Jjeffalch

I love how you unfurl their evolving friendship--unrushed, built on time spent together in trust and safe companionship, true, with each one quietly dispensing the other's teenage insecurities. It's wonderful to observe.

Yes, oh yes!!!!! Please, @Topher Lydon, pretty please!!!! I've really missed her.

Oliver seems quite incapable seeing how he is being manipulated by Tarquin. He immediately understood why his father had set things up the way he did. He sees that Orel is competent, building a life for himself away from the Manor. And yet he falls right into exactly the mode of thinking g that Tarquin proposes, and totally accepts it. For the SECOND time- let's not forget how he reacted when Tarquin noticed Oliver's unrequited affection for Finn (a bit contrived, that, but it served the purpose of giving Tarquin the means to twist Oliver back to his side). Where is Lydia? She needs to observe this constant inconstancy of her erstwhile ally and realize he can't be counted on. Then maybe she can sorting into action.

Now that he's admitted to himself and to Adrian what he's afraid of, maybe Liam might think about talking it through with a counselor to try to get comfortable with the idea of living with that fear.

That a sweet but senescent octogenarian should be succeeded by a vile and cancerous octogenarian speaks reams about the catastrophic failure of our political party system in the US. I can't wait to see how Will is going to hake that system up. He or someone just like him, m capable of independent and strategic thought is just what we need in our US politics and what our system prevents us from getting.

Now, I'm really keen to find out what Sophia is up to with that strange man Julian saw her with. She didn't seem to have part of Arthur's fiasco with Julian's collection, so she's scheming towards something else.

I thought it was beautiful how Finn and Orel rediscover their bond, and how it begins helping each of them find a safe place. They seem to be getting closer with each passing day. But what about Lydia? She was so interested in Orel. I don't think she will react badly that Orel chooses/needs Finn for his healing, and vice versa. I was sort of looking forward to seeing if a relationship could develop between her and Orel, and bring out some of the tenderness smothered in her gruff exterior that she gave us a glimpse of when talking to Finn about Orel. I guess all this will make her extra unforgiving in dealing with Tarquin. That promises to be epic!

You (and by extension, Adrian) have paced this beautifully, @ChromedOutCortex. You've allowed the relationship to deepen gradually within a routine of casual camaradeship to the point where Liam began to feel comfortable in accepting that he enjoyed Adrian's presence in his life and that this enjoyment of his company neither threatened nor betrayed his memories of his life with Kevin. And then that beautiful, sensitive conversation with Rod and Sean allowed Liam to consciously admit this to himself and to recognize that he was holding back not because of the age difference, but because he feared inadvertently putting Adrian through the same suffering he himself had suffered, watching impotently as Kevin lost his battle for life. You could just feel the trepidation slipping and ceding its place in Liam's heart to a hopeful optimism. Beautifully done! You've struck the perfect balance. I am really looking forward to the rest of this wonderful tale, and I thank you for it.

I have been wondering...why did Andrew wait more than 3 years to let Will know he is still alive? And I seem to recall that Will envisaged exactly the desperate move, running for the US Presidency, already near the end of the previous book, explaining to Lisa the error Trump made in the treaty in giving full citizenship to all Canadians, the 54 electoral votes Lisa referred to in this chapter. Why does Will make it seem that this isnow the last- ditch 'Hail-Mary' play? Was he hoping for some kind of fundamental change of the equation under Biden?

Because she knows that Hudson has obliterated her control over her asset, and if she can't control it, no one else will. Scorched earth.

Hunter seems to recognize that something is off within him, this darkness. If he does not like that darkness, if he regrets how it makes him behave, if he is truly contrite about how he treated Rory and how he himself expects he will soon be treating Yeison, then he should reach out and try to get some help. The first step is accepting you have a problem. He's done that. Time to take the next step.

Liam is already a mega star. Surely there are other agents in Hollywood.

This chapter PLEASED me so much I read it over three times. It pleased me to see Garrett decide to turn his back on the chaos and negativity, on the poisonous nature of his destructive interactions with Finn, and consciously embrace his relationship with Kyle. "Garrett thought about Finn. The comparison was involuntary and stark. Finn in this place would be a sculpture of cold contempt. He would see only the escape from reality, the childishness. He would hate it, and his silence would be a vacuum, sucking the joy out of the air until Garrett felt ashamed for feeling any. Finn's love was a demand: Join me in the dark. Kyle's love was an invitation: Let me show you the stars." Garrett now really SEES Kyle, sees that Kyle builds safety and he realizes that he can be happy, can "stop running." Beautiful. I sense that Finn's journey to any kind of eace, much less happiness, will be a lot more complex and convoluted, a lot more wrenching. It won't be like with it was for Garrett, for whom finding Kyle was enough to lead him out of his pain. But I'm glad you promised us that Finn will get there, @Topher Lydon.

I agree!!!!! The "relationship" between Finn and Garrett (for want of a better word) is so seeped in negativity that it really seems impossible that anything positive could ever result from it, for either of the antagonists, and I use that word deliberately. Whenever they are together, before they fall to rutting, their verbal exchanges are utterly vicious, each knowing enough about the weaknesses of the other that they can actually cause each other emotional harm, and by God, that is exactly what they are each trying to do. “And you think that’s healthy?” he gasped, finally finding an opening to shove Finn back with a two-handed push. “You think being someone’s reason to scream is a relationship goal? That’s not a relationship, Finn. That’s a hostage situation. You’re both holding each other at emotional gunpoint.” No, it is NOT healthy! Finn and Garrett together are like two alcoholics meeting in a bar and daring each other to take another shot of tequila. There is no way either of them can provide to the other the emotional support needed to exorcize their respective demons. “He doesn’t need more adrenaline!” Kyle shouted,... “He’s marinating in it! He needs to come up for air! I give him air! I give him a place where the world isn’t trying to break him every five minutes!” Somehow, against all odds, Garrett has found a little island of stability and peace where he rest and be comfortable and maybe find the strength to confront his demons. Finn instinctively recognizes that, I think, which is why he so desperately derides what Kyle offers to Garrett. Finn uses that viciousness to fill the void in his life, and doesn't get that he is just deepening and perpetuating his own misery. Maybe, like @Okiegrad says, he should instead be on the lookout for his own "Kyle" or at least open up to let his cousin Lydia guide him out of his little hell, though he surely can't count on any sympathy from her!

This story amazes me! It has been utterly compelling from the very start, and it has got more intriguing with each chapter. You peel back one layer to reveal the deeper intricacy of the layer beneath, and leave us wondering where the journey will lead next. It's a fantastical tale, but so masterfully written that we the readers are fully invested in it, and the one part that stretches credibility--that a critically injured teenager can arise from his hospital bed to overwhelm two trained assassins--just whets our appetite for more (btw, it was really adroitly done to have Josh deal with his abductors --- not two, but this time FIVE trained killers-- 'offline', out of sight. It all just enhances the mystique surrounding him). Bravo, this is a wonderful tale! I hope you have at least sixteen more chapters up your sleeve...

Really wish Julian didn't go back to Arthur's firm. I'd hope he would establish himself elsewhere and then come back and gradually tear down Arthur's life work. That would have been sweet revenge. But I am keen to see how he plays it from here on.

I would like to see the whole nasty conspiracy revealed publicly in the US -- "The Order", the vile and cowardly attack on Will's residence and the threats against the children; the chemical poisoning of the PM's husband and the kidnapping of Peter and the others to weaken Will Carter psychologically before overt hostilities began; the spies inserted in Ottawa to sabotage the Canadian Government from within; then on top of it all, the sordid hidden financial shenanigans by Abernathy at the Liechtenstein Bank --and ALL of it done on the express direction of His Orangeness...the MAGA extremists aside, the average American would not support all the perfidy. There is no honor in any of this. Politically, if the Americans learn of the plotting and the disgusting underhandedness of it all, by their President, they wont accept it, they will demand his impeachment and drive him out of office.

You're wicked!!!! And....that might end up sidelining Will, though he does have running a whole country to keep him busy.. I agree with @drpaladin, I hope his brain can recover from being ravaged that way. He and Will had something special, and I'd like to see them reclaim and repair it. Once Orangeman and Abernathy are dealt with, of course.

Thanks for clearing that up. I can only hope that Andrew's cognitive damage is not permanent. If it is, Will would likely never forgive himself.

A question - was it Will who ordered that Andrew submit himself to psychiatric evaluation, which gave the treasonous doctor the opportunity to force Andrew to take the Lisinitor?

I'll admit, I did not expect Aiden to behave this way. I had guessed a couple of chapters back that Aiden would seduce Nathan, but I thought he would have done it with malice aforethought, as a way of twisting the knife that Robert had driven between Julian's ribs with that disgraceful public acknowledgement/disavowal ceremony. I do NOT believe that he didn't know Nathan was Julian's boyfriend, but it does not seem on the face of it that he wanted to bed Nathan only to torment Julian. Otherwise he probably would not have forced Arthur's hand. In any event, the betrayal of Julian is now complete. "And in that moment, something inside Julian finally broke". I hope it was the last vestiges of hope that he still could find a place in that toxic family. I hope he collects his belongings, goes to his grandmother to say good bye, then leaves definitively, to build his own future outside the shadow of Arthur and his misbegotten family.

Called it back in chapter 4-Aiden had to go seduce Nathan, 5ovstrip ajulian of everything that was once his. I reacted with an Angry emoji to thus chapter, and all of that anger is directed at Julian. For God's sake, when does he intend to get mad about how ge us being treated? By now he's realized he can't go back "home" . Get mad at that, why don't you, Julian? Get mad at the slimy, supercikiouscAiden, and that two-faced bitch, Sofia. Get VIOLENTLY angry at that bundle of nastiness, Arthur. He's what, 70, you're 20, slap him around a bit. No, a lot! And do noit deign to even engage with that spineless coward Robert. Stop being a victim, Julian!!!

I’ve been learning at your knee, O honored Master @vanalas!!!

PLEASE!!!!!! And SOON!!!!!!!!

Well, Julian will move away , no-one but Clara will know to where. While gone, he will miraculously, and in an incredibly short time, build himself an empire, inevitably in the fashion branch, that will challenge and ultimately outstrip Valerata. But Julian will have clouded himself in mystery, shielding his true identity, so no one will know who is behind this new powerhouse. It will come to confrontation. He will slowly, inexorably and very publicly, destroy Valerata, and in the final denouement, even more publicly reveal all the ugliness of Aiden (because he will inevitably prove himself and execrable slimeball without a single redeeming feature); still more publicly take away everything Robert thought he had achieved for Aiden; and then stand over Arthur's prostrate body (he having suffered a debilatating stroke when he realizes it was Julian behind Valerata's destruction); smile into his outraged eyes, and slowly walk away.... Two things still need to be worked out--part of Julian's triumph must be the public rehabilitation of Nathan's family and the humiliation of Arthur as a public figure in the process, but Nathsn should not rekindle his love affair with Julian. Poor guy suffered too much and was abandoned twice by Julian, still in his wimpish, spineless phase. So, who is to be at Julian's side during his triumph? And finally, I hope it can be arranged that Clara was the one who bankrolled the start of Julian's empire in exile. That revelation should be the final event that causes Arthur's stroke, yes.... So, @vanalas, how close did I get?😉