#i love how you narrated this. it's delightful thank you 💚

[thousand-winters]

Sorry for the long ask! All the Dadrius content on your page sparked a quick thing. Hope you don't mind!

There's precious little time between Hunter's defection at the end of Hollow Mind, and when Belos will have Hunter's room searched and destroyed.

Darius has Eberwolf use one of his Beast Keeping spells to cover Darius's tracks when he sneaks into Hunter's room during that slim window of opportunity.

He knows the little prince would be devastated if his few belongings were destroyed in a raid, and that's why he was doing this.

He finds Hunter's hidden sewing kit Darius gave him only days ago, and carefully deposits it into a satchel made of abomination goo hanging at his hip.

He finds the plush pink frog under the pillow. Prior to revising his original assumptions about the young Golden Guard, he wouldn't have looked at this particular object twice. If it was hidden under the pillow and Hunter was still keeping it around, it must be of some importance to him.

The plush frog joins the sewing kit in the satchel.

He was running out time. What else? The little prince's contraband books on wild magic, no doubt. It takes him a moment to analyze the room for potential hideaways; as a rebel dealing with sensitive information, he understood the need for secrecy.

Once he figures it out, he gathers a collection of three hidden books and adds them to the bag.

Time was running out, and the coven head couldn't identify anything else truly important to Hunter in the room.

He needed to leave. Now.

I do not mind at all! I adore this.

I think the sweetest part of this is Darius has no idea of if Hunter will even hear him out, once he finds him and contacts him to tell him he's a rebel and he can trust him, and yet he's saving things for him to spare him at least a little bit of grief. And I do firmly believe he would, honestly.

Worried sick about what happened to Hunter, where is he, is he somewhere safe? Is someone looking out for him? Or is he all alone, thinking that he has lost everything in the world? Darius certainly would like to be there with him, but he can't, for multiple reasons. Right now he has to play it cool so no one suspects his bond with Hunter at the castle, but he can at least do this. So Hunter hasn't lost absolutely everything (and hopefully he'll count Darius as someone he hasn't lost either, but that's a matter for later).

I can imagine him looking at the plush often before he gets to reunite with Hunter and just... having a bit of a moment™️ there because of course he noticed that Hunter is, by all means, a child, during their sewing lessons together, but this is really on the face when it comes to making the point come across, and Darius just can't stop thinking about how they got two kids trapped inside of Belos' mind of all places and now who knows where Hunter is. It gets to him particularly if he can see the plush is very well loved, the stuffing practically crushed in some parts because of how often Hunter was hugging it and the mental image is killing Darius.

Later he'll be so glad that he managed to save all of these because at the very least he can give them as a sort of peace offering to Hunter, and it does make him stop for long enough for Darius to be able to say his part.

[hollymbryan]

🧡💛💚 INDIE LOVE BOOK REVIEW! 💚💛🧡 Q: Do you read many - or any - indie books? A: I do!! I love reading them, supporting indie authors and small publishers, and finding incredible new worlds and stories that we might not otherwise have access to! Today I'm thrilled to share with you The Bond Trilogy by @robinakirk, a professor of human rights at my alma mater and amazing author who happens to live in my hometown! Y'all, I love this series so much, and was so happy when, on a whim, I joined a blog tour for the first two books in the Fall of 2020 (scroll to 2 Sept 2020 for that post!). I was delighted to discover the most incredible, detailed, beautifully imagined world within the pages of THE BOND and THE HIVE QUEEN. When I saw the new covers I gasped at how gorgeous they are, and jumped at the chance to review the final book, THE MOTHER'S WHEEL, which releases 6 Sept 2022! (Note: you can swipe to see my pics of the original covers, which I had to screenshot since they're from my old phone) I had actually typed up a paragraph trying to summarize the plot, but it's so hard to do with a third book in series since I want to avoid spoilers. Suffice to say I loved this ending to the series as much as I loved the first two books! Each book brings us a different narrator, and Sil from TMW just might be my favorite (though I've said that with each successive book 😅). This series brings us on an incredible adventure with amazing characters in an often cruel world, while tackling such big themes as what it means to be human, to experience love (of all kinds), and to be truly free. I urge you to pick up this series (it's a quick read!)...and then DM me to discuss 😁 I *highly* recommend!! RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thanks so much to Robin for sending me copies of the books with new covers 🥰 You can find the books at Amazon, B&N, Bookshop, and Indiebound, or order from our hometown indie, The Regulator! 🧡💛💚 #thebond #thehivequeen #themotherswheel #thebondtrilogy #robinakirk #robinkirk #indiebookstore #indiebook #indieauthors #indieauthor #indieauthorsofinstagram #indiebooks #readindie #supportindieauthors #dystopian #dystopianreads #dystopia #bookreview #bookreviewer https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch99CH9LcrP/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[hollymbryan]

🧡💛💚 INDIE LOVE BOOK REVIEW! 💚💛🧡 Q: Do you read many - or any - indie books? A: I do!! I love reading them, supporting indie authors and small publishers, and finding incredible new worlds and stories that we might not otherwise have access to! Today I'm thrilled to share with you The Bond Trilogy by @robinakirk, a professor of human rights at my alma mater and amazing author who happens to live in my hometown! Y'all, I love this series so much, and was so happy when, on a whim, I joined a blog tour for the first two books in the Fall of 2020 (scroll to 2 Sept 2020 for that post!). I was delighted to discover the most incredible, detailed, beautifully imagined world within the pages of THE BOND and THE HIVE QUEEN. When I saw the new covers I gasped at how gorgeous they are, and jumped at the chance to review the final book, THE MOTHER'S WHEEL, which releases 6 Sept 2022! (Note: you can swipe to see my pics of the original covers, which I had to screenshot since they're from my old phone) I had actually typed up a paragraph trying to summarize the plot, but it's so hard to do with a third book in series since I want to avoid spoilers. Suffice to say I loved this ending to the series as much as I loved the first two books! Each book brings us a different narrator, and Sil from TMW just might be my favorite (though I've said that with each successive book 😅). This series brings us on an incredible adventure with amazing characters in an often cruel world, while tackling such big themes as what it means to be human, to experience love (of all kinds), and to be truly free. I urge you to pick up this series (it's a quick read!)...and then DM me to discuss 😁 I *highly* recommend!! RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thanks so much to Robin for sending me copies of the books with new covers 🥰 You can find the books at Amazon, B&N, Bookshop, and Indiebound, or order from our hometown indie, The Regulator! 🧡💛💚 #thebond #thehivequeen #themotherswheel #thebondtrilogy #robinakirk #robinkirk #indiebookstore #indiebook #indieauthors #indieauthor #indieauthorsofinstagram #indiebooks #readindie #supportindieauthors #dystopian #dystopianreads #dystopia #bookreview #bookreviewer https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch99CH9LcrP/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=