Get Nerdy With Me No. 18
I’ve been sitting on a BIG Kizia-inspired question for a couple of weeks.
My big question: If Kizia can’t, how come Sel can?
Before I get into this question, let’s recap Kizia’s brief, terrifying role in Bloodmarked. TL;DR: Kizia was a goruchel demon hired by Jonas to kill Bree. In the heat of the moment, Kizia decided not to kill Bree because wowza, she’d way rather get stronger by drinking Bree’s unique power. But, imbibing goes horribly for Kizia. Her body reacts violently to Bree’s mage flame because Bree is bloodmarked by The Hunter.
Kizia’s failed attempt to use Bree’s power demonstrates that Bree’s power is off limits to anyone with demon blood. Only The Hunter, aka The Shadow King, can have Bree’s power. She is bloodmarked, which is like a copyright notice and a promissory note all in one. It marks her power as proprietary, soley for The Shadow King’s consumption when he comes to collect on the bargain he made with Vera eight generations ago.
Read Kizia’s reaction to Bree’s mage flame:
The goruchel leans close, hovering over me. “Show me that power, little girl. How did it go again…” Her hand wraps around my throat and she squeezes just like before, this time digging her claws into the skin of my neck—and the root in my fists flares bright, lighting her face in glowing red and orange. “Yessss.” She grins triumphantly, pulls me up halfway, and brings my right hand directly to her mouth. But the second her lips touch my root she throws my arm away like it had burned her all over again.
“Fuck!” she yells, eyes wide. “No way… no, no…”
Bloodmarked, Chapter 26, page 239
Cambions can’t seem to handle Bree’s power. How does Sel do it?
Merlins, as descendants of the Merlin, have demonic heritage. As far as I can tell, all merlins that come in contact with Bree’s mage flame (except Sel) have the same reaction that Kizia had. It hurts! It’s off limits. See Max’s reaction to Bree’s mage flame in Chapter 11, page 113 and Lark’s burn in Chapter 2, page 32.
But Sel? He can drink in Bree’s power in without pain. In fact, a burst of her power (channeled with permission to fight off Erebus) in Chapter 41 seems to fortify his humanity (just like Valec’s aether vials help on a smaller scale1) and erase his physical demonia symptoms.
“The red in his eyes is gone, but what’s left behind is the rich, bright color of liquid gold. […] He’s drunk on me.”
Bloodmarked, Chapter 41, page 398
In addition, Bree’s power smells good to Sel and is intoxicating. Sel admits later that her power infusion from Chapter 41 didn’t leave his system for three days.
“ ‘Oh’ is right.” He sighs. “Maybe it is because I am mid-descent, not quite myself and not quite the demon, or maybe it is because your root is like no other form of aether I have ever encountered, but it took the entire time you were recovering at Hazel’s for your scent to leave me. Those three days, and then some.”
Bloodmarked, Chapter 49, page 453
Theory time: Bree’s power is Sel’s birthright!
This sound awful, I know. But stay with me.
You’ve probably heard by now the popular fan theory that Erebus is Sel’s father. If this is true, then Sel is the Scion of The Shadow King, giving him just as much claim to Bree’s power from the bargain as The Shadow King himself. This is why Bree’s bloodmark doesn’t affect him. It’s his birthright.
Don’t know the Erebus is Sel’s dad theory? I wrote about it here👇🏻
Sel’s incredible willpower: fighting off demonia as the son of The Shadow King
Sel, if the fan theories about his dad are right, is not an unbalanced cambion in the way we have been led to believe, i.e., genetically he is not more human than demon. Instead, it’s the other way around. Think about this. If his mom is a merlin and his dad is a full demon, Sel likely has more than 50% demon DNA than human DNA. In this light, his personal fight against his own demonia has been much harder and much more epic than we have ever imagined.
Happy Oathbound Eve!2
This is what we are calling this illustrious almost release day on Threads today, thanks to creators like Bookbaddiebri, itskaylastarr, theskyylife, alechiadow, and bookish.bailee for getting the trend going!
“A smirk grows on Sel’s face, but he does not respond. Erebus doesn’t realize he has Valec’s aether vials. That’s an advantage.” Bloodmarked, Chapter 53, page 485.
brb, adding this to my bree/sel post