“Moray Breccan was carrying Frae upstream.”
Why was I so shocked by this?! I spent half the book suspecting that someone from the Breccan side was behind the kidnappings. I never trusted Moray. Not when we first met him, not when he was writing letters, not during any of the negotiations. And yet somehow, seeing that sentence still hit me like a truck.
Maybe it's because we see it happen through Frae's perspective. That made it so much more frightening. I've been worried about her for ages, and actually seeing her get taken was awful.
And then we get Moray explaining himself:
“When you first wrote to me of a trade, it gave me hope. It was a sign that you were ready to come home. And I wanted to tell you the truth, so you would understand why I longed for vengeance."
Sir. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT??? This man had opportunities to just talk to Adaira. Write a letter. Tell her the truth. Explain the family connection. Have a conversation like a normal person. Instead, he decides that kidnapping children and terrorising families is the correct response???
And I'm sorry, but his whole vengeance argument makes absolutely no sense to me. Adaira was a child. His own parents left her to die in the wilderness because they believed she was a changeling. Neither she nor the Tamerlaines chose any of that. Yet somehow, the Tamerlaines are the villains in his story? No. Absolutely not. I disliked him from the moment he appeared on the page, but these chapters really cemented it.
