He believes the reputation of the raven queen that put her as far more dangerous than most grand masters and someone he considered a potential equal. He doesn’t know he is fighting his apprentice and his misunderstanding of the neckless as a spell she cast would reinforce this notion.
Also even though he is the aggressor he was clearly holding back at the beginning until Sihoban unleashed an aberrant to fight him when he could have tried to actually kill jet way earlier.
So after a night of contemplation I have had many thoughts.
If Lacer catches her it could lead to him finding out about the thing in her head, about Sebastien and about all her adventures since arriving in Gilbratha - depending on how much he can actually see in her head. It’s also bad news for Damien.
Pros - she has someone powerful on her side who can actually help get this thing out of her head, she can continue helping with the Myrddin decryption, Lacer and the Red Guard are probably not going to be chasing after her for forbidden knowledge
Cons - Lacer probably still has to wipe her mind of the forbidden knowledge, and Damien’s too. Maybe even the Harrow Hill interns. She stops being so independent now that she has someone to rely on.
Alternatively Lacer catches her but can’t actually get in her head. This could lead to him actually trying to kill her and, frankly, at this point I don’t see her managing to get away if her cliff jumping fails.
There could maybe be another reason the fight keeps going on and I kinda hope it’s this one - why can’t she free cast yet? Yes, I know Lacer thinks you need a few thousand thaums to be able to free cast but just because he believes it doesn’t make it true. Her Will is clear and forceful, more so than most thaumaturges. Her memory is very sharp. Why can’t she hold her circle in her mind and enforce her Will upon the world?
This fight could be the thing that pushes her to be a free caster in truth, long before Lacer considers Sebastien to be ready to attempt free casting.
The other thing is the title of the book - A Cauldron of Bitterness. It feels like this fight is what has given rise to that bitterness, but unless she escapes and foils his attempts to get rid of her memories how is she to hold on to that bitterness? I think she has to escape, or at least Lacer has to fail at getting into her head.
Either that, or he gets into her sealed memories and this is what leads us to everything that happens in a Builder of Dreams - where we end up seeing what happened in Siobhan’s childhood. Also, I’ve updated my thoughts on the cover since reading this chapter. It could be the nightmare itself since we know it looks more androgynous but it keeps rewriting its form, the character on the front also has amber eyes and looks a little like Siobhan so…maybe? Either that or the nightmare struggles so hard when she’s caught or when it thinks she’s about to die from falling that it gets free, or the seal is actually damaged and she starts dreaming the next time she falls asleep.
In any case, I’m going to be here fretting until next week. And probably tinfoil hatting.
I get your points but I have not changed my judgment of the fight. He was only holding back due to arrogance and self interest in using Siobhan to access the journals. He did not hesitate to disregard Siobhan’s intrinsic rights of self-determination and bodily autonomy. Manipulating memories is textbook villain behavior while all Siobhan’s actions were in self-defense to his continued aggression. She was constantly running away. He is the one who could have called off the fighting or declared a truce to negotiate at any point. He did not.
We will probably find out some partial justifications for his actions like the many options discussed in this thread. But after this fight, at least for me, he will ever be at best an antihero.
He definitely knows about the thing in her head Sihoban sent it to try and ‘eat’ him. Also isn’t her having to do less things alone because she can rely on others a good thing not a bad one.
He wasn’t holding back out of arrogance he held back because he didn’t want to kill her otherwise he could have just crushed her when she fell into the stone manipulation pit.
He ignores people’s ‘intrinsic right’ of self-determination as much as a cop who disagrees with someone who self-determines they are not going to jail. Even if the consequences are worse in this case (though I don’t think Sihoban would be less panicked if he said he had to take her to a red guard jail).
While running away she unleashed a monster that is known to attack people’s minds and has a desire to spread as much as possible. Aberrant’s seem like actively malevolent biological weapons there is no way to justify using them.
If Amber had succeeded and then been able to use Thaddeus’s corpse she could have devastated the city afterwards.
I see it as a negative in terms of Siobhan’s progression.
She’s become a power in the city. She has followers, she’s become independent of Oliver, she has her own home, her own connections, she’s growing faster through adversity.
It would feel weird if she then ends up answerable in a way to Lacer. Sebastien is his apprentice and so they can have that kind of student/teacher dynamic, but Siobhan is the Raven Queen. She shouldn’t be answerable to anyone. She shouldn’t be limited by anyone.
(Pardon pronouns, writing from a Lacer POV here)
Lacer makes Sebastien run spells by him and scolds him about his escapades. He tries to control him by giving him tracking sheets for his diet and exercise and warns him that he will force him to use it if he sees no improvement. He more or less forced Sebastien to let him run experiments on him, even after his voiced concerns.
Lacer respects Siobhan as a peer. To him she’s mysterious, capable, someone as petty and vindictive as himself, someone to be taken seriously. If that were to change, if he were to realise she was his wayward apprentice…he’d probably be thrilled. He’d likely do loads of experiments with the amulet to see how it worked, he’d throw his energy into getting that thing out of her head, he’d run experiments with her splitting her Will…he’d be very much the one running the show. She’d probably grow at the rate he deemed acceptable rather than at her current explosive rate that’s basically due to her surviving disaster after disaster by being pushed to her absolute limit.
I’m sure if Azalea is taking us down the “Lacer wins” route then she will make sure he’s not running the show (for good). But I do kinda hope in my heart of hearts that Siobhan does get away.
I can even see her potentially bargaining with the thing in her head again. To keep using her shadow to drip feed it power and potential let it out to talk from time to time in return for helping her get away.
I totally don’t think that’s a good idea, but I can see it, especially if she’s still under the effects of Quicksilver. That would also be mirroring Myrddin again - where he was said to feel sorry for his reflection and let it out from time to time.
This might even be his reflection…
Siobhan isn’t the raven queen though. The Raven Queen is a collection of rumours and lies that are so widespread they got accepted as truths. Sebastien is much closer to who Siobhan actually is.
Lacer does make Sebastien run spells by him and tries to keep him out of danger. However, he knows that he was involved in something with Damien and didn’t push either of them on it. After the plot with Ana, he just pointed out he had forgotten about wand registration and committed fraud to cover up her lawbreaking. He trusts his apprentice enough to tell her secrets he was told in confidence.
He respected her refusal to use the tracking sheet and agreed he wouldn’t put her to sleep with a spell again after she made it clear she didn’t want him to.
Sihoban would not have gotten half as far as she has without the conduit he gave her as soon as he learned she needed one. Literally within minutes of finding out. It was also the extra exercise he gave her that she used to drive off the Morrows and reinforce the raven queen’s reputation in the first place. Not to mention how useful the output displacement has been for her.
As for her growth, there are four main reasons her will has grown and two of them can be directly attributed to Lacer.
First, obviously the amount of conflict and pressure she has been under. While this is obviously not caused by Lacer he hasn’t restricted her from leaving the academy or warned her to not to be involved in more plots like Anna’s. He has just warned her to be prepared and to be sure they are worth doing.
Second, is her split will letting her cast more. Again not caused by Lacer, the only interaction with this he has had is not spreading the information to try and keep her safe.
Third, the sleep substitution spell which gives her more time to cast in. Siobhan only managed to create this spell by using the book from the restricted section which Lacer got her when he found her trespassing in the library. He encouraged her interest in her research despite it being blood magic and actively helped her further it. The fact he confirmed it was a viable spell was also useful in convincing Lisa to seriously consider the spell.
Finally, her light refinement spell which he not only bent the rules to let her buy but also re-translated himself to make sure she could use it properly.
None of this is to put down her effort or say she doesn’t deserve this. She has worked really hard to make the most of her opportunities but it is worth remembering how much he has done for her despite her never asking him to.
Basically, I think her relationship with him as Sebastian is way better than her relationship with him as the Raven Queen as well as Sebastian being much closer to who she is than the Raven Queen is. He might not respect her as a peer but he does respect her and if anything trusts her more as Sebastian. Given how much space he has given her so far I doubt he will suddenly take away all her freedom, if anything he will probably push her harder to make sure she has more to back up her reputation with.
Also, I think the main thing everyone should have taken from the chase is that she isn’t his peer yet whatever she pretends.
We’re just not going to agree on this. He was arrogant in thinking he could force his choice of erasing her memories without having to negotiate. He didn’t want to kill her for selfish reasons and not because he thinks killing her would be morally wrong. Can’t you see how standing for however long it took over a person trying their best to hide from you and escape your attacks while they desperately try to be quiet is not only villainous behavior but also so arrogant?
I don’t even have the patience to argue with you about similarities and distinctions between the fictional red guard semi-independent multinational magical militia in a world with feudalism and a class-based legal system, and whichever variant of “cops”-like organization you were thinking of. If it is the one in the Americal legal system, then pray tell who made him judge, jury, and executioner? What wrong has she committed that she was at fault for resisting “going to jail”? Where is her guaranteed right to a fair trial if the “cops” have the right to arrest her for suspicion of the crime of “unapproved knowledge”?
Do you see how the analogy fails? He at no point declared the problem and dangers that require intervention, provided any options, or sought any alternatives like having her make a vow or help her reframe the knowledge or even voluntarily cast the spell to remove the knowledge from her mind. He immediately attacked to modify her memories as he wished. If this is the motive operandi of the red guard, let it burn to ash.
The girl’s trying to survive. He could have just stopped. Anytime. It was him that did not take no as the answer said through action so many times. If amber got free and caused a disaster, whose fault will it be? His. Whether it happened when Siobhan got its help to avoid Thaddeus’ repeated attacks or as the result of the memory manipulation magic breaking the seal or killing Siobhan, it would still be his fault.
She isn’t his peer - but she could be, given time.
She has a void shield that can eat most attacks that come its way, which is close to what Myrddin had. With greater power she will be able to absorb more power from making the shield stronger. With greater understanding she might be able to stop physical attacks as well, since it absorbs energy and mass and energy are linked.
She can teleport by walking through the spirit realm/realm of dreams. People can go into other planes with protections, she might be able to look into spells that would protect her from fraying and how she might replicate what the creature did now that she knows it’s possible. That’s another mystical power that would wow thaumaturgical society.
She can split her Will which already makes her invaluable.
She is incredibly good with her flesh mirroring/healing spell - with more power she’d be an excellent healer. She’s fantastic with spell creation as well and she’s “dabbled” in alchemy and created a potion that allows her to see in a darkness that blinds her enemies and terrifies them at the same time.
I’m just…wary of her being too reliant on someone. We’ve seen this go wrong literally with this chase - rather than preparing for the encounter she asked him for the information as shit would have as Sebastien. And she’s paid badly for that error.
Edit: I forgot one small theory - I have a small suspicion that possibly the reason Siobhan was able to make it so long in the spirit realm without protections other than the creature’s mind altering spell might be because she’s magically resistant? If her people really were Nulls who can cast magic - people with a resistance to magical backlash, becoming Aberrants, etc. - then possibly she was protected by that unique nature.
It makes me wonder what would happen if a classical Null went with her - like Oliver. Would he be able to cross through? Would he fare better or worse than Siobhan? That could be quite interesting to explore in future - assuming she ends up using this method again!
I genuinely think Siobhan might be about to kill Thaddeus. There’s that line from the beginning of the fight in chapter 240:
She didn’t want to kill Thaddeus, either, but when a much weaker prey animal fought against a predator, they had no chance of survival if they weren’t prepared to fight to the death.
At the time I interpreted it as just showing how desperate Siobhan is - since Thaddeus is practically invincible - but as the fight goes on and things continue to escalate, I keep going back to it and wondering. Siobhan has drawn blood multiple times at this point. She is not harmless and Thaddeus is not invincible. She will kill him if he lets his guard down.
The one weakness Thaddeus has is his inability to dual cast, and aerial combat is the exact kind of scenario where that could be a fatal weakness. If he follows her off the edge then he’s going to need to choose between catching their fall or defending against her spells. Siobhan may not be powerful, but that only matters if he’s casting something to oppose her. He can easily block her, but he does have to block her, and we know she can keep the pressure on with a barrage of spells. Thanks to her will splitting she may actually be one of the fastest casters in Gilbratha. Thaddeus may think she’s playing a game of chicken and waiting till the last moment to catch herself, but with the amulet she doesn’t need to, and I think she may be desperate enough regardless.
I also think that given the number of times she’s already slipped his grasp, he’ll feel compelled to follow rather than stand and cast from a distance.
Lya, I half agree with you. If he does have the freedom to negotiate then I agree that Thaddeus’ behaviour is monstrous, but that’s not how I interpret what’s happening. My reading is that the oath requires he kill Siobhan and anyone else who knows the Red Guard’s secrets, but he’s resisting the compulsion by targeting the memory instead of Siobhan as a whole. In other words, I think that rather than abusing his Red Guard authority, Thaddeus himself is a victim of that abuse. He is literally enslaved.
We can’t really know who’s right without a Thaddeus pov, but I think this might be why more people aren’t mad at him.
P.s. Speaking more generally I do think Thaddeus is a piece of shit. Even putting aside the ring “prank” and murder of the Pendragon operatives, he has zero regard for the health and wellbeing of others with Sebastian being basically the only exception.
I don’t think Thaddeus is a piece of shit, but I don’t think he’s the most ethical person in the world.
I suspect that he was a child in one of these breeding programmes he mentioned that was raised in order to be a super soldier, essentially. No parents, a teacher who disliked him, no mention of siblings, a guardian of sorts and isolated to an extent and not properly socialised. Tossed into a war in his 20s, probably prepared for it much younger (wars do not spring up out of nowhere) and then bound to the vows of the Red Guard which he found deeply restrictive and has been fighting to this day.
He’s a deeply lonely person. I think that’s why he’s so attached to Sebastien - and Siobhan, too, which is why he’s trying to avoid killing her despite the compulsion from his vows.
His morals are deeply questionable, and he’s an abrasive person but he has been looking after Titus and Damien - the children of his old friend. He did drive off their father when he was being a dick to Damien in the first book and then gave him some words of praise to make him feel better.
I don’t think he’s irredeemable, basically.
I think if she kills him it would be the mother of all plot twists and I would fall out of my chair in shock.
I keep vacillating in my own mind which is more likely - that she manages to get her shadow up, gobble up any magic he throws at her (and possibly the magic allowing him to fly, which would be…interesting. Imagine having to suddenly recast your flight magic that you just lost control of mid air and do it before hitting the ground? You might not be far off with “he dies” if that happens) and then maybe starts free casting or just has improved control of her shadow thanks to this.
The other option is she’s exhausted, thinking slow and doesn’t manage to fend him off and he starts messing with her head and the creature comes out to play - which again could lead to her either getting away or falling into her memories.
I guess I have to wait ~50 hours to find out :))))))
The last paragraph is where you are probably wrong. From what was hinted he can’t stop. He doesn’t have this choice. We learned before that oaths and compulsions are immensely powerful and hard to break. You can even be tricked to agree to such restrictions. So we don’t even know if Thaddeus knew what he agreed to. We know that the red guard is shady and unethical but on the surface they work for the greater good and the safety of the people. So I can’t blame somebody for joining them. They are basically the aberrant firefighter to the greater public.
As I wrote before I’m still puzzled why he says she needs to die. The red guard is happy to use memory manipulation in other cases like for example Newton’s family. It seems excessive, even for them.
The family of people who’ve been turned into Aberrants are essentially innocents - and there’s too many of them to just go around killing them all. Someone would eventually notice.
In those cases they don’t need to erase memories so much as implant new ones/a compulsion to believe that their loved ones were turning to forbidden magics.
In a case where someone has done research and discovered something forbidden they would have to erase memories - a significant number of them - or have a seriously powerful compulsion to never think of it again. Both of these could be prone to failure and you never know what notes they might have left themselves that would lead to the total breakdown of these measures. Possibly Thaddeus has more effective memetic magic than the majority of the Red Guard which allows him to pursue this as an option rather than just giving in to the compulsion to kill her and protect the knowledge.
But he’s very definitely having to work around some strong compulsions. Remember, this is the guy who was happy to give her hints as to shamanic magic and protect her from the Red Guard and warn her about not taking their vows. He’s also the guy who cursed the High Crown when he was mad at him for threatening his apprentice. He’s not very big on rules, so this one has to be something that’s forced on him.
Possibly the fact that he’s having to struggle against his compulsion whilst also fighting her is part of the reason she’s been able to get so many hits on him. Who knows?
I wonder what happens if she gets away with his compulsion still intact. He will probably either need to hunt her down or inform the Red Guard.
I don’t think Thaddeus is a piece of shit, but I don’t think he’s the most ethical person in the world.
I suspect that he was a child in one of these breeding programmes he mentioned that was raised in order to be a super soldier, essentially. No parents, a teacher who disliked him, no mention of siblings, a guardian of sorts and isolated to an extent and not properly socialised. Tossed into a war in his 20s, probably prepared for it much younger (wars do not spring up out of nowhere) and then bound to the vows of the Red Guard which he found deeply restrictive and has been fighting to this day.
He’s a deeply lonely person. I think that’s why he’s so attached to Sebastien - and Siobhan, too, which is why he’s trying to avoid killing her despite the compulsion from his vows.
His morals are deeply questionable, and he’s an abrasive person but he has been looking after Titus and Damien - the children of his old friend. He did drive off their father when he was being a dick to Damien in the first book and then gave him some words of praise to make him feel better.
I don’t think he’s irredeemable, basically.
I honestly hadn’t even considered that backstory. I heard private magic tutor and just assumed he was a rich kid. I think you’re right; that’s a great observation and it certainly makes him more sympathetic. I still think his actions may have passed the point where a sympathetic backstory can excuse his behaviour, but that’s because I’ve been interpreting his criticism of the crowns as insincere. When Siobhan confronted him about the ring and he hand waved the consequences away by saying that anyone working for the Guncles (Gervin uncles) deserved to die, I interpreted it as blatant sophistry attempting to cover his obvious disregard for the lives of others. But if he has suffered such extreme abuse under the crowns’ rule, then that completely recontextualizes his actions to me.
I think if she kills him it would be the mother of all plot twists and I would fall out of my chair in shock.
Yeah I’ll admit the smart money is that he’ll survive. I do think a crash landing is likely, but death? I’m just saying I think it’s a possibility. If it does happen I’ll say “I told you so”, but I wouldn’t be willing to stake anything on it. 
I keep vacillating in my own mind which is more likely - that she manages to get her shadow up, gobble up any magic he throws at her (and possibly the magic allowing him to fly, which would be…interesting. Imagine having to suddenly recast your flight magic that you just lost control of mid air and do it before hitting the ground? You might not be far off with “he dies” if that happens) and then maybe starts free casting or just has improved control of her shadow thanks to this.
The other option is she’s exhausted, thinking slow and doesn’t manage to fend him off and he starts messing with her head and the creature comes out to play - which again could lead to her either getting away or falling into her memories.
I guess I have to wait ~50 hours to find out :))))))
I’ve spent a lot of time imagining the implications of her shadow’s new energy absorption. It seemed from how she disrupted Thaddeus’s lightning spell that she targeted the link with the caster. The specific implications of that interesting but unclear. What is clear is that if she can cause a spell to fail by absorbing just part of it, she doesn’t need to directly contend with the the caster’s entire thaumic capacity to stop them casting spells. That means she’s going to be punching well above her weight class if she can master this technique. I feel like we’ve passed a threshold where Siobhan is no longer the paper tiger she started the series as. She really might just cancel Thaddeus’ flight spell.
But maybe not! She can barely stand right now. I have no idea what’s going to happen 
Her shadow spell is fascinating and is definitely letting her punch well above her weight.
I’d like to reiterate - she’s 20! She has under a thousand thaums! Yes, she’s getting away with a lot of shenanigans by the sheer confidence with which she swings around her gigantic brass balls but like…there’s some fire under all the smoke and mirrors.
She’s conceptually realised that there’s no difference between light she can see and light she can’t, and expanded that to light is energy and so is magic. Being able to disrupt magic the way she did with her “little shadow spell” is what the red guard needed an Aberrant as a component to do!
In one stroke she’s shored up her counter divination methods - no more running! - discovered a weakness of the current method that she can compensate for (she’s figured staying very still and inanimate will fool that stone search that Thaddeus used) and she’s discovered how to disrupt and devour magic.
Did I mention she’s just a baby? Like, holy shit, imagine upending society, becoming the most infamous criminal in the country and starting a cult - all the while going to university and making it ever closer to the top of your year despite a massive educational deficit and picking up a bunch of extracurricular projects, both sanctioned and unsanctioned 
The reason I want Lacer’s point of view of the fight is not because I want to rehash all the details, it’s because Siobhan has no idea how impressive she is sometimes and I need another perspective to really grasp how impossible she is at times.
8 hours ish until the next chapter. I can’t wait to find out how Azalea intends to torment us again this week.
For the record, my mother (who leeches off my patreon the way I leech off her kindle library) scolded me last week for telling her to read the new chapter already. “Why would you make me read that you terrible child? Now I have to wait all week to find out what happens! I should have saved up chapters to read all at once!”
(My response was akin to “misery loves company”)
I asked her yesterday if she’d actually avoid reading this chapter if I told her it was another cliffhanger. She looked at me like I had two heads and said “obviously not, I need to know what happened after she jumped off the cliff”.
At least my mother has the benefit of being retired so she can sleep in as much as she likes. I’m always hitting the coffee extra hard on Fridays when I’ve stayed up for the latest chapter
Yes she’s been impressive for a while, but there’s always been a qualifier. Impressive… for an apprentice. Incredible… for a twenty year old. I think these new abilities change that. Though I do wonder if, when we get Thaddeus’ ghost pov, he’ll pick up on the fact that she never channelled even 1000 thaums.
8 hours ish until the next chapter. I can’t wait to find out how Azalea intends to torment us again this week.
For the record, my mother (who leeches off my patreon the way I leech off her kindle library) scolded me last week for telling her to read the new chapter already. “Why would you make me read that you terrible child? Now I have to wait all week to find out what happens! I should have saved up chapters to read all at once!”
(My response was akin to “misery loves company”)
I asked her yesterday if she’d actually avoid reading this chapter if I told her it was another cliffhanger. She looked at me like I had two heads and said “obviously not, I need to know what happened after she jumped off the cliff”.
At least my mother has the benefit of being retired so she can sleep in as much as she likes. I’m always hitting the coffee extra hard on Fridays when I’ve stayed up for the latest chapter
I’m the opposite I have to save it till I’m peak condition for the ultimate reading experience 
My guess is that the way she can disrupt spells is the same way she can block scrying now, she blocks divination rays that are built in as part of the spell used for control. As such I imagine that her effectiveness with that ability loses potency if a spell is shorter range. Since flight is applying forces directly from/upon his own body, I would think that she wouldn’t be able to disrupt it, since there’s no travel distance in which to intercept the control communications.
She did it by putting her shadow between the spell and him. She figured out how to feed the divination rays to her shadow - because they’re just like the light she can’t see, which she can use, so why not feed off of magic directly? It’s all energy, after all.
So basically her shadow can devour magic the way it devours light. Which is huge and only really limited by how much she can handle right now.
