pressure torrent. The Emperor was sucked out into the water, and Augustine dove after him, and Ianthe waded after him. Harrow, the only reason we weren’t pulled out too was because I was yanked back into the muscular, lean-beef arms of the saint who shared my name. [...] “The hell happened—” “Augustine’s dropped the whole station in the River,” he said. “We’ve crossed over physically—body, soul, everything.”

What was it - a Lyctor can survive a bit under five minutes in the River??

What about God?? We've seen him in the River once and he had to drag Harrow out of it - he didn't seem affected??? This surely is just a great way to kill all your potential allies??

Or... or just all of God's potential allies. Eeeeek.

Augustine, you bastard.

The station listed again. I said, “Okay. You’re a necromancer. Are you going to do something, or what?” “My necromancer is dead,” said Gideon.

Ohhhhh... so Gideon the First did die in the River, fighting the Resurrection Beast, -

so this... must be Pyrrha??

Two years before you were born, my necromancer started an affair with your mother … not knowing I’d also been doing the same thing, using his body.” I said, “What the fuck.” “She was the most dangerous woman I’d ever met who wasn’t me,” said Pyrrha Dve. “You’re right, though. She was a real dick.”

Hi what the fuck?? Gideon is so right here - what pray tell THE FUCK???

Lmao Commander Wake had an affair with Gideon and Pyrrha both, in the same body?????????

“The stoma’s opened for John,” said Pyrrha, and she sounded—detached, rather than triumphant, rather than grief-stricken. “It must think he’s a Resurrection Beast.”

Oh my GOD. Yeah, that could work...

As he struggled, he somehow pushed the Emperor into a waiting, frenzied bed of the things, which wrapped around his legs—and the stoma sucked down.

This is all very fucking horrifying, to be fucking honest.

I mean, yeah, I was thinking about you too; if I could’ve turned that off I would’ve turned it off years ago, but more importantly—I was absolutely fucking out of my mind Ninth House big pissed off. As I dithered, Pyrrha sandblasted me with the calm, “Your mother would’ve picked the bullet.” “Yes, well, jail for Mother,” I said.

For a thousand years!!!!

High above the nest of tongues, Ianthe was poised as though flying—fluttering white flimsy in the heart of that vortex—as God and Augustine thrashed together. The tongues had retracted almost to the rim of the mouth, and God was not winning. Those demoniacal tongues had him almost entirely in their grip as Augustine pinned him down. The tongues seemed more interested in the Emperor than in Augustine, though they weren’t uninterested in Augustine. God’s desperation, even in your darkening eyeballs, was clear.

If God is desperate here, then this really seems to be some kind of foolproof method. Holy fucking shitballs.

Ianthe seems to be somewhat safe...

Kind of - they still all need to get out of the River somehow -

Can Gideon in Harrow's body find Harrow's little bubble, and her soul?

I watched Ianthe dart down, rip the tongues from the Emperor of the Nine Houses, and wrestle him clear. The tongues entwined in a bower to bear Augustine silently down to that ravenous mouth, to the Hell where only demons went. Which was Tridentarius all over.

Fucking IANTHE!!!!! Really perfectly happy to kill her mentor to save the guy who's been a giant fucking scumbag for ten thousand years!!!!

... I realise I maybe shouldn't really be rooting for God to die, but hey, man, he killed Mercymorn. I'm allowed okay??

Ianthe, throwing in her lot with the guy who had lied to everyone about everything. Ianthe, backstabbing her own cavalier all over again. Ianthe, with the world in the balance, reaching her hand out and pressing down on the weight marked BAD.

Gideon agrees with me though. Lol.

your bullshit dead girlfriend had come to claim you. And she said in the wrong voice twice removed: “Chest compressions. I know her sternum’s shattered; ignore it. We need that heart pumping. On my mark.” Hands pressed. We died.

Please say psyche. Please say there's still some way out of it. If Alecto - of all people!!!! If Alecto is trying to save them - - Please - -

(I need a moment.)