With the much-awaited release of A Cauldron of Bitterness comes the release of discussions that were previously restricted to Patreon members. To prevent unwanted exposure to spoilers, make sure to read A Cauldron of Bitterness in full - available now on AzaleaEllis.com.
Here ends Book 5! (I warned you guys about the cliffhangers.)
Spoilers and theories welcome. Feel free to check out the blurb for Book 6 for a sneak peek at whatās coming next.
Ha, I knew the chapter would release if I left my computer for a bitā¦
I guess itās time for her to face the music (and her past).
Oh yeah and how rude of Liza to complain about her plants when Siobhan was fighting for her life ! 
Happy end of book day!!! 
Yep, yeeeep, thatās the cliffhanger Iāve been expecting since last night.
Iām glad that I was right about Liza having artefacts to look after her plants and animals. Itās a shame Siobhan missed her opportunity to see her before she left.
I find itā¦concerning that she hasnāt cast her shadow spell since she was attacked.
I know why she didnāt. But itās her biggest advantage and not having it to hand in a fight is worrisome.
Apart from that, we have weeks to pick over the symbolism of everything weāve seen since she cast her spell. The shroud, in particular, calls to me.
Mother, grandfather, grandfatherās friend, Myrddin, or Carnagore? Summoned creature from the realm of spirits?
My money is on Myrddinās āreflectionā. I think mother was the gateway that let it out.
Also, I suspect this little experiment will get her answers to Hiteās questions.
May is terribly far away, Azalea. I will bear the wait bravely, I promise 
I hope you get some quality rest in the intervening weeks and congratulations on another book release!
Ok so things Iāve been thinking about:
Did she leave Lizaās place and is now in the spirit realm or is it just in her head ?
Is she going to be a passive viewer or have some control ?
Are the event going to unfold as they did in the past ?
Random prediction: the thing manage to break the seal in the end only to lose because it wasnāt expecting to face 3 Siobhans at the same time.
And could it end up with her having control of it ? Or at least get some of its power.
I hope it doesnāt end up with it taking the control of one part of her Will with the other parts having to fight it and lose that part of her Will in the end :x
I wonder if thereās any chance of the shadow creature and Siobhan reaching some sort of agreement by the end of the memories and them no longer trying to possess her.
I hope so too. This needs a resolution, Siobhan has enough problems on her plate. Maybe she can form a familiar fact with it? Her mother was a witch after allā¦
I imagine itās in her head. Weāre still seemingly operating within the bounds of the crown of madness spell (āTo be sure, this spell gives me no way out, and I cannot harm youā¦ This spell forces understandingā) and itās not meant for physically moving through the spirit world. Thaddeus wasnāt even sure such a thing was possible when he theorised after the chase.
I think the bigger question is time. Is this whole thing going to happen in a brief moment from the outside, or is poor Oliver gonna be sitting there for hours or even days wondering whether Siobhan got lost in the spirit realm?
(Also I really hope Liza shows up and catches them in the middle of this)
Stef, do we have a separate place to discuss the book now itās come out? Because Iāve been cackling along as I reread the bit about āonlyā a few hundred followers (when the building only just got hot water put in, the order is that new, lmfao) and I needed somewhere to giggle about this for theā¦third time?
Iām not sure. Iāve been wondering about this since yesterday. Technically the book has only been released on the website, not to all retailers.
A possible solution would be to move the restricted section threads to the public discussion area with spoiler alerts and a big disclaimer at the top. I will send Azalea a message and see what she thinks.
@Hannah, this issue has been resolved. NOW WE DISCUSS!!!
Eeeexcellent. You are a most excellent assistant to our Dread Queen. We discuss here? Or is there a separate thread?
Wherever you want! Itās the wild west, now. cackles
There are the individual chapter threads, of course, but youāre welcome to make your own for specific topics and questions.
Making a thread seems like so much work when I can just hijack this one.
I got dragged away from the book earlier and now Iām back and reading the part where Lacer is like āYour sense of a ādire emergencyā is so skewed that you might hesitate to contact me when facing down a dragon in single combat.ā
Which is hilarious becauseā¦didnāt she actually do that? She faced down Lacer himself, after all - heās practically a dragon and she faced him in single combat 
Iām trying to think when sheād actually use that token to summon him and Iām drawing an actual blank. Sheās too often mixed up in something illegal and too linked to her Raven Queen persona.
Pretty sure the only times sheās even thought about that thing were during the fight with Thaddeus and while talking to Hite.
Though it hasnāt actually been that long since he gave it her. Sheās had it for less than a month, and nearly half of that time was her recovering from the memory spell.
IF she summoned Lacer for help with a dragon, by the time he got there, the dragon would be madly in love with her and roasting freshly murdered lambs for her in some kind of bizarre courtship attempt. And then the poor dragon would have to face Lacer down to get his apprentice back.
Sheād probably have failed to notice the dragonās flirtation, thinking that the winking while inviting her to āperuse my very impressiveā¦libraryā was some kind of eye infection she could cure.
Perhaps S would summon him in the event of an actual Aberrant? In either body I could see her desperate enough to do that. Sheād have to come up with a great excuse for mugging Sebastien of his token.
Because you used the term mug in your post, it made me think what would happen if Siobhan were mugged, used the token and transformed into Sebastien to wait for help.
She has her size changing boots, great, but Siobhanās clothes are too small for Sebastien.
I canāt believe sheās got size changing boots, magical clothing-cum-armour (yes, Azalea, I saw you removed that in the final version and I was sad, Iām not going to let the gutter minded stop me from using Latin) and a colour changing handbag but she hasnāt made herself clothes that can change from body to body. It would be so convenient if she were being chased - swap from Siobhan to Sebastien or vice versa in seconds rather than needing time to change clothes!
I forgot to mention - in the latest version of the book Damien sold his horse.
Thereās no way in hell Titus doesnāt find out about that. Also, Iām imagining poor Midnight Thunder (it seems the sort of name Damien would give his horse) just being led away forlornly as heās traded away for a stack of newspapers. All those runs in the fields. All those happy memories. Gone.
I canāt wait to see the fall out from this. Titus is not going to be amused.
I feel like the emergency Thad signal is going to be how Lacer finally connects the dots heās been missing.
S bleeding out, alone and far from anything and on the cusp of consciousness and the only way to survive is to use the token.
OF COURSE THATāS THE NAME OF HIS HORSE. Thereās no other possible name he would have picked. Itās cutesy, completely basic, and also sounds like it could be a stripper name or the name of a type of fart. Somehow I firmly believe thatās Damienās recipe for naming pets. 
Titus is going to double down in the assumption that Damien has been paying Sebastien for sex. āI know youāre young, but he canāt be that good!ā Anaās probably already suspecting something hinky.
Most likely. Or heāll get close and realize they smell the same. That might sound crazy for anyone with a weak sense of smell, but for many of us itās quite noticeable. Years ago an old colleague of mine thought it would be funny to sneak up behind me and give me a straightjacket hug - recognizing his distinct cologne was what saved him from violence.
Thatās probably my fault for mentioning it. There wereā¦ Comments. Itās completely correct, but I think itās the sort of thing that Azalea would hear about forever.
