Location 2571: Gleam (Plated Prisoner #3)

I stare at him, not in fear, but in recognition
as the beast in me rises up and answers to the beast inside him.

Gleam
Reven Kennedy
Plated Prisoner, book three
Kindle Edition, 674 pages
Paperback, 784 pages
Audiobook, ~19 hours
Published May 31, 2021
ISBN 9781464224430
ASIN B08XK8L1J7

King Midas made me the woman I am today. Notorious. Unattainable. His.

The thing about being confined is that you believe it’s to keep the bad out... Until you realize it’s about keeping you in.

I’m now in a strange kingdom surrounded by liars, with no allies of my own, but I won’t sit idly by and let myself wither. No, there’s something that’s bloomed from the pit of my repression. Something dark. Something angry.

But the last thing I expected was for my anger to call out to him. King Ravinger.

He’s sinister and powerful and entirely too seductive. I’ve learned my lesson with trusting manipulative kings, so why does my chest constrict every time he’s near? I need to tread carefully, or I’m at risk of losing much more than just my freedom.

Regret and revenge war inside of me, and I need to figure out a plan fast before I get tangled up in the schemes of kings and queens.

Because I won’t be caught in a cage again. No, this time, It’ll be me setting the trap... I just hope my heart comes out of this unscathed.

A moment to appreciate Kennedy's decision to have Rip with black eyes and Ravinger with green.

A second moment to express some love to Rip's inner circle because I neglected to do so in my last post. Osrik, Judd, and Lu are Rip's captains. His handpicked team. His most trusted advisors. They are, as Lu deemed them, his Wrath. Osrik, the former mercenary. Judd, the tricky thief. And much love to our lady, Lu, with her secret past, happy violence, and the power to be ignored.

Book three opens up just where we left off in Glint albeit with a slight rewind. Rip reveals his alias as King Ravenger and the two are throwing words at eachother in a heated exchange. And it's the best kind because neither of them is wrong and I'm stuck in this silent web of neutrality waiting for who will be the first to yield or deliver the final blow.

Gods, this man! Rising oh so quickly to the top of my list of favorite characters.

Then Midas himself adds to the tension and our girl Auren is done with the bs. She has woken up and is choosing violence. Woman is big mad. At everybody.

I am giddy over these female characters. Women who actually own up and take accountability. Both Auren and Midas' wife, Malina, willing to say the words: I let him. Men (and women, too) don't take or hold power alone. They are enabled. They are permitted and guided and encouraged. And while Auren and Malina once gave Midas power, they are now seizing it back.

Go ahead, gurl. Whip another pillow at his face.

Meanwhile, Ravenger still hasn't divulged how the nickname "Rip" originated but we do meet fake Rip. And, oh my pulse quickened at the scene as my mind leapt into the mass of fanart images filed away in my brain. Could this... be Ryatt?

Sir, you better get to stepping aside out of her way before the Rotter of Things has Lu take her hand to the back side of your skull.

"I chose you the moment you called me a prick, and your ribbons tried to knock me on my ass."

Could I swoon any harder over Ravenger's My Own Good speech? Could I feel second hand mortification any deeper at Auren's ribbons rolling around in Slade's sheets? Like hyper kittens indeed. She gilded the damn pillow! I was a rolling mess of laughter. Gurl, get out of his room!

I just told him I want him, told him bits of my life I don’t share with people, and yet...he’s saying nothing.

Finally, I can’t take it anymore. The silence, the scrutiny, the confessions lying at my feet like plucked fruit left to rot. “Are you going to say anything? I just admitted that I want you, and you’re just standing there.”

Slade blinks. “I was processing.”

“You process really slowly.”

His mouth hitches up. “What do you mean, exactly, when you say you want me?”

I thought I couldn’t be more embarrassed, but I was wrong. I wasn’t expecting this reaction, and it makes me feel...rejected. Snubbed. It hurts more than I can put into words. “You know what? Forget it.”

The second I move toward the door, Slade easily sidesteps in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. “You think you can say all of that to me and then just walk out?”

I shoot him an incredulous look. “Yes, because you’re not saying anything. If things have changed, if you don’t want me back, then…”

A frown tucks in, creasing in place between Slade’s brows. “Don’t want you? Is that what you think? You think I’ve been hanging around Fifth Kingdom because I’m excited to attend a ball?”

“I don’t know what to think!” I cry out, hands flinging up in exasperation. “I just said all of those things, and—”

“I’ve wanted you since the moment I laid eyes on you, Goldfinch. I was just waiting for you to catch up.”

Woman! She does this while the sun is up?! Mind you, they're not talking about sex here. She's choosing him. She chose herself. And she's choosing him for herself.

Gods, that chapter thirty. And I don't know how I expected thirty-one to be any less dirty than it was. Damn, that man has a filthy mouth. How does a commander and king of so few words manage not to shut up in the bedroom?

Bright side? None. Absolutely none. Because I just turned his pillow solid gold from sniffing it like a lunatic, while he watched my ribbons dive into his sheets like fish in a Slade stream.

My favorite character could easily be Auren's ribbons. They are always slithering out to Slade and wrapping themselves around that man with a mind of their own.

Revelations and twists in this installment... aka Spoilers incoming... Auren's power only works during the day. I'm all for unique magic systems but I'm not sure how I feel about this detail. And again, a life is taken and body left to drop on the snow.

This series has set a new record for me for the amount of times I either mutterered, yelled, or voicelessly threw out the words This muthafucker here. Midas, I tell ya. The grace I gave you, you sum of a bish. I wanted to claw your eyes out—Digby?! You tortured Digby! And then you took a sword to Auren's ribbons! But the twist. That twist... with Barden East. You devil! The diabolical intent that spanned years. I was screaming.

And yet.. Respect. Horror, but respect.

And yes, it was Ryatt. And now the whole giving Auren a hard time and getting kicked out to the balcony in the snow makes sense, because, yeah... little brother.