“I draw the long knife I have hidden in my boot. So in the released Novl QoN excerpt, Jude mentions wishing she could have brought Nightfell with her to the Grima Mog duel: the cruel prince the wicked king the queen of nothing The Folk of the Air jude duarte cardan greenbriar madoc balekin greenbriar tatterfell I got out of bed to write this Madoc was aware of Cardan’s poisoning in advance.Īnd Tatterfell was the pawn that made it all happen. So Madoc knew that Balekin was going to make his move, and had his own pieces in place. The moment the revel begins, Madoc is already ready to launch his civil war. Madoc has assembled and prepped his troops, and considered exactly how many he needs for a proper civil war and how many he can convince Cardan to part with. camp out there fairly quickly to deal with the poisoning, so she must have obtained it beforehand). Taryn (or Tatterfell) has already scouted out Jude’s clothing and then had the clothing handy for Taryn to change into (Taryn couldn’t have grabbed Jude’s clothing during the final revel because Jude, Cardan, and co. The more I think about it, the more I believe that Madoc has prepared for the moment he breaks with the Crown.

Is that a veiled threat at Cardan’s demise from poisoning? Madoc follows his observation up with a threat: get Cardan to abdicate or face the consequences. Cardan could be drunk on something other than alcohol - a good argument could be made that Cardan is drunk on love for Jude at this point. Cardan could have drunk any beverage recently. But what if Madoc was twisting his words? ‘Drunk’ can mean a variety of things. Jude assumes, like the rest of us at this point, that Madoc means drunk on alcohol. “Get your puppet to abdicate the throne in favor of your brother or face the consequences. “I have stood by long enough,” Madoc says, his cat eyes staring into mine. “Is this going according to your plan?” he demands under his breath. At the final revel when Cardan is poisoned, Madoc disgustedly tells Jude: Which I admit is a stretch.īut Balekin may be feeling short on allies, and Madoc doesn’t mind teaming up with people he dislikes so long as he feels he can maintain the upper hand. It would require Madoc to form an alliance with the man who imprisoned his foster daughter, and for Balekin to trust Madoc again after the crown debacle in The Cruel Prince. Of course, this would require Madoc to re-team up with Balekin. As a servant, Tatterfell would be able to go to the kitchens, and she would have access to Cardan’s food and drink. And as Jude discovered in The Cruel Prince, servants often fade into the background and are quickly forgotten by others. But Tatterfell could get back into the palace as an acknowledged and recognized servant of the High King’s seneschal. The last time we see Tatterfell, she’s back at Madoc’s house looking after Jude following Jude’s Undersea ordeal. She is loyal to Madoc, who spared her lover’s life. Tatterfell never swears allegiance to Jude. She just makes Jude feel guilty for suggesting it. Note that Tatterfell never denies that she’s spying for Madoc. “You mean Madoc has her spying for him.”Tatterfell’s lip curls, and I am reminded how sharply she pinches.“Aren’t you a sly and suspicious girl? You ought to be ashamed, saying such a thing.” Of course, Jude is immediately suspicious: Taryn brings Tatterfell to Jude in The Wicked King to take care of Jude, since Jude’s bad at hygiene. Tatterfell is Madoc’s servant who was assigned to Jude while she lived in his household.

Balekin is now an ambassador, but he wouldn’t have kitchen privileges and the Court of Shadows would be watching Balekin closely. We know that Balekin is behind the poisoning, but surely it wasn’t Balekin himself who put the actual poison in Cardan’s food. Oh my god I figured out who poisoned Cardan at the end of The Wicked King.

Inkdrop note taking met