Welcome back to the penultimate day of our book club read-along for OwlCrate's September book, Lakesedge by Lyndall Clipstone!
Just a reminder that this will be a SPOILER discussion for Chapters 21 - 24 of Lakesedge, so make sure you read are finished this section before continuing.
Discussion questions are listed below, and anyone who participates in the comments will be entered to win a free OwlCrate box!
The story continues...
Leta dashes towards to house to get Clover and Arien, Rowan in pursuit. They are able to restrain him using their magic, but only just barely. Leaving Clover and Arien to hold him down, Leta rushes into the house, slicing through a pomegranate and her palm to try to summon the Lord Under. But nothing happens. She realizes he won’t appear until she has decided what to give him and she settles on the memories of her family. This works, but he demands more, saying their initial bargain was for magic just on the night of the ritual. In the moment she decides to sacrifice the memories of her family in this life and the next. He agrees, and says that one Arien passes her memory of her family will be gone for good, and she will be forever alone. He magic returns and he tells her how she will be able to restrain Rowan until the ritual and Leta realizes that this will be the last time she summons the Lord Under. She rushes back outside getting Clover to help her with the spell, but her magic feels different now. It’s lonely and painful. She is able to restrain Rowan and his eyes clear, but the darkness around them doesn’t recede. The threads of power between them ache and pull tight until she eventually passes out.
Leta wakes up in the parlor, covered in a blanket. In the kitchen she finds Arien and Clover and as soon as they tell her that Rowan is up in his room, where he retreated after helping her inside, she darts upstairs. Rowan is asleep, and kneeling beside him Leta can almost still feel the magic pulsing between them. Florence brings up a tray of tea for Rowan, and they decide to let him sleep. Back down in the kitchen Arien demands to know what Leta sacrificed to the Lord Under for her power, but she asks him not to make her tell. Outside the Corruption has ruined the estate, even her newly grown garden. Leta is determined to fix this, and over dinner she decides that she will allow Arien and Clover to come with her on the night of the final ritual.
That night up in Rowan’s room Leta reveals what she gave up to the Lord Under in exchange for her magic, and saving him. They share a tender moment and she tells him she is afraid of doing the ritual, but is determined to do it anyways.
The night of the ritual the household descends to the lake. Arien and Clover set up the sigil and all goes to plan, Leta assumes the ritual was successful at first. But no, as soon as it's done the darkness creeps back in an a fissure opens in the lake. She realizes that to fix the Corruption she must fix it in the world below. She promises Rowan she will return and walks into the fissure.
Questions:
- Leta traded the memories of her family, now and forever, to the Lord Under. Do you think there is any possible way out of this bargain?
- Now that there seems to be a magical connection between Rowan and Leta, do you think performing the ritual will get rid of it if successful?
- What do you think Leta is going to find in the underworld?
- Do you have any predictions for the last section of the book?
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