Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 231436 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1157(@200wpm)___ 926(@250wpm)___ 771(@300wpm)
Hair: Reddish brown.
Eyes: Hazel—shifting from brown to green. Turned black after Ascension.
Body type: Long and lean.
Facial features: Handsome. Oval face. Smooth jaw. Full lips.
Personality: Gentle. Imaginative. Playful. Kind. Patient. Doting. A bit of a flirt.
Habits/Mannerisms/Strengths/Weaknesses: Voice was as soft as air. Loved to tell stories. A dreamer. Knew the horrors of what lay outside the Rise walls. Called Penellaphe, “Poppy.” Wrote his sister monthly letters. Liked coffee. Had nightmares of the Craven attack. Before Ascension, could be found outside on sunny days, scribbling in one of his journals and writing stories. Was a great actor. Liked dancing.
Other: Was older than Poppy by two years. Born in December but didn’t know the date and didn’t really celebrate.
Background: Looked forward to Ascension. Married Lady Claudeya shortly after Ascending, though he never talked about her. Ascended when Poppy was sixteen as a favor. Was the last to Ascend.
Family: Mother = Coralena †. Father = Leopold †. Adoptive sister = Penellaphe.
IAN’S JOURNEY TO DATE:
Ian is an interesting case. He seemed to retain some of his goodness even after his Ascension. Too bad Isbeth had to cut his life short. I wish Poppy could have had more time to see how much was left so she could add that to her memories of playing with him under the willow, making snowballs, and learning how to pick locks.
The night the Craven attacked Lockswood because of the Dark One—i.e., Malik—a woman at the inn pulled Ian into a room to save him.
It’s said he always looked forward to his Ascension. I’m sure that changed once he learned the truth…
Three years before Poppy’s planned Ascension, one year before Ian Ascended, he beat Lord Mazeen in poker, and the Lord accused him of cheating. That didn’t go over well at all and caused some tension.
I’ve wondered if that’s why he ended up separated from Poppy—outside of her being the Maiden and him being slated for Ascension.
Ian Ascended when Poppy was sixteen, even though he wasn’t a second son—the ones the vamprys usually made into new Ascended. It was said it was done as a favor to Poppy, and that Ileana petitioned the gods to let it be so.
I don’t believe any of that.
However, it’s worth noting that Ian was the last to be Ascended.
He married Lady Claudeya shortly after Ascending, but I think it was more of a political move somehow. He never spoke of her. Maybe he never really married her at all, and it was just a lie. Who knows?
He next appears in my visions right around the time things were getting real with Poppy and her allies.
Vonetta confirms that Ian has Ascended, and then he leads a convoy of about two hundred Royal Knights and soldiers to Spessa’s End to request an audience with Cas and Poppy. He says he will only speak to his sister and claims he’s come to prevent another war.
He asks about Poppy, wondering how she’s doing after her kidnapping. When he finds out she’s married, he fakes surprise—I’m quite certain he already knew.
When he meets with them, he asks what Atlantia hopes to gain by taking his sister—not the Maiden—and wonders if he’s actually supposed to believe she married the monster responsible for their parents’ deaths. He makes a comment that he can only imagine the lies the enemy has told her, though he won’t hold it against her—nor will the Crown.
At this point, the things he said made me think that while he might have had a spark of goodness left, it wasn’t a big one. Either that, or as Poppy said, he was just a really great actor. I honestly don’t know. It’s really hard to read someone properly in a vision.
Especially since he sort of shifts yet again, saying some additional things before telling the group the villain is always the hero in their own story.
Ian asks if he can speak with Poppy alone, and as they talk, something flickers across his face when she talks about how the Ascended feed.
He relays that Tawny is safe but says Poppy can see for herself if she comes. He adds that the true Queen has requested a meeting with the Prince and Princess of Atlantia in a fortnight at the Royal Seat in Oak Ambler. He says Ileana promises not to harm either of them so long as they leave the army they’ve gathered in the north.
As the group mulls it over, Ian flirts with Vonetta and tells her she’s more than welcome to join them when they make the trip.
Cas moves to Poppy, and the knights start to advance. Ian halts them and says the Blood Crown has no desire to start another war, then adds that if it comes to that, Atlantia won’t win.
He warns them all that if they arrive with any ill will, they will be destroyed, along with Atlantia, starting with Spessa’s End. Then he taunts that they could have hundreds of thousands of soldiers and wouldn’t beat what the Queen created—alluding to the Revenants.