Chapter 32 – Valleydan Interlude VII

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

After spending hours in the Shrine bleeding herself to steal branches from the Wilderwood, Neve emerges into the gardens with fresh cuts on her palm. She has been using a dagger given by Kiri to slice herself, then letting blood fall on pieces of the Wilderwood to magically pull them into the cavern. The stolen branches grow inverted in the rock, watered with blood, and grant Neve Shadowlands magic that leaves frost on her fingers and darkens her veins. She has stopped resisting this power, seeing it as something she can control when everything else—especially her sister Red—slips away.

Kiri, the High Priestess, approaches with other priestesses who also bleed for magic. Neve’s pendant, a branch-shard, remains unused in her desk; she refuses to wear it after feeling watched. Kiri questions Neve’s dedication to the Order’s larger goal of restoring the gods, hinting that Neve might abandon that mission if Red returns. Neve reacts by touching Kiri and releasing cold magic, leaving a frostbite handprint. She asserts that she took the power herself, not that Kiri gave it to her. Kiri warns Neve that she still needs the priestess if she wants Red back fully.

Neve then visits the garrison to check for news from the Wilderwood; Commander Noruscan reports nothing. She returns to her chambers to find Raffe waiting. They share a tense, emotional exchange. Raffe confesses his love and urges Neve to undo whatever she has done, but she insists she cannot because she must free Red. They kiss, but are interrupted by Arick, the Consort Elect. Arick needles Raffe about his prolonged stay in Valleyda, implying he should go home. Raffe leaves, reminding Neve of his words.

After Raffe departs, Neve reveals her suspicion: she asks Arick what happened to her mother, Isla. Arick admits that Kiri killed both Isla and another person—the previous High Priestess—to orchestrate events that made Neve queen. Neve is devastated but resigned, whispering “We do what we have to do.” Arick insists she is an extraordinary queen and that it will be over soon before withdrawing.

Key Events

Neve uses her own blood to draw Wilderwood branches into the Shrine, gaining Shadowlands magic.
Kiri reminds Neve that the Order’s purpose extends beyond freeing Red.
Neve physically hurts Kiri with cold magic, asserting her own agency.
Kiri warns that Neve will need her help to fully free Red from the Wilderwood.
Neve learns from Noruscan that there is no sign of Red’s return.
Raffe confesses his love to Neve but urges her to stop; she refuses.
Arick interrupts Neve and Raffe’s intimate moment, questioning Raffe’s motives.
After Raffe leaves, Neve forces Arick to confirm that Kiri murdered Isla (and the previous High Priestess) to install Neve as queen.
Arick admits his complicity in the plot, saying “We do what we have to do.”

Character Development

Neve: Transforms from reluctant magic-user to active wielder of Shadowlands power. She increasingly justifies her actions as necessary for control and Red’s return. Her discovery of Isla’s murder deepens her moral complexity: she realizes she has been part of a conspiracy but feels trapped into continuing.
Kiri: Revealed as both the architect of Neve’s rise and a manipulator who uses blood offerings to consolidate the Order’s power. She speaks of “restoration of our gods” and keeps her true motives opaque.
Arick: Shows rare vulnerability and guilt. He admits to the murders but also offers Neve comfort, calling her “too good for this.” His earlier coldness about Red is now contextualized by his own involvement in a larger plan.
Raffe: Expresses unconditional love and concern, positioning himself as a moral foil to Neve’s darker path. He remains outside the Order’s conspiracy.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Blood as currency: Every major transaction in this chapter—magic, loyalty, truth—is sealed with blood. Neve’s cuts are “thin, precise” yet never heal, symbolizing the permanent cost of power.
Shadowlands magic as corruption: The cold, frost-rimmed magic Neve wields is physically transformative (dark veins, frost on fingers) and morally corrosive. It offers control but at the price of humanity.
The branch-shard pendant: A symbol of belonging to the Order; Neve’s refusal to wear it signals her distrust of Kiri and her desire to remain separate.
The inverted forest: The stolen Wilderwood branches grow “strange and inverted,” mirroring Neve’s own twisted allegiance—she is trying to use the forest’s own power against it.
Murder and inevitable consequence: The revelation that Isla was killed to make Neve queen echoes the novel’s larger pattern of death enabling survival or change.

Why This Chapter Matters

Major plot reveal: Confirms that Neve’s rise to power was engineered by Kiri and Arick, and that Isla’s death was murder, not illness. This recasts all of Neve’s earlier grief as manipulation.
Pivot in Neve’s arc: She stops denying the Shadowlands magic and openly wields it against Kiri. This marks her commitment to a darker path—one she now knows was built on murders but feels unable to abandon.
Relationship tensions: Neve’s intimacy with Raffe is intercepted by Arick, highlighting the fractured triangle. Arick’s pain reveals he still cares for Neve, complicating his role as a villain.
Worldbuilding: Details of how the Order steals Wilderwood magic through blood sacrifice expand the magic system, showing that the Shadowlands can be tapped even outside the forest.

Study Questions

Question: Why does Neve call the magic “shadowed and seductive,” and how does the author use physical symptoms (frost, dark veins) to externalize her internal conflict? Answer: Neve describes the magic as promising control in a situation where she has none. The frost and dark veins visibly mark her descent into morally ambiguous power, making her corruption tangible to the reader and to characters like Raffe.
Question: Kiri tells Neve, “We made you a Queen for many reasons… I begin to worry that you might falter in your work should your sister reappear.” How does this statement foreshadow a potential conflict between Neve’s loyalty to Red and her loyalty to the Order’s larger god-restoration agenda? Answer: The line implies that the Order’s true goal may supersede Red’s freedom. If Neve stops caring about the gods once Red returns, Kiri might consider her expendable. This sets up a possible break between Neve and the Order.
Question: When Neve learns that Kiri killed her mother, she thinks “All this death had to pay for something.” What does this sentence reveal about Neve’s psychological state, and how does it echo Arick’s earlier words “We do what we have to do”? Answer: Neve is rationalizing the murders as necessary sacrifices to justify continuing her quest. By mirroring Arick’s phrase, she indicates she is adopting his morally flexible worldview—she will accept past horrors if the outcome (Red’s return) proves them worthwhile.