Today the lecture is in the tower, my least favorite location. I climb the steps and settle myself. I am late, but I find a spot on a bench near the back. Taryn is sitting on the other side. She looks at me once, raising her brows. Cardan is beside her, dressed in green velvet, with golden stitching picking out thorns tipped in blue thread. He lounges in his seat, long fingers tapping restlessly against the wood of the bench beside him.
This is the day after the revel at Locke’s estate. I find it odd that Cardan is sitting next to Taryn as if he expects Jude to join them. What are your thoughts?
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have u read the whole thing? because i can answer but it might be a spoiler x
Tell us!
spoilers but x basically cardan, nicasia and valerian were always aware of locke’s plan to trick jude into thinking locke genuinely liked her! im pretty sure cardan is reminding/conversing with taryn about this, hence why he’s next to her.
he talks to her about it a few times throughout the book and when jude asks taryn what they’re talking about whenever she sees them, she doesnt say because she feels bad- and she cant, because of her promise.
taryn is also aware of the plan as locke made her promise if she could keep this a secret he would propose to her and she wants to belong so she follows through guiltily.
cardan reveals they all knew near the end to jude’s embarrassment lol; im pretty sure she even thinks back on how they must have all been laughing at her.
i dont think cardan was waiting for jude but more just restless and riled up because he was jealous/thinking about how close jude and locke were at the revel and couldnt reveal it to her just yet even to be horrible about it
Ah yes, Thanks for reminder. I knew cardan was already simping for jude hard at this point and was needling taryn about it because they were all bound to secrecy or whatever, also there was additional drama with him, Nicasia and locke in the past that he was reminded of in this situation
Omg thank you this explains so much!!! Yes I have read the whole thing but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out this scene.
The restless finger-tapping because he’s jealous she spent the night with Locke and him possibly trying to guilt-trip Taryn makes total sense now.
This was after Jude almost drowned right? Like when Cardan and co were bullying them?
At the time I wasn’t sure why he was sitting next to Taryn either and thought maybe he was just bored/trying to intimidate both Jude and Taryn to have some entertainment.
But now I think he totally was calling Taryn out or letting her know that he knew what she was up to. So in a way it was a threat and also a sort of way to try and guilt Taryn to start acting better towards Jude I think.
And also something to do because he was bored in class.
It was after the revel at Locke’s maze, after he was eyeing her the whole time while being kissed by other girls. Yes reading the comments I agree he was trying to call Taryn out, thank you !
It could be a possibility! I thought that maybe Cardan was sitting next to her because he knew about Locke and how Taryn let Jude become his friend group’s scapegoat so maybe he was talking to her before about that.
I hadn’t even considered he wanted to talk to Taryn instead thank you!
I didn’t register that entire scene at all. I only thought about it after when I read more later on and found out about the scapegoating,Taryn/Locke, and the fact that Cardan knew. I think that’s how most of us figured out what most likely happened in those small scenes!
Just from this passage, I don’t get the sense that he expects Jude to sit beside him. I get that he wants to get out of class, lol
But then again, I don’t remember this scene that much, so most likely there is more that meets the eye.
(Spoiler if you haven’t finished the first book)***There is actually a short novella called “the lost sisters” where Taryn narrates her perspective on a scene between her and Cardan where he is calling her out. This might not be the same scene, I can’t remember exactly when Jude finds her sister crying over something Cardan says, but she essentially alludes to the fact that Cardan does approach her angrily about her betrayal before Jude knows anything about it. While my brain wants to think Cardan is gingerly asking for Jude’s company, it feels more in character for him to just be chewing Taryn out in this scene
Yes I’ve read that and the scene you’re referring to is the one where Jude catches them talking and Taryn is crying so she pushes Cardan against a tree, it happens a lot earlier in the novel compared to this one