Mark has shared with me, with your permission I gather, the contents of your last letter to him as they regard Round Tom and the manor house. I have investigated what you ask, and it unfortunately falls to me to agree with yon Thomas: Blackthorn Hall is suffering under a curse.
I am sure that from your perspective, the bad news is less the fact of the house’s curse, and more the additional charges that Round Tom has added for the repairs and updates that his team is performing. It must especially vex you that these new prices do not include the breakingof the curse, but are only meant to cover the increased risks for the workers and the extra protections they will need to take.
I have already taken steps to seek a solution, but pray let me explain the situation, perhaps somewhat more cogently than R. Tom was able.
First, please know that Tom’s unwillingness to break the curse in fact is a prime example of his virtue (or, Mark has suggested, his fear of the office I hold; I choose to think it the former). The company working on Blackthorn Hall is not at all qualified to address such a complex thing as a curse. In this situation, many of the fey (though I am loath to admit it) would claim they could solve the problem, and would charge you enormously for a task they could not, in truth, accomplish. That Tom has not done so is a credit to him.
I appreciated your suggestion that the curse and the specter haunting the house could be one and the same. Unfortunately, when I communicated with Round Tom through my sources—
(Mark has interfered to admonish me for not simply saying General Winter; my apologies. Speaking plainly in written correspondence can be remarkably difficult for one used to the politics of Faerie.)
Unfortunately, after communicating with Round Tom viaGeneral Winter, I have been assured beyond a doubt that the ghost and the curse are different articles. Round Tom’s words, I believe, were to the effect that,
“Old houses always have ghosts. We don’t mind ghosts, and they do not interfere with our work. A curse, however, does, and Blackthorn Hall is cursed.”
He also made clear that it had been his impression that you already knew—that when the house’s owner shares the same name as the house, they likely already know enough of the history to be aware of a curse. Of course, he doesn’t know anything about the history of the Blackthorn family, and he should not have made such an assumption.
I pressed him to lower the price anyway, as a personal favor, and explained that the circumstances of your taking ownership were quite unexpected. I am sorry to say that he could not be moved. He produced a veritable library’s worth of treaties, bylaws, and charters to support his contention that these protections for his men were guaranteed by the Courts of Faerie, and in fact, he is correct.
I am therefore in the regretful position of suggesting that you focus your efforts on discovering and lifting the curse. While it is true that Round Tom and his crew will be unable to assist you, I know you to be a well-connected member of the Nephilim, and among your friends and companions many warlocks, Silent Brothers, and so on are to be found. I have every confidence in you and Emma; surely no curse can go long unlifted once the two of you have committed yourselves to its end. I have enclosed a brochure that might be helpful, as it is intended for those who have just discovered their dwelling-place is cursed. (Mark tells me one should never utter the words “I have enclosed a brochure” in personal correspondence, but I am not sure how else to word what I am doing. Perhaps “Lo, a pamphlet” would have been more appropriate.)
Thank you also for the delicious cake that you sent. While it does not stir the wild blood of my heart as faerie food does, it was a delicious accompaniment to a pot of strong tea, and we enjoyed it here muchly. Mark has informed me that this cake was created by a mundane, Victoria Sponge. All credit to Lady Sponge, and to you for sharing her artistry with us!
Mark and Cristina send their love. To that I attach my own, and remain etc. etc. Hail Kraig.
Julian “Im a mirrorball” Blackthorn and Emma “im taking my time cause you took everything from me” Carstairs and Kit “You’re a flashback in a film reel on the one screen in my town” Herondale and Ty “you weren’t mine to lose” Blackthorn and Tavvy “love you to the moon and to saturn” Blackthorn and Mark “I can go anywhere I want, anywhere I want just not HOME” Blackthorn and Kieran “The worst thing that I ever did was what I did to you” Kingson and Christina “it still hurts underneath my scars from when they pulled me apart” Rosales and Dru “cause I knew everything when I was young” Blackthorn and-
[september 2021] kieran, mark and cristina from cassandra clare’s the dark artifices series. they were the best thing about this series and I’m so glad she went there!!
It’s been a long time since I last made a Kierarktina fanart, so here it is! I miss them and I can’t wait to see a little more of them in The Wicked Powers ❤ I hope you like it just as much as I do! @cassandraclare
This line reminds me of Geordie, a song that comes from an ancient british ballad and has a lot of adaptations. In Italy the version sung by Fabrizio De Andrè is really famous even though it has something like 50 years, and I connect it to this scene in LoS since the first time I read it because I always though that Gwyn loved Kieran like a father in his own way -at least, he loved him more than Kieran’s own father did- and for years I have been sure the lady of the song was Geordie’s mother instead of her lover/wife (don’t ask me why, I still do not understand the reason) so the parallelism between her and Gwyn wanted to save their sons was istinctive and inevitable.
In case someone do not know what the song tells, that’s basically the story of a woman weeping because her lover, a very young man no more than a teen, would have been executed soon by hanging for stealing some of the king’s deers. A boy who reminded me a lot of Kieran, both their actions guided not by selfishness but by hunger, by fear, by the desire to take care of their loved ones and do not lose them.
The woman went to London to pray the king to spare Geordie (the only thing she could do as she was powerless was rely in someone else who had the will and the power to save him, similar with Gwyn, who loved both boys and could only hope his words would convince Mark to save Kieran) and moved the crowd with her words, especially when she said “Save his lips, save his smile/ He doesn’t have twenty years yet/ Winter will fall on his face too/ You can hang him then”.
Contrary of Kieran’s, Geordie’s story does not have an happy ending -well, since I have not finished QoAaD yet, I don’t know if Kieran will have a happy ending (or even if he will survive), but at least he wasn’t executed by his own father.
Even though his lover’s prayers moved everyone, king included, the laws could not and must not change (“Although they will mourn him with you/ The Law cannot change”), just as the Law of Shadohunters and the Fairy Folk.
