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  1. I was hoping for this spoiler post! When discussion Nevada’s shooting / targeting after the bridge incident Rogan makes the comment ‘Dual.’ I know you never specifically answer since you even have Nevada say ‘I’ll have to remember to ask him later.’ Can I ask?

    • Maybe it’s meant as ‘Nevada is a truthteller prime but she also has a second magic talent in the stress-shooting thing’? The dual referring to her having two magic abilities?

      • I am guessing that maybe the dual even refers to the level of her ability, that she is a dual Prime (truthseeking and the stress-shooting)…?

      • I agree. I just read the part where Penelope, Grandma Frida, Rogan, Nevada, and two of Rogan’s team were watching the video of the shootout. Not only is Nevada a Prime truth seeker, but also a crack shot when threatened. One of Rogan’s people mentioned what a difficult shot that was to make. According to Grandma Frida, Grandpa Leon was a crappy shot with a sniper rifle, but if he’s threatened he hit his target. So…….Nevada’s a possible dual Prime. No wonder Rogan’s smug. 😀

        • I don’t think she is a prime with this talent. Leon is probably closer to what a prime of this talent would have. She just has a secondary talent which is still rare. Like Howling was an Average hydromancer but a prime with Ice.

    • This is a guess: Remember how in “Burn for Me” when Rogan has Nevada chained up on his basement and Nevada says, “Acubens Exemplar requires a telepath. You’re a telekinetic.” And then, Rogan made the circle glow brighter with his telepathy? He’s dually gifted . . . Just like Nevada.

      • Nevada already knows that Prime often have very often if not always some secondary ability, so I think “dual” means something more.
        Maybe, as already said, it means that she ranks Prime in both abilities.

        • Maybe, but I haven’t seen any mention of Frida or Grandpa Leon with the word ‘Prime’ attached. I do think Rogan was referring to the shooting ability, though. Unless the dual referred to the 2 types of shooting, sniper v. being shot at.

        • But, if she has some sniper magic, is it prime level? Is there an active field Navada hasn’t tapped yet? And is the sniper magic linked to her vision at the end of the book where she was everyone in color?

          • I think the vision in color thing is related to truthseeking – it sees the truth of everyone’s magic. Nevada’s is white. Her sister is pale yellow and white (and Nevada says it’s like hers – both affect the mind, and given that Augustine also has white, I think that’s a thing), her other sister is red, Rogan is blue, Augustine is gray and white, and Cornelius is gold. I think it might actually be sort of like Julie’s talent in the Kate books.

        • I was wondering about this too. I’m actually hoping she’s not a dual prime. It would make her feel overpowered to me. And I also feel like there’s this tendency to make every single cool ability in the second book be prime (or at least significant) level. Stories can be much more interesting when a character cannot always rely on an ability–like how Kate is bad at healing. She has just enough ability to survive critical wounds, but there’s a real question whether she’ll make it, and that adds tension. If Nevada cannot count on always being able to hit–if she literally misfires sometimes–there’s more tension in each fight.

          Also, a part of me wants a prime sharpshooter to be able to do more. Nevada’s mom can “go to her happy place” whenever she wants and hit something. Shouldn’t that make her more likely to be a prime than Nevada is? If not, what makes someone prime level? If Nevada’s a prime, can she just hold up two guns and hit two separate people in the face without aiming?

          Penelope’s past raises another question as well. If she’s a prime or potential prime, how did she leave the military without getting recognized as one? If Penelope is a sharpshooter prime, their family would already be on Houses’ radar as powerful. There would have been job offers for her and marriage offers for her kids.

          • My recollection was that it was specified that Primes sometimes had secondary abilities, but they were always less strong than their primary ones in Burn for Me. I don’t think the term “dual” was used, though.

    • I only have the audiobook for now, was the spelling “Dual” or “Duel”? Both would make sense.

        • Thankyou Ilona for this space to discuss WH without inadvertently spoiling it for the few members of the BDH who haven’t yet devoured it.
          I too was intrigued by the ” dual” comment and took it to mean Nevada has a strong secondary power. Since this incident occured before the conversation where Connor explained their magic powers aren’t genetically compatible/ complementary in the sense of likely to produce prime offspring and, how, once she had house status, this would become increasingly important I don’t know why he looked like the cat that got the cream, or in this case the catnip. One thing is clear: Nevada and her sisters and cousins are all strong magic powers . She and Catalina are primes, Bern may be at least significant since Bug defers to his hacking ability. It is less clear what Arabella’s and Leon’s magic strength is but hopefully this will emerge in WF. In all, magic runs strongly in their family so, unlike Harpo’s, they are not a family whose magic is in decline. Only seven and a half weeks till we get all the answers in WF !

          • I think we’ll see Leon’s magic develop quickly into Prime, for a couple of reasons. Whatever triggered his magic, once it kicked in, the level of precision was kind of scary when he was doing the battle play by play, to the point where he moved the camera to something that happened but he couldn’t see. Then not long after, he knew Nevada was in trouble and arrived exactly where she was. Then there’s the fact that Nevada did not want Rogan to know. I’m thinking precog plus the battle strategy thing?

            • I originally missed the angles and trajectory bit from Bug. I thought he was going to be something even scarier. Like a banshee that can call down death on someone. At least that is what I thought his ability was going to be when he showed up worried about Nevada. We will see what this turns into. I can already see the next series in this universe and I look forward to seeing the other characters grow up.

  2. I’ve already read White Hot two times (since the official release). I love Rogan’s floating quarter “trick”, heck, I love everything about the book, but that was one of the things that stood out especially. Now I’m wondering about what exactly Arabella’s magic is and what is going to happen with Leon (and his magic) and how Cornelius is going to fit into the agency. But the thing I want to know most is whether there are going to be more books? I am aware that it is marketed as a trilogy and I guess with Wildfire the first story ARC about the Caesar conspiracy is going to be finished, but please, end my misery and tell me now whether there are going to be more books in the series???

    • I’m dying to know what Arabella is! What did it say? “Huge and monsterous”

      • I loved when Arabella smirked at Augestine’s illusion of a demon. She was like, yeah, you haven’t seen anything. Her transformation must be so terrifying.

        I really hope Leon is told promptly. I’m worried about the consequences if he isn’t. It could build resentment. Or, he could get in a situation where he’s unable to save himself/someone else because he doesn’t know. It makes sense now how much he craved to have a gun. Some part of him must recognize how in tune with guns he is. I get why Neveda is scared, of course. He’s still a minor and she must want him to have other choices than becoming a sniper, used for war, etc.

        • I would love to read a book about Catalina and another about Arabela, their own story. It wolud be amazing!!
          Would you consider it if i say pretty please??

          • They’re 15 and 17 years old. They’d have to age a bit.

            Unless mini-Authorlord would like to write a YA novel about them. Her short one that Ilona posted previously shows she has talent. I think that was Kid 2(?).

            • wow.. mini Authorlord writes too?? The Andrews family is definitely a House.
              Where can I find the story?? Can anyone please help?

          • I’d love to read novels about Catalina, Arabella, or even Leon, Bern (obviously, they have to grow up so a novel in the “future” would be great) or Nevada’s parents. Tbh, the more I think about it, the more I’d like those novellas (because we may get to see IF a certain child would be prime or not… Since we won’t have the initial planned HEA but a more open one T-T). Strangely enough.. I don’t think I’d want a fourth book about Rogan and Nevada : good things have an end (I don’t like when things get overly extend, I’m scare of that, because most of the time, I get bored…) and waiting for a fourth book would be torturing xD

      • I’m thinking definitely a shapeshifter of some sort. When Arabella and Catalina went to the bad-guy compound, Rogan first made a hole in the wall that was 25 feet tall (if I remember correctly) and Nevada told him to make it bigger. So Arabella’s other form has got to be enormous!! (Also, she seemed amused by Augustine’s demon form in a scoffing “Haha–isn’t that cute?” sort of way.

        I’m wondering why the girls have such a hodgepodge of gifts: Nevada is a truthseeker/breaker (like her grandmother); Catalina is some sort of extreme siren; and it looks like Arabella is some sort of shifter. Those gifts don’t seem at all related. Makes me wonder what was done to their father. Remember when Penelope tells Nevada that Tremaine couldn’t carry a baby to term so she…”did things.” I think that’s how it was put. What did she do, and does that have anything to do with the wide range of talents her granddaughters have.

        Also, is Arabella also a prime?

      • I bet she’s a dragon, at least something that needs a whole wall blasted out as an exit and be able to sprint 5 miles to a getaway helicopter.

        • That is what I was thinking too! Big, scary and yet cool. All the other monsters from the other universe are horrifying and I think she needs to stand apart from them.

          • Dragon would be so cool ! But.. If she was a Dragon, I feel like it’s too easy to “name” the creature for characters not to say it. I feel like she’s a beast or demonic thing that cannot be described in one word ^^’

    • Given that Rogan had to blow out an entire wall of the mess hall to accommodate Arabella’s exit strategy, I think her magic is something more than illusion.

    • I’m with you on this – I keep thinking about the rest of the Baylor clan after reading. I want to know more about Arabella. For example, why would someone want to put her in a cage? I also hope that Leon finds out about his magic from Nevada but I have a feeling it will be much more dramatic.

      • I think Catalina would be the one caged by someone evil in order to have her speak on command and hypnotize an audience in restricted quarters. She’s like a siren that way. I agree with what the others have said regarding Arabella’s illusion powers and Leon’s shooting abilities. I’m wondering if maybe another trilogy will spin off with the cousins/sisters but usually the Authorlords write series featuring a single pov. Perhaps the spinoff will feature one of the girls and the other kids’ storylines will run parallel?

        • It’s not illusion, she is red and angry in aura, where Augustine is a different color. She is a shifter.
          Is she a Prime, only the author lords know, and they can change their mind at any time.

        • I was wondering if Catalina was a prime too. When Arabella is arguing with Nevada that she should go on the raid saying she is a prime too and Catalina says, “yes, yes we are all special.” Whole lotta primes going on. I love it.

          • When Nevada was talking to Connor about forming a house, I got the impression that the girls were also Primes in their respective talents.

          • I don’t know if Catalina is a Prime but Nevada mentioned something about not having a name for this power (as if it was more than rare). But, does it really matter at this point ? The girl just has to talk and one second later, people are at her feet xD

            What’s the probability of having three Prime children+ a Genius hacker + a potential something amazing + a high skill sharpshooter + a high skill mechanic with a tank in one House O_O ? This famaly is just amazing, wonderful *-*

            • Hum, I failed. Catalina is the Prime and Arabella is the one with the unknown rank xD (the same scene)

          • I think that’s the other way around. Arabella has not been identified as a Prime.

        • I was thinking her magic is similar to a fairy queen. They may end up calling it Venus or some such.

    • I believe it depends on sales numbers, which look good to me, but I’m not a publisher.

    • She did say previously that they were going to do a soft ending, which would allow the possibility of more books down the line.

    • Wild Fire is the next book, and it will be out in August (I think) This Augest, so the wait will be short! Yeah.

    • I’m wondering the same thing. Is it possible to have more books featuring Nevada and Rogan ala Kate Daniels series? I know we are getting far more than what we originally hoped for with the Inkeeper Chronicles (I always assumed that that would be just a trilogy and I’m loving the world expansion). Could we get more from Hidden Legacy or will Wild Fire truly be the end of that series?

  3. Yay!! My questions are about Baylor House. ? Can Bern and Leon join, since they are cousins and not immediate family to Nevada? What happens when two heads of houses marry? Is it more a business partnership between houses or does one have revoke their position in their house?
    I really love the idea of House Baylor, if you can’t tell.

    • Ooh I had that question in the back of my head as well. It would make sense for the prime of a small house to join the more powerful one. Sort of like in the old royalty lines, you trade up in standing, what happens if the houses are equal though?

      • It’s going to be so amazing to see how this all plays out in the next book. Rogan is going to get so jealous seeing men try to get with Neveda. It’ll be epic. Poor Rogan. He’ll have to try to keep himself from killing someone. hehe. I could see Neveda getting impatient with the games that all of the houses play. She’ll also excel at it though. I think she’s really growing comfortable with her powers and herself. The way she was able to persaude Augustine (for the shell making) during this book was great.

        • What was so interesting (in a “what?!” moment) was Rogan saying to Nevada that Primes marry not for love but for more magic. Then he asks her if she liked his house, buys up all the land around the Baylor compound (warehouse….whatever we want to call it), almost strangles Cornelius to death thinking that Nevada replaced him (which we know she didn’t), gets into Augustine’s face about Nevada’s magic, and just general overprotectiveness that he does so well. I love the fact that Rogan not only respect’s Nevada’s mom and grandmother, but is a little leery of Penelope.

          So….watch out Houston Primes…..the dragon is on the loose! Get close to Nevada at your own risk. 🙂

          • I love the way Rogan is determined to protect Nevada and her family. He knows how the house and government politics works and that other houses and government agencies, as soon as they realise Nevada is a truth seeker prime, will exert financial , emotional pressure on her if they can.

      • I just realized (fourth or fifth read of the scene) that Bern’s surname is listed as Baylor during the interrogation of the surviving merc during the assault, so hopefully?

        • They should be able to. Kelly Waller (Rogan’s cousin) is (or at least was) a part of House Rogan. The only reason they wouldn’t be is if they were to make their own House.

          • That’s true, but the Rogan house was formed before that generation. When the House dormed, it might have to be immediate, nuclear family. However, I wonder if after houses are formed, they can adopt members.

        • Did Nevada’s dad take her mom’s name? Je was sorta in hiding cant remember if it said. I hadn’t thought of it. If so the whole family would be Baylors and be included in the house.

          • That’s right. It couldn’t hv been Tremaine because they were hiding from the grandmother from Hell. But Grandma was referred to as Mrs. Afram so Baylor can’t be from maternal side. There would have definitely had to have been a legal name change to form the Baylor PI firm. We’re Bern and Leon adopted and if so, why are they referred to as cousins? Hmmmm, genealogy 101 anyone?

            • Bern and Leon’s Mom is Aunt Gisela – mentioned in Burn for Me as conceiving him because she was too wasted to remember a condom. I think Penelope’s parents were Grandma Frida and Grandpa Leon, so I would bet that Aunt Gisela is Penelope’s sister, since Leon is named after is Grandpa. Also and Aunt Pen is mentioned.

            • My guess is that Nevada’s dad took his dad’s name, Baylor, and that Tremaine is his mother’s maiden name. And she kept it because she is prime of the house Tremaine.
              The relation between Penelope and Gisela is mentioned in White Hot. They are sisters.

              • Given the evil mother, Baylor is probably an alias. Or some type of hidden name change.

                • I think it’s just as likely they took ‘Baylor’ from the hospital system in Dallas or the universities. Baylor is a well known name in Dallas.

        • My thought in mercenary scene was that whomever hired Scorpion thought that Bern was Nevada’s brother. If you think about from House point of view Nevada would be Prime level and Bern, as second child, would be same or less because that is how houses think. I suspect that Scorpion was hired by the evil grandmother or House Tremaine because Nevada’s mother and grandmother were listed after her. They are not Primes. Also given that Bern is a cyber magician I would think that he keeps all the electronic footprints neutral and the family’s computers tightly secure.

          I think that Nevada’s mother and her grandmother frida afram and probably her grandfather leon afram all knew that Baylor was James’s alias name.

          • No, I don’t think Evil Grandma would put out a kill order on Nevada. Without Nevada, her house dies: no heir. Also, killing her family removes potential leverage to emotionally manipulate Nevada into doing what EG wants.

            More likely Scorpion was hired by Ceasar’s supplicants.

      • If there is a House Baylor with the sisters and the cousins all having combat useful magic, then when Nevada marries Connor, she would have to discuss with the entire family do they want to remain House Baylor without her or do they want to join and come under House Rogan. When the female head of Brittainy married the King of France, all of Brittainy went with her and now come under France. But when Prince Phillip of Spain married the Queen of England (Bloody Mary), England did not come under Spain, but she did provide a lot of troops and armanent to Spain.

    • I actually suspect Rogan would be more likely to join House Baylor than the reverse. That would *really* upset the Houston status quo, but I’d bet everyone involved would be happier that way (except for evil paternal grandma and those people attempting to marry Rogan/Nevada For Greater Power).

      • I could sort of see that, too, actually. Rogan’s mom is a Prime and she’s still alive. And doesn’t he have two siblings? I don’t recall their rank. Are they Primes, too? But yeah, I could imagine a situation in which Rogan joins House Baylor and together they build a kick-ass security & investigation firm.

      • I could see that. Rogan giving the finger to the House games and letting House Baylor gain a him. For Nevada and her family.

      • There may be legalities involved, regarding Primes and Houses. Rogan’s mother is also a Prime, but are there other Primes to keep House Rogan legal?

        • Ooh, I agree. I really like the idea of Connor joining House Baylor but I just don’t know if feasible. But I like!

      • That would be awesome, but wouldn’t that in theory put all of his personel in danger. He would no longer be their boss and Rogan seems to be loyal to a fault. I want them together but I don’t see him walking out on his people…. Unless House Baylor and House Rogan somehow merge as one.

      • Interesting idea. It’s consistent with him giving his House the finger when he went into the Army.

        I don’t know how it works, though – I mean, if two House scions marry, does one of them HAVE to give up their House? Can they merge Houses? The politics is a little fuzzy for me.

    • I had the thought, too, especially since Grandma Frida’s last name was mentioned in this book and I don’t remember hearing it before. I would have expected Leon and Bern to have that last name since their mom presumably never married, but perhaps Nevada’s parents formally adopted the boys, so their last name is now Baylor. That just occurred to me; previously I was wondering if they’d have a hyphenated house (House Baylor-whatever-grandma’s-last-name-is).

      • Frida Afram, iirc. Of course, she may not have taken Grandpa Leon’s name, being the independent sort she is.

      • I just assumed that grandma freida kept her last name and grandpa Leon was the Baylor. Not every woman takes a new name when she marries

    • Or is it based on ‘power’ of the house, not age? Yeah Rogan is a BAMF but at count he’s the only prime outside of his mom in his House. VS Nevada, Arabella, Catalina, ( Bern? ), ( Leon? ) so does that stack the deck and make the potential House Baylor a stronger house?

      • Not enough money (yet). As a new House, Baylor would have to accumulate power and bucks in the Houston Magic scene.

    • I wondered about that. If her sister would have to become the head if/when she marries Rogan. I believe the cousins would be part of the house, especially if they have magic.

    • I don’t see why nevada couldn’t be head of house Baylor and married to rogan. Why couldnt she? They are not mutually exclusive.

  4. Oh my goodness! Catalina and Arabella are killing me! So we have a couple of Baylor primes, won’t the evil Grandma be able to use either to keep House Termainr going?

    And Arabella, what in the hell is up with that one? Why did she need such a massive hole for extraction?

    I just need to tell you, I adore how your secondary characters are real characters, not just set pieces. Most of the time my daughter and I end up more invested in the secondary than the primary players!

    • So while reading I had the crazy idea Arabella had warp spasm. Lol. I may have just reread the KD series. Or she’s like the Flash. Probably way off lol.

      • The warp spasm described in the KD series isn’t unique to that series. It is based off of something in Celtic mythology.

        So it wouldn’t really be a duplication of something they did in another series so much as a common reference to a real world mythological power.

        • Oh I know. They could easily put it in there as older magic form. It just was on my mind.

    • I’m pretty sure she transforms into a beast of some sort because 1) she’s told that her evil grandmother would put her in a cage; 2) she needed a huge hole to escape out of; and 3) when Augustine transforms into a demon using his illusion powers, Arabella laughs, and Nevada throws her a warning glance and thinks, “Don’t you do it” which makes it seem like her power is similar to Augustine’s illusion except in Arabella’s case, I don’t think it’s an illusion.

      • And they mention how after the siege at the end something huge and monstrous was seen carrying a girl. I’m so curious what exactly she turns into. Is it just one form, or can she take several?

        • In Burn for Me, before meeting Peach, Nevada talked to a woman that was changed physically because of experiment to reveal her magic. She was living in the water or something. Nevada POV said that magic can give power or turn them into monsters and everyone has the potential, it’s just a matter of probability. Maybe that’s what Arabella has, except she can go back to her human form.

      • It could be an illusion though. She mentioned that with Augustine’s illusion she could feel the heat from the flames which suggests that really good illusions can have physical aspects to them as well.

        • No, because in BFM it was stated that Aribella was super strong in human form.

        • also, the escape from the ranch calls for quick 5 mile sprint to the helicopter. most normal people do not talk about that length of run as if it was a jog to the end of the block

    • First I totally missed all that about Arabella perhaps being able to transform. On second read I got the hint she might be able to give Augustine a run for his money in illusion, but needing the big hole in the wall does lead credence to her being able to physically transform. That would be cool.

      I also wonder if Bern could be considered a Prime? He holds the school record for solving that puzzle. So then that would be 3 Primes in House Baylor, and perhaps 4 if you count Leon, but since it sounds like his talent doesn’t have a classification, then it might be hard to determine his level.

      • Bern was listed as a Magiesterim something or other, but I don’t know if seeing patterns can be recognized as a true magic talent.

      • and SWAT would shoot Arabella on sight, so she has to get out of there asap. So huge, scary, monstrous.

      • I think Arabella’s power is different from Augustine’s one (if we suppose that the colors Nevada saw at the end are nature of powers)

        Bern made a record with the Nebula homework and when Bug spoke about breaking through the DeamonEye (? Not sure of this name) security lock (?) (when they spoke about stealing the USB drive), it seemed that he needed Bern to do the cracking part. But we don’t have enough information I guess to know if he could be considered a Prime or not ?
        And there’s also the rank of Catalina and Nevada’s mother (I find it really hard to believe that two no Primes could produce 2 prime children)

    • I can see Nevada facing the Assembly and right as they are about to vote on House Baylor being formed, her evil grandmother stepping forward to claim them as part of her House to stop House Baylor from forming. Otherwise grandma’s house is gone when she dies as she has no heir.

      • That would be one for the Assembly records especially Rogan being there. He would make sure House Baylor is established. Now….for the evil grandmother….could Penelope just shoot her or Grandma Frida run her over with Romeo? Or Cornelius have his rats eat her up?

        • No, Penelope can’t just shoot evil grandma. In White Hot, Rogan is pretty clear that Tremaine always travels with an entourage, including an aegis, to prevent exactly that. Which is too bad. It would simplify things.

          However – and this is an interesting thing – in the early blurbs, it’s hinted that Tremaine may not have completely evil motives. So… here’s a twist. What if evil grandma is dying from some unknown malady, and instead of having to establish a new house, she hands Tremaine over to Nevada? Especially good if she does some awesome sacrificial “I realize I was horrible, now I have to make up for it by sacrificing myself to save my surviving family” deal – thus leaving Nevada in control of all the Tremaine assets and the House. Especially excellent if that happens part way into the book leaving Nevada to figure out how to run the House and deal with the fallout from that while also dealing with Rynda’s missing hubby and whatever is up with the new Caesar.

          • Mrs. Tremaine would not have tried to buy Nevada’s house if her motives were pure. Plus a House needs 2 Primes, they both have to be alive to be a house.

            • Clearly not, since Tremaine currently has only one prime – EG – and is still a House.

              The two prime rule appears to only apply when establishing a House, not maintaining one. And, frankly, I don’t see why buying her mortgage would be problematic in terms of “pure” motives – Rogan did. EG could have tried to buy it for exactly the same reasons Rogan bought it.

            • Really? I thought that it was stated that family can become House if there are at least two Primes in three generations. I am not sure if there was a “must be alive at the present time” rule.
              Am I wrong?

            • I don’t think they have to have 2 Primes alive at the same time. Just 2 in 3 generations.

            • I think that you need two primes in 3 generations to maintain a House status. But you also need two alive Primes to create the House (then, you could be the only Prime in your House after that)

      • It sounds like the Assembly doesn’t get to vote, since Augustine said tests had to be given. If the tests are passed, the House is born, imo. Tremayne could say something, probably, but she wouldn’t get away with lying and Penelope likes her “happy place”.

  5. Nevada’s sisters!!

    If what Catalina does is so rare that no one knows what it is, how do they know that she is a prime? (did not see the prime-thing coming btw – wonder what evil grandma (EG™) did to their father!)

    And what the hell is Arabella?! When Nevada is dueling with Olivia and she sort of sees everyone as colors (Catalina’s being similar to hers so I guess it’s because their magic is alike, Nevada being a truthteller and Catalina changing the ‘truths’ of the people she affects?) and Bella’s is different from the others. Wonder why EG™ would put her in a cage. Your ideas?

    • I think she is a shapeshifter. She shifts into something big and wild – thus the putting into a cage threat…

      • Yes, shapeshifter. Also, she kept having to ask the wall hole to be bigger at the compound for escape. large animal for sure. Dragon?

    • I don’t think Catalina is the Prime, I think Arabella is. Whatever Arabella’s magic is, I agree with Norbert, it must be a true transmutation as opposed to an illusion.

    • I agree with the shapeshifter theory.

      I guess that they think Catalina is a prime because of the scale and intensity of her ability, as we see in action.

      I wonder if Arabella also is a Prime. She seems to need quite a big hole to run away. Or maybe her talent is so strange that they can’t even rank her.

      • I too think it’s about the strength of Catalina’s gift. Long after she had escaped, the soldiers were still searching and crying for her. That shows her ability is possibly permanent (with enough time).

    • My guess is that being a Prime is based upon the ‘magical reserves’ that the mage has.

      This might also explain the difference in both output and resistance to the shockers that Nevada uses – when powered by the increased magical reserves of a higher class (AVG, Significant, Prime) user they do more damage and when used against less powerful classes of mages they do less damaged.

      This might explain how someone like Olivia Charles was tested as a Prime psyionic when she was really a Prime manipulator. She tested as having Prime level power/magical reserves and she was able to use enough psyionic ability to convince people that was her primary ability when it was really just her secondary ability (powered by vast magical reserves).

      • This is an interesting theory and would explain alot, but what about David Howling or other Dark Horses? How would they hide their power level?

        Maybe Olivia was able to pull it off because manipulation and psionics were two branches of the same classification?

        • it was said that David the level testing for the fuegerkinetic power several times suggesting the test does not test your magic level in general but is related to your type of magic. so if he was tested for the ice mage skill set, he could hide his power level

    • Catalina is a prime because she is able to affect a large number of people. She even affected Augustine and Rogan to some degree.

      I need re read the battle scene to see arabela.

      • Maybe Arabella justs needs a big hole so there is a lot of choice for her and Catalina’s exit? Arabella doesn’t have to be super huge when running off with Catalina.

  6. Will the next book give more explanation about the powers of Bern, Catalina, Arabella, and Leon? Can you give us a hint as to the extent of Catalina’s powers? Arabella’s?

  7. Will Nevada have a talk soon with Leon about his ability?? I stayed up late finishing the book. hope I didn’t miss reading it.
    Also, will we see more of Michael Latimer? He seemed an interesting character.

      • He cared too much about some random girl he didn’t know being abused to be a person that doesn’t care how many people he kills for power.

        • Im not sure whatever Caesar they have know they’re going to be Caesar. I was thinking Micheal Latimer too, just because it doesn’t make sense to me why he was introduced in the series otherwise. I think he will get a much bigger role in WF.

      • I’m thinking Caesar is probably someone we’ve already “met”. Maybe the super nice older guy from the Assembly who offered condolences to Cornelius?!

        • My thought also. He comes from an old family, he is respected, and even if he is sincere in his condolences it does not mean he had nothing to do with Nari’s murder.

          Also the ice mage says that their Caesar is a man of honor. And to quote what Cornelius tells Nevada.

          “Linus Duncan,” Cornelius said. “Very old, very powerful House. He used to be the Speaker of the Upper Chamber. The most powerful man in Houston. Until they drove him out.”

          “Why?”

          “Because he was honest and he tried to change the Assembly for the better,” Cornelius said.

          • I thought the same thing! I’m think Linus Duncan has decided that, since working within the system to change the Assembly hasn’t worked, he will change it from without, by any means necessary.

          • Actually, the ice mage said “…our Caesar is beyond reproach. A person of true honor.”

            Nowhere does it say that Caesar is a man. I like Linus Duncan for it, but it could easily be Leonora Jordan, who people see as a beacon of justice. We don’t know enough about her to know if she would be willing to “break a few eggs” for the greater good. If a little chaos now were needed to usher in a new era of order and justice?

            • Wow that one did not occur to me. I am leaning towards the Latimer character and wondering how the number and card will come into play

              • I was leaning towards Michael Latimer too (and for no justified reason). Just because the Scorpion Force (was it their name ? the attackers during the night) was South Africa Special Force and the bell kept ringing when I was looking at the words “American African” (Latimer is an American African…). And also because… I have a bad feeling about this guy : he was odd to me, with his kindness and worries, then, Augustine deemed him powerful and dangereous and he was surprized that Latimer cared about such things, and the fact that he was supposed to be in France…. France ._. Jules César VS Vercingétorix ? Siege of Alesia ???

                But Linus Duncan seems to fit too (he has a motive at least ?).
                And Lenora, I so hope it’s not her…. It will be tough for Nevada but a so good plot twist

            • I thought the exact same thing. We’ve seen Lenora described as a slave to justice and difficult to corrupt. She’s been in all the books tangentially and Howling says their Caeser is “A person of true honor.” I am reasonably confident that it’s her

            • I tagged Lenora for this, too. Could be wrong, but in the first, she allowed the part of the artifact to be captured (and it’s never discussed how that even happened), and in White Hot she sends the SWAT team in early. It’s enough to make me at least consider her.

            • Lenora was my pick reading the book. TBH, I didn’t even consider any of the others mentioned here, but they could be a possibility.

              • But Lenora did order the evacuation of downtown Houston in BFM. I think Pierce’s plan involved mass murder.

                • But did she order the evacuation knowing most would go into the tunnels where they would either fry or suffocate?

            • Not only that but the guy talking (the Ice Mage) has a really warped perspective on things. So…is the person truly honorable or just honorable in the revolutionary sense. I’m not sure we have met their Caeser yet.

            • I assumed that the hand with the gold ring on the index finger from the Magic frat society in BFM (Animateur Mage trying to kill Rogan with crap and nicking part of the magic amulett outside of Leonora’s office) was Caesar’s hand, and Nevada confirmed it was male.

          • That scene totally came to mind as David talked about Ceasar, but Lenora is a huge possibility (I hope not-I like how she was Nevada’s ideal when she was younger).

        • My guess is that “Caesar” is Lenora…

          BTW, since we’re in Spoilers: any one know why Dali was Kate’s bridesmaid instead of Andrea?

            • Tradition. This has been answered before.

              The bridesmaid isn’t meant to be married yet.

              • Marriage status has nothing to do with it. When the bride’s attendant is married, she is called the “matron of honor” instead of the “maid of honor.”

        • My guess for Ceasar is the DA, Nevada’s hero whose name I am currently blanking on.

      • I wondered if the older guy in the beginning that gave his condolences to Cornelius in the elevator on the way to the Assembly is Caesar? It just seemed to be a detailed description and scene to me if he was just a tertiary character.

          • I assumed Caesar was evil grandma. I don’t think they ever state it’s a male. And with her mental powers I assumed she could instill that adoration factor.

            • I too thought it might be Leonora, but now thinking about the adoration factor, it sounds more like a a power Evil Grandma might have.

              • Which would kind of go with Catalina’s gift of inspiring love. I thought it might be the the ex-head of the assembly guy, but if we have only the one last book we then have 2 major plot lines to resolve: Grandmother Tremaine and who is Caesar and how to put a stop to him/her. Would one book be enough for two such major stories? Of course it would, I trust the Authorlords to deal with both in a satisfactory way, but I have to say that I am leaning towards Tremaine/Caesar being one and the same.

                Mind you, we know what happened to the original Caesar, will the new Caesar’s allies turn on him/her as well?

                • Granny as Caesar seems a good guess, remember Augustine’s speech about how she was respected by all the houses and even his Mother would have her to lunch Plus that gives us one villain in two parts, otherwise it would be hard to finish story line. The dangerous man who offered Nevada help at the party is also suspect. Why spend so much time talking about him if he was not to be a player. Being sincere in his desire to help could hint at his sincerity to overthrow current house status for the greater good. Throughout history many atrocities have been committed for the greater good. 🙁

            • I don’t think so. It is someone from Houston. Evil grandmother is from out of state. She is only there to try to find Nevada.

      • I don’t think he’s Caesar, but I definitely think we’ll see more of him, and he’ll rally around Nevada because she fights for truth and justice. In that scene between them, I loved that Nevada thanked him (for his concern) on behalf of all women. <3

      • Am I the only one thinking Caesar is probably the EG. Why not she’s old, evil and a big powerful bitch. They could be following her if her power is similar to Nevada/Catalina combined. I could see the daughters fighting for the justice of their father like a true paladin.

        • EG is old and has no heir (until now). Why would she be trying to upset the established order? What could she gain?

      • Same!!! Especially since they all thought he’d be out of the country. But then later, I kept giving Cornelius the squint eye. Because mysterious bags and the NAME. He wouldn’t be the first person in this world to throw a family member under a bus for power *ponders*

        • If Cornelius had that many followers and that much power, his wife would not have been murdered, and he would have gone straight for the kill of the perpetrator, not involved Nevada at all. He is one of the good guys who I could see in a spin off.

        • The bags were food for rats and his true surname explains his control over rats, no ?
          Plus, there’s the bond thing (and it seems quite powerful and rare). I think he truely loves his wife, he was not eating, not sleeping, so into his revenge… If he’s a bad guy, he’s one hell of an actor (and think about Mathilda Oo’)

        • not my baby Cornelius.
          He is my Preciousssss..!! N he is so sweet with his animals.. No way, no how…
          If this happens…AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

          Sorry. I am very protective of him.

          • Also he is not a big person in the House Political drama. His family is kinda estranged. He doesn’t have much of a social standing and his grief was genuine.. Hello, Nevada Baylor is a truth seeker. He can’t lie to her.
            Cesar is above reproach. yes. But nobody gives a damn about Cornelius Harrison in this book.

    • I was wondering if Lenora Jordan was Caesar…. Nevada’s been wrong about people before.

      • That was my thought too, it was mentioned that Caesar was someone everyone would trust in an emergency. Lenora Jordan fits the bill and she is a fanatic for justice, which could go overboard.

        • While I was reading I was thinking of Lenora too because it would be a good emotional punch and the gender is carefully not said. But now thinking about it, it seems a little too obvious and sad. She is the good guy in a clear manner I lean more towards Linus Duncan as a disenfranchised “good guy”. I think it is interested that all of these bad people so revere Casear. Makes me think there is something more to him to inspire it. I can’t see David or Olivia honestly and selfishly working for the greater good.

      • I go back and forth about Lenora being Caesar. It would break Nevada’s heart, which happens a lot lately.

    • I’m with Kim R wondering about Leon and his ability. I’m waiting for Wildfire to hear Nevada’s conversation with Leon. Now that she let the cat out of the bag about her sisters, Leon can’t be far behind.

  8. I’m wondering about Leon and his emerging power. Given how delicate Bug was about showing Nevada what was happening, I’m wondering if he’s going to wind up being a Swarmer. Considering his reaction to finding out that they still owe over a million dollars, it could be his big gesture to get the family out of debt. Sign up to the military and volunteer in return for a lump sum payment to the family.

    • But those swarmers don’t have a long life expectancy 🙁 I don’t think the Baylors would be OK with that

    • Why would he consent (or even wish) to become a swarmer, when he already has his own magic ability?

      • Interesting point. I had assumed that swarmers already had a talent in that direction which was enhanced by the addition of the swarm (or whatever it is). Now that you’ve pointed it out, I’m wondering if this has ever been spelled out i either book. I may have to go back and read them again 😀

        • If I remember correctly Bug got his ability by being bound to a swarm, something they had pulled out of the arcane realm…

          • It isn’t mentioned if Bug had a previous power, only that the swarm he is bound to makes him able to split his attention.

          • But what if Bug’s inherent magical ability is what has allowed him to survive past the 2 years most swarmers live? I could see Leon choosing to follow this path and not telling the family until afterwards. Especially if Leon’s magic aligns with that of the swarms enough to not be overwhelmed/overpowered by the swarm.

            • I don’t understand why you guys think that Leon would become a swarmer…
              Their mortgage is in Rogan’s hand so there is not really a high pressure on it (and one million is actually nothing when you’re a Prime or if you become a House or if you’re force to get into the Evil Grandma’s house). I didn’t get what Leon’s power is but Nevada hasn’t put a name into it yet (she just knew what it was and that he would be coveted by a lot of people). But Bug’s is like a friend and this matter is quite important (giving the nature of the power) so maybe, he was just acting like a friend and telling her his discovery with proofs (telling Leon that he has X power when it turnswithout being 100% sure is cruel since he was waited so long for it to manifest itself)

      • It also seems that it’d be a little irresponsible to waste such a talent to the possibility of it getting over powered by a swarm. His talent alone would be very useful in combat situations and, as it has never been recorded, the military would probably try to woo him like they did Rogan when he was younger.

        • I’m confused about Leon’s magic. If he sees who will get shot next in a split second, there’s no time to warn anyone, it seems to me. And constantly telling people to shift left or right in battle doesn’t seem practical.

      • They mentioned in the first book that most people who choose to be swarmers have an illness and/or need money for their families, so they volunteer. No idea which yet for Bug.

    • If he has the ability to do what Bug does without being bound to a swarm, Rogan will snap him up in a heartbeat. Bug’s comment to Nevada about not keeping Leon from doing what he wants to do or it will drive him crazy and then the battle with Leon’s commentary makes me ponder Leon’s magic. Rogan pointed it out after the battle what Leon did, and asked how did Leon know where the bad guys were to shoot. Hmmm…..let the pondering begin. 🙂

      • I thought Bug pointed it out, and Rogan said he might be interested in Leon in about 3 years. Nevada was very much against Rogan’s suggestion.

      • I wondered if Leon is a sharpshooter prime or something, and his only option is to become an assassin.

        • I’m wondering if it’s some sort of precog/battle strategy combination at a high enough level that with practice he can anticipate an enemy attack and counter it. Agree Rogan will bring him into the business

        • Yeah, so he could work with the person he seems to admire so much xD He might not be rich, he might not be able to destroy cities, he might not be able to sing as well as Rogan, but he might be a badass fighter or strategist (I don’t know). It would be like fulfilling a wish for him, being able to be near his star *laughing*

  9. Wondering about Cornelius, what is the significance of his family’s magic predating the Osiris serum? Is he secretly a prime? In the first book, he says to Nevada that he can’t summon a stampede, but then he summons a whole dang swarm of rats.

    • The Piper of Hamelin. It’s an old fable of a piper who comes into town overrun by rats and says he can get rid of all their rats for a fee. And he does, he pipes a magical tune and the rats follow him to the river and drown. But then the townsfolk won’t pay him. So he pipes out all of their children to follow him away. So Cornelius is saying that his family is descended from the Piper of Hamelin and already had this power even before the Osiris serum came out, they just kept it a family secret.

      • Head cannon. So its old magic like the item of power from the 1st book. Hate that there is only 3 books. The fact magic is being reveled as older than the serum is so interesting

      • Gotcha! Now that you say it I remember that small detail. I listened to the audio book version since I don’t have time to read at home with my toddler, but I have desk job so I can listen all I want. It does make it a little more difficult to remember those details, and it’s not as easy to flip back, but I take what I can get lol

    • I think it may have to do with “bonding”. He fed the rats for the entirety of his stay at the warehouse so they listened to him. He’s emotionally attached to all of his animals.

  10. Am assuming Arabella transforms into some kick ass terrifying ‘demon’ alternate shape. When Augustine gave an illusion of a demon, Arabella laughed. To me that sounded like, ‘oh that’s a cute impersonation – wanna see the real thing’, but Nevada cut her off. Also interested in finding out more of Catalina’s ‘love’ powers. Extremely interesting and can definitely see the advantages and VERY dangerous disadvantages attached. That would account for why she’d need Arabella to get her out of Dodge. Nevada’s dual ability makes sense and would be quite handy given the potential dangers she would be facing in the next book. So much more to analyse – going back for a re-read.

  11. I have a theory on Arabella. When Nevada killed the “demon” then they asked Augustine if he knew who he was and he changed into it, Arabella laughed in a “ha ha isn’t he cute thinking he’s a bad@$$” way I read that as she’s actually scarier than him with her magic. Then when they found the entranced guards roaming the forest talking about a giant thing stealing the girl that further confirmed it. Now I just want to know what she actually does/transforms in to.

      • I feel like there was a scene where Nevada made mention of questioning Augustine’s Prime status. But now I can’t find it in the book. But if having a physical manifestation (like the feel of fire) isn’t a Prime ability, it’s Significant, then Arabella would be a Prime. Or there’s a new classification above Prime. Or I’m nuts and that scene never took place haha

        • What I understood is that after a certain level they are classified as prime and that there is no top limit of what a prime can be. Look at Rogan, he is a prime but the amount of power he has freaks out other primes.

  12. I would think that Leon would make a good sniper + minor precog (how else did he get a bad feeling that Rogan and Nevada would be attacked in Houston?)– he spots the all the potential targets and plots an appropriate kill pattern. It makes sense that he’s obsessed with guns — they’d be a natural extension of seeing what he could do. ALSO I’m so so glad that Nevada’s mom had a talk with all of them to have them figure out where their lines were, before we find out what Leon can actually do. It won’t be pretty.

    I’m actually of the thought that Arabella is some kind of wendigo or something – not of the mind magics family at all – cages were mentioned too often for that to not be true.

    I really really want the next book already. How will Nevada deal with the ex? Is the ex in on it? Will we see Latimer? (and how will Latimer react to Rynda?) Are there going to be follow up stories of the sisters? Can Catalina ever find love, given she’s basically the Mother Confessor and the only people immune to her power love her completely already?

    ALSO I’m really hoping that if Rogan and Nevada have little bitty primes, the telekinetics go to House Rogan and the will-based ones go to House Baylor, and the two Houses are basically tied together.

    Anyone else for Evil Grandma as Caesar? After all, Catalina’s love-me powers have to come from somewhere, right? Right?

      • Pretty massive age gap, don’t you think? Though I guess it could work in a sequel series with a massive time jump.

        Still – I love how IA can make me love with characters that I’d hate from any other author. Too good-looking, ruthless, profit-hungry, polite-on-the-surface, tried to blatantly exploit the heroine – and yet I really like Augustine.

        • Related note:

          Anyone happen to know how old the characters are?
          Nevada — 25
          Rogan — ?
          Augustine — ?
          Arabella — 15
          Catalina — 17
          Bern — ? (21?)
          Leon — 16
          Penelope — ?
          Cornelius — ?
          Matilda — 4
          Grandma Afram — 73
          Leonora — ?
          Grandma Tremaine — ? (70s)
          …am I forgetting anyone?

          • – Rogan’s senior year of college was at age 19, spent 6 years in the military, and been out of the military “4 years and 8 months” as of Burn for Me, = about age 30
            – Augustine was in same college class, but may well be 2-3 years older.
            – Grandma Frida was 72 in White Hot (Nevada’s POV), although Rogan did call her 73 with an aging tank (but not to Grandma’s face!), if she had a birthday I missed it
            – Lenora is in her “late thirties” or “about forty” from Nevada’s point of view (of course a mere man would probably recognize that there is a world of difference in those two estimates)

          • Rogan is 30 (Rynda Charles is 29 in the snippet of Wildfire, and we know from White Hot she is a year younger than him)
            Augustine is around his age – but if Rogan cooked the pancakes for his initiation in the frat, does this mean Augustine is younger than him?
            Bern is 19 I think
            Leon 15, if I remember right from Burn from me
            Penelope should be 45 – she had Nevada at 20
            Cornelius I am a bit unsure. Adam Pierce was 24 in Burn for me, if I remember right, and since Cornelius was his boyhood companion, I thought they should be around the same age, but in White Hot he’s described as in his late 20’s.

      • But what does Augustine REALLY look like? Horribly scarred, or just 8 out of 10?

      • I wonder how he looks like beneath the glamor. Not crazy about their age difference though.

        • In the real world there are relationships with bigger age gaps that are happy and last a lifetime no matter whether a male or female is the older (just look at the current French President for an example). Personally, I think it matters more whether the individuals have a chance to work at building a partnership than how different their ages are. My question would be is Catalina mature enough and know herself well enough to be an equal partner with anyone, regardless of age difference…

      • How about Cornelius thinking Catalina is shy, hardly said a word to him in the week he and Matilda stayed as house guest, even though it seems Catalina enjoyed taking care of Matilda (or other clients’ kids for that matter). Uncharacteristic of Catalina? Scared she might unconsciously her your power? 🙂 Hehehe. Joke. Don’t take this seriously.

        Actually, imagine a teenager having Catalina’s power and then having a big crush on someone, yikes talk about great responsibility. 🙂

        • I figure she gets a book of her own all about how she doesn’t know if love is true when she can make anyone love her with her magic. Remember these are in the romance section.

      • I am so glad I am not the only one low key shipping Agustine and Arabella… despite the massive age gap ahah

        • Ditto ! Augustine comes accross as a cold manipulator, but over-confident and somewhat clueless about emotions (In White Hot for ex, he’s oblivious to the fact he’s entering a house he tried to seize; he doesn’t get anyone in there could hold a grudge…) I’d looooooove to see someone like Arabella (In some years) be the brick wall that gets his attention ~

        • My husband and I are 12 years apart in age and married 34 years hoping to have 34 more years! The younger person just had to be old enough to know there own mi nd (which I think is abomiss to late 20s). You love who you love!

    • Lenora Jordan has to be the Caesar. Unimpeachable character, someone the public will trust to hold things together when it all hits the fan…

      Plus Nevada’s hero-worship thing.

      Classic set-up there.

        • I like this theory, too, especially as I feel it has to be someone we have already encountered!

        • I’d argue against Lenora for three sets of reasons:

          1) Practical: If she was Caesar, then the plan to disrupt and discredit current law enforcement by revealing their incompetence in the matter of the dead senator, she could easily have made original plan work despite the protagonists’ best efforts simply by leaking the video early.

          And back in the first book, after the fight where the gen got stolen straight out of her office and Rogan was injured, I don’t think she’d have encouraged Nevada to drag Rogan to the hospital as strongly or subtly as she did.
          2) Professional: Unlike the other Caesar suspects I’ve seen suggested, Lenora is a person who believes (and is correct to believe) that she can enact meaningful change in the system. She’s in a position of power and influence already, she doesn’t need to overturn the apple cart. I also think her sense of justice would abhor the kind of collateral damage Caesar’s crowd delights in.
          3) Personal: I like the character and don’t want it to be her.

          • I completely agree with your reasons and believe that Lenora can’t be Caesar. Not to mention: Lenora knew about that final mission to kill Olivia Charles in the end of WHITE HOT in that secret HQ. Caesar would have warned them to get out of that place. There’s no way that it can be her. Nevada’s spent enough time to have caught insincerity in wanting to catch Pierce, for example.

            • Yeah, but I think, in a masterminds point of view, Olivia Charles and the camp was already compromised. Rogan and the gang already figured them out and their identity, so I think it is easier to cut her losses and go along Rogan’s plan so they woudn’t suspect her and at the same time, she doesn’t have to do anything to “dispose” them. It’s like hitting two birds with one stone.
              And I always wondered, don’t you think they infiltrated the enemies’ camp a little too easily? I was actually expecting a little more bloodshed than that. So, maybe Ceasar already abandoned them and offer them for “slaughter”.

              • Your hitting two birds with one stone makes sense =O
                But didn’t they infiltrate the ennemy camp so easily because of Catalina ? (the point of her being there…).

            • Also, in the first book, Lenora had the artifact piece and it was “taken” – that’s never really addressed. In the second, she sends the SWAT team in early. That’s something to consider.

              • Rogan knew beforehand that the artifact would be stolen (just before they were attacked) and that it was safer with him so I didn’t really question that point. I just assumed that Lenora’s vault is not that secured, at least, not as secured as Rogan’s one
                But the SWAT team was weird

          • I agree. It seems to me that both the Pierce situation and the events of this book were originally designed to make her office, and her, look incompetent. If she were Caesar, she’d be stupid to use plans that could hurt her reputation, she would need it at the endgame. Her reputation is a threat to their plans and that is why they were designed as they were.

          • I agree too. I have someone in mind, and this is so far left field that it may not happen. What about Olivia’s son-in-law being Caesar? I read the Wildfire excerpt after White Hot, and he’s missing. Olivia’s daughter goes to Nevada for help after everyone turns her down. Just speculation on my part.

      • Lenora was also on my list of possibilities. I feel like it should be someone we’ve met already. Linus Duncan was also a possibility since he made a brief appearance for no obvious reason. I wondered if this Caesar could have an ability like Cataline’s that made people adore him. (Makes me think of the Graceling books).

        • “I wondered if this Caesar could have an ability like Cataline’s that made people adore him”. I like that thought. Mainly because after Catalina’s power was revealed, I was like “Hum. Then just put Catalina in front of Caesar when they discover his true identity and in 3 seconds, the great evil is beneath her feet, loving her”. So.. If Caesar has a power ability related to Catalina, he might be able to do something against it

      • Thank you! I’ve been waiting for someone to say that. To me the whole hero thing really sets her up for a big fall from grace in Nevada’s eyes. She also seem like someone who would want to take down the magic status quo and someone who would inspire adoration in others like she does in Nevada. She would be trusted to take over if something happened to the city. It is also convenient that Nevada and Rogan get attacked every time they visit her.

        • I hadn’t thought of the attack thing, good point! Also, there seem to be an awful lot of leaks from the DA’s office that could come from Lenora trying to manipulate the situation without blowing her cover.

      • I’ve been wondering about Lenora ever since Adam was able to retrieve the 3rd section of the eye from Lenora’s office. If she’s as powerful as we are led to believe why did she let that happen?

      • I think Caesar would have to have a power like Catalina to inspire his People So thoroughly. Therefore hè/she might be another experiment from house Tremaine (or another truthseeker family), since Catalina’s magic has the same Color as Nevada’s. And Nevada’s magic comes from house Tremaine

      • Is it possible that the “every Rome has its Caesar” comment was literal? There was a Caesar Costas in the first book who hexed the Emmons’. Someone also hexed Olivia Charles. I got the impression that it took great skill to hex someone and that not many people could do it.

    • Oooh good call! They mention how everyone seemed to love and revere Caesar but just followed orders from Olivia. That’s a good point.

    • Ooh, good point about Catalina’s power coming from somewhere and the tie-in to Grandma. Wow, layers upon layers. This series is turning into an onion. Subtle.

    • Is your Mother Confessor reference a Sword of Truth reference or something different? Because Terry Goodkind’s Mother Confessors aren’t loved, they’re feared. And their powers more closely align with Nevada’s Truthseeker powers.

      • Side note: The same thing occurred to me as I was reading!! In that scene when Nevada feels so alone because she is feared by everyone around her — really brought back the role of Mother Confessors in The Sword of Truth series to me. (Especially given the “sword of truth” + “seeker of the truth” combo, and how the Seeker is the guardian of the Confessor…right? May not be remembering this correctly — read the books AWHILE ago!) In any case, such a coincidence! (Or was it…?!?)

      • But the reason Terry Goodkind’s Confessors were feared was because they could make you love them so unconditionally and so completely that you would say or do anything to please them. Which is much like Catalina’s power to compel love.

        Not saying that there aren’t parallels between the Mother Confessor and Nevada (there are!), but I can also see why someone drew the connection with Catalina’s power to compel love.

  13. Loved this book! Especially love the interactions between all the characters and how everyone is built on, and how much effort Nevada put into her own skill building between books. I felt like the powers for the cousins/sisters were a little out of the left field – I guess I hadn’t expected them all to be such big magic players since the only one really discussed in Burn for Me other than Nevada was Bern. Looking forward to seeing what they do in House Baylor, or if they’ll somehow take over House Tremaine.

    Side note – is anyone else highly suspicious of Rynda Charles? I wonder if Nevada is finally meeting her match in someone who can trick her previously unparalleled lie detector skills.

    • Yeah I felt like the powers were out of left field too. I need to go back and reread bc I don’t remember them talking about any of the kids powers, just the adults like her mom.

      • I agree with this feeling. We’re assuming Catalina is the other Prime? (I don’t remember if Nevada actually SAYS she is.) I’m having a hard time reconciling Nevada’s “distaste” for Primes with knowing her sister is one. And where would the transformative magic from Arabella come from? I’m thinking it has to be more illusion, like with Augustine, since her parents’ lines are mind magic types.

        • Catalina announced that she is a Prime to Nevada, who replied back that she was as well. This was when she was talking Nevada into letting her go on the raid.

          • I’m coming, Nevada. You can’t stop me.”
            “Yes, I can. You’re a minor.”
            Catalina raised her chin. “I’m a Prime.”
            “So am I.”
            “Yes, Yes, we’re all special,” Arabella said. 🙂 🙂 🙂

            Arabella will be so BFF with Julie Lennart.

        • Nevada just said there was “more than one” living Prime in her immediate family. I don’t recall that she ever specified how many more than one. 🙂 All the Baylor family abilities seem to be really strong, so I wouldn’t be surprised to discover (hopefully in Wildfire) that there are multiple Prime and/or Significant level Baylors. Which would be kind of a kick in the butt to the Houses, since for all their selective breeding they don’t seem to be able to produce more than 1 or 2 Primes in a generation.

          I think Nevada’s distaste for Primes has more to do with the lifestyle, expectations, worldview, sense of entitlement, etc. of the majority of Primes, and with House politics, than with the level of power. After all, she idolizes Lenora Jordan and I’m pretty sure she is a Prime.

        • We don’t know for sure about Grandma Frida or what was done to create James Baylor.

      • Same. Was a little off for me. Hope we get more development of the younglings powers in the next book!

      • I think there was really not much space in the first book to expound on the magical abilities of Nevada’s sisters and cousins, with all the world building and introduction going on. The second book was really the perfect place to develop the secondary characters. Besides, the series is named the “Hidden Legacy” right? Which is, almost certainly now, referring to the Prime heritage of the Baylor sisters from their paternal grandma. You can’t reveal those hidden legacies in the first book. 🙂

        • I just assumed “Hidden Legacy” had to do with the fact that they know nothing about their fathers family. The business was their father’s legacy, but the hidden legacy was strong magic. We now know who their other grandmother is, and that she is a prime truthteller and head of a house. But there is still the exact circumstances of his birth. There was some pretty hardcore foreshadowing that it will be significant, and may explain Arebella’s left field power.

      • In the first book when they are at dinner, talking about Arabella pulling on that other kids jersey. Nevada mentions at least no one got hurt. I took that to mean Arabella, who doesn’t sound very big can hurt someone pretty severely. Then later on she mentions that Arabella is really strong. So I just assumed she had magic. And since the rest of the family does I concluded that Catalina probably did too. As far as her problem with primes, I just assumed that’s like most idealists, dreaming of fairness. After all, let’s face it, if Elon Musk was poor and this was 50 years ago, and acted half as crazy as he does sometimes, well people would want to commit him. He’s just lucky this is the age of the geek. Like my mom says, there is no fair.

        • Actually, as I was told by a wise person, ” there are only two kinds of fair in this world – state and county”. Then she proceeded to tell me to wrap my head around it and move on….she was a good friend.

    • Here’s the thing- nevadas mom said the grandmother did stuff to try and get a magical child, but her son, nevadas dad, had no magic. I think they genetically tinkered with him, and while he never presented with magic, his genetic line all presented as Primes. Rogan even mentions how there is all kind of testing to see who would be a match for your child. She probably took it further and had illegal genetic testing done. Just a thought I had since it seems it would be unheard of for every child to have such strong magic.

      • It is mentioned that certain gene lines don’t mesh well. So if you have too many different skills overlapping they may end up suppressing each other. Once the genes independently sort in the kids, then you end up with weird new powers.

        • So this begs the question: what the heck is going on in Gandma Frida’s line? Because Leon also has this crazy what-the-fuckery (in Bug’s description) going on. So the random talents are coming from Grandma Frida’s genes too. Is it something from her time in the military? Was there genetic manipulation from both sides of the family?

          • I think the military tradition plays into Grandma Frida’s line. One uncle shot well under stress. Mom is a sniper. Grandma taps into weaponized machines. So I’ll bet whatever Leon has ties into that somehow.

            • My take is that Leon takes after Grandpa Leon (and Nevada’s 2nd power) and just ups the power level. So if they were Normal, he’d be at least Significant.

              • In the FAQ for Hidden Legacy it is stated that Bernard & Leon’s magic take after Grandma Frida (this may have changed since the writing of the faq though) I’m more worried about Leon’s moral flexibility that Rogan mentions – it reminds me of the assassin character in Grosse Pointe Blank.

                “9. How come Magic in the Baylor family appears in so many forms?
                You’ll just have to read and find out. I can tell you that Penelope shares magic with her father. Grandma Frida’s husband was a sharpshooter. Penelope’s sister also has the sniper magic, but a different variation of it. Grandma Frida’s talent skipped a generation and returned in Bernard and Leon. Their computer magic is a variant of Grandma Frida’s bond with all things mechanical.”

                • Would anyone please spell out what is Leon’s moral flexibility in from their viewpoints?

                  Also, does Leon’s running commentary about the people who were about to die in battle have any relationship to what the people themselves were actually like?

                  • To me, his moral flexibility lies in the fact that he can narrate their death in a humorous way while not seemingly affected by it. Just think, this is a 16 y/o making fun of people dying in pretty bloody ways.

                    • Okay. Agreed the lack of empathy, and bent toward expedient solutions Leon shows before Penelope gives the what makes a man speech is disturbing. Stunted empathy? The word flexible just bugs me.

        • That, right there, is why Rogan suggests that if Nevada forms House Baylor, they should break off their relationship. How advanced are birth technologies in this world? I can imagine Nevada carrying a clone of Rogan, and then one of her, so their houses would have another generation of guaranteed primes. I can’t imagine that she would agree to break off relations with someone she loves. As long as she could have children who were going to have the required amount of magic, there would be no need to do something that traumatic.

          • I haven’t seen anything in the books so far to suggest that they have highly advanced medical technology such human cloning.

            • Evil Grandma used some sort of technology to have James — and it’s implied he was a genetic construct of some sort, which is a LOT more advanced than simple cloning.

          • I don’t think Nevada would care about the rank of her child’s magic. And Rogan didn’t lie to her when she asked him her question about loving a child without the Prime rank. The only worries I have are more about the child’s feelings (like Kelly or Harper). And if Nevada makes a House Baylor, there would be enough Primes in it to keep the House status (I think)

          • Did you pay attention to the rubber band theory thing with Nevada and Leon? They are still “close” enough in time to the Osiris serum that many events are still parallel to current technology. Though the United Tribes in Dakotas is a huge change in the timeline, but that was minor detail in book 1.

            So I assume technology is our standard. That would include all medicine. Though a gifted person could be quite useful in an ER.

          • This presupposes they want their House or Houses to continue as Houses after their generation.

      • I thought that too about the paternal grandmother doing genetic tinkering since she had to have done AI with a surrogate since she could not carry a child to term. How ‘unfortunate’ for her that he escaped her custody and successfully escaped her monitoring. But you have to remember that Nevada’s maternal line has magic too. Look at her mother Penolope and grandmother Frida and grandfather Leon. Then look at her mother’s sisters children Bern and Leon who may or may not have been adopted by Baylors after whatever happened to Aunt happened. She might be in jail or she might be elsewhere but Nevada and her sisters love their male cousins like siblings no matter their legal status. Yes, I am curious to see what Catalina and Arabella’s ‘talents’ are but I am sure they are also primes in at least one aspect of their talents. I suspect that Leon is like grandfather Leon was and Rogan’s people would be good trainers for him. Since no one mentions whether he or his brother’s bio fathers were mages, it is difficult to know whether he is a prime or not.

      • It could also be that she had no idea what to look for. Consider Leon’s ability – until this book, and in a specific situation, no one thought he had magic at all. It could be that Nevada’s dad’s magic was like that – something subtle that didn’t trip the triggers for the things evil grandma was trying to find.

        It makes me think of that Xanth novel – A Spell for Chameleon? – in which the main character’s magical ability is that magic can’t harm him. For ages everyone thinks he doesn’t have magic. Like that.

    • Yes. Read Wildfire’s excerpt at the end of White Hot. It gives some information about the next book.

    • I feel that the family’s magic is all out of wack because of the things that EG did to Nevada’s dad.

    • And, thankfully, we only have to wait less than 2 months to find out!!! ;D

  15. Honestly, and this is a long shot, but when Nevada and Cornelius where going to the Assembly and the old prime, Linus Duncan, gets on the elevator and was upset over House Forsberg doing nothing, I had the thought that he could be the mastermind behind it all, the Caesar. Why introduce him otherwise unless he will play a more important role in the next book.

    • Ohhh, I had forgotten that mentioned character. I loves the scenes with everyone wearing Capes!!

    • Linus Duncan would make an excellent puppet-master. No one would suspect him.

      I thought the same. Caesar inspired love and loyalty, and Linus does both. My dark horse pick was Evil Granny.

      We’ll have to wait and see.

      • I don’t think so, because Nevada got the honesty vibe from him when he expressed his condolences to Cornelius…

        • He can be sincere in his condolences and and still have had something to do with it. As long as he doesn’t directly say he had nothing to do with it, it wouldn’t matter.

          As for the Lenora theory, it seems like a long shot to my mind. Otherwise, why would the video have waited for release until they walk into the office, it could’ve been released as soon as she got it and she could’ve claimed her system had been hacked. I would’ve made her look incompetent, but the whole setup was designed to make her look that way. To my mind, Lenora’s as much a target of this conspiracy as Nevada and Rogan, but they don’t need to kill her, but to discredit her. Her reputation is the threat.

          Really looking forward to Wildfire and finding out which theories are correct, if any.

          • So if he believes something whether it is true or not would Nevada sense that as true?

            I am thinking of something from Patricia Briggs where Anna and Charles are discussing Arthur and his delusion that he is the once and future king. I know that is using physiology to determine lies from truth.

            There could be parallels though Nevada has been able to pick up partial truths at least a few times.

            Also the time spent with him was short. He could have felt compassion even when ultimately responsible. Especially if the greater good that he envisions requires the sacrifice. He kind of sounds psychopathic when I put it that way.

            • Well and we know that if someone believes something to be true that Nevada registers it as true.

              I’m thinking of in the prologue how the evil child killer said “I didn’t do anything wrong” and Nevada thought true he really believes that…..

              So that seems to imply that if someone believes something to be true it registers as true.

              • No. The serial killer believes he has done nothing wrong, and that registers as true until she starts asking questions, at which time his answers show as lies.

        • The pedophile also told her the truth when he said he didn’t hurt little kids. HE believed that.

  17. I love White Hot – there are so many great ideas in there! I really liked Rogan buying up the whole neighborhood and turning it into a military camp. I loved the action in general.

    But my favorite scene that hat me laughing out loud was the ferret / badger “Mission Impossible”. I want more of this in the next book!

    Minor gripe: I think Nevada was leveling up a bit fast in this book – on the other hand, she kind of has to if the story arc is to be finished in book three…

    • I know what you mean!! My favorite is when both primes were scoffing the idea that these animals could do anything, but 10 minutes in they are both in their phones making sure it couldn’t happen to them.

      • I about choked on a cup of tea during that scene. My Husband patted my back but said “Don’t you spoil me! I have two other books to finish before I can read this one.”

        Yes, my Hubby reads romance, but ONLY Ilona’s romance books.

        • Yes! While I didn’t sell him on the Romance of the book series, his love for the KD series had him at least giving it a shot. Granted when I told him we had to wait over a year for the 2 and 3, he told me never to do it to him again, where he had to wait so long to continue a story. LOL

        • I Love the scene with Dr. Arias,“You dragged him out. Somehow, you managed to pull him thirty yards across the floor and up two flights of stairs. His back and ass are one long bruise with a helping of concrete road rash, so his dreams of being a nude model are shattered for a while.”

        • This scene – and Augustine being so derisive about being in a Disney movie – was beautiful. I laughed hard at how discomfitted both Augustine and Rogan were, and Nevada is all .. yup. told you so.

        • I got mine hooked on Ilona Andrews first and then Meghan Ciana Doidge while he waited for Ilona Andrews books 🙂

      • Did anyone else die laughing when Rogan picked up his phone and told his security head to put pressure sensors in the dryer vents? ROFL

        I would dearly love to see this whole ferret scene in a movie.

  18. Did anyone else have a problem with the graphic sex scene? I wonder if that’ a mandate from the publishers, that it’s required for their romance line. Otherwise, it just seems out of the blue, and very jarring for the flow of the book. Oh, not that there’s sex, just that it was so very graphic. I don’t have a problem with that, per se, I just wasn’t expecting it for this book. Same for the end of the last Innkeeper book. It didn’t seem in line with the feel of the rest of the book. Or maybe I’m out of line here.

      • And, they were both picking up on feelings from each other, not just during the sex scenes, but also on the cistern and afterwards. Interesting, no?

    • I don’t have a problem with that, I actually enjoyed reading it. I have been waiting for this moment forever so I think it fit well, I’d probably feel disappointed if it had been toned down, it needed to be wild.

    • I thought it was fun.

      Anyone else laugh out loud when Nevada thought “OMG, I may need both hands.”?

      • I wondered afterwards if autorlords sit down and discuss how large certain pieces of anatomy are supposed to be 🙂 Now I am curious about Rogan…

      • I was laughing like a mad girl and suddenly, there was that emergency situation that came out of nowhere and I wanted to shout xD

    • Compared with some other authors it is not THAT graphic; it is only more explicit than in other Ilona Andrews books. I, for one, loved it and I felt the making-out and sex scenes fit well into the flow of the narrative…

      • I though Nevada was having erotic thoughts about Rogan very frequently throughout the book, which is fine, and the final coming together matched that.

    • I felt like their sexual tension was so built up in the first book that it had to be a more graphic sex scene. But yes, overall more explicit than other books – although the Kate and Curran scenes aren’t always super PG either.

    • Nope. I feel their sex scenes are important to the plot. I feel the KD and Curran scene in book 4 was pretty hot, and just like with this one, the readers have been waiting for it to get to that point organically. If their books start turning into LKH, then that’s too much sex.

      • I agree, the buildup required their first sexual “session” to be hot. With what they’ve been through together, and where they are now in their relationship, to have it be any less would have been “off.” Rogan’s ego is off the charts. He’d already insinuated to Nevada she couldn’t handle him. That they finally got together, and it seemed to me, they were on equal ground there, I thought it was exactly what it should be.

        I liked almost as much as the sex scene, that Rogan kissed her in front of her family. That was a big statement for both of them.

      • I can’t see the author’s going LKH. They have far too much imagination to go that road. I agree the sex scenes are part of the story line and not out of place at all.

        • Oh I agree. I wasn’t trying to imply they might go that route. They are so talented and creative. I was just trying to post an example of gratuitous sex, and say that IA books never have it.

      • I don’t see that happening. Lkh turned into plot hunt between sex scenes…. Ilona has more hehe how many twists can I take and ih well its time for them to get together. Far less erotica and mire action adventure

      • Published by Avon, supposed to be a romance. I thought the sex scenes were done tastefully. I don’t hv hormones anymore, so I just skip over that part anyway. LOL.

      • I used to love LKH, but the sex just got out of hand. The books got to sex scenes with a little story to tie them together.

        • Can’t remember what the last LKH book was that had an actual story line to it, seems like aeons ago (sometime before Anita “caught” the ardeur)

          • Crap. I meant to agree about “if they go LKH”, not imply this sex scene was badly written.

        • same here. and then the descriptions of how beautiful everyone was just got ridiculous and so repetitive. and then any pretense at a plot went out the window. I still try to read her stuff, but I get it from the library, and spend most of my time rolling my eyes. it makes me sad.

    • I believe, Ilona mentioned somewhere that Hidden Legacy would be more graphic than other novels of them. I liked it as I liked everything about this book. I’m sooo looking forward to Wildfire. 🙂

    • NO I did not have a problem with sex scene as I thought was natural continuation of story and not out of place. I actually expected it so I was glad to see my expectations met. I have a sib that reads C. Feehan and C. Harber and sends books on to the rest of us sibs. Personally I find those to be graphic sex scenes and soft porn which my sib finds hilarious because I have to flip thru pages to find and pick up story line which I did not have to do here. I have another sib who reads regency romances only and she prefers that I put a post it bookmark at beginning and end of sex scenes so she can just skip those pages when she gets book shipment after me. *grin*
      Personally I enjoy the wit and twists and imagination and word play and character progressions etc in Ilona Andrews works. I also enjoy Gordon’s male POVs as those flesh out the story and sometimes answer things I am wondering about. So, I am patiently waiting on Wildfire (yes I pre-ordered on amazon) to see where Nevada and Rogan’s story goes.

      • Actually, one of the things I liked best about the sex scenes is the emotional feedback-loop they Nevada and Rogan experience, even though I am quite sure I read something along those lines, i.e. the feedback-loop, in another book, just can’t remember where…

        • The “feedback-loop” makes me wonder about Nevada ancient empathy…. It reminded me of Charley and Reyes’ sex scenes from Darynda Jones’s series.

          • Was Nevada supposed to feel the feedback too of the tactile power ? I was a little bit confused about that point (she seems to be really attuned to Rogan and his projections, in an abnormally way. But I just thought that it was because of their feelings towards each other… Now, I’m not so sure)

        • Lindsay Sands’ Argeneau Inmortals series refers to the feedback loop in true mates.

    • I thought they were fun and well done…

      Wonder what will Iron and Magic, (Hugh’s book) will contain if the AL’s already told us “it is a very violent book with a lot of explicit sexual content, because that’s how Hugh rolls.”

  19. Loved the book and re-reading it again. Thank you, thank you, thank you…
    While I love everything that is revealed in the book, I’m curious how the Baylor sisters and Bern have kept their magic hidden. Nevada’s motivation to keep it hidden is she doesn’t want to work as an interrogator for anyone. But teenagers having such cool magic in a world where magic is currency and keeping it hidden is impressive. Especially since they didn’t know about evil grandma.

    • Yes! Especially with how heavily involved with social media they seem to be – Nevada warns them every time not to post things. I can’t imagine how they kept it under wraps.

      • Maybe they didn’t, not completely? Maybe that’s how EG knee so fast which company to try and buy when the business with the mortgage comes up. Remember how they get news at the end about who made the buy attempt? And they hadn’t expected it to be EG.

        • Evidently Rogan’s company had a no-buy note on that mortgage, otherwise Evil Grandma would probably be evicting them immediately.

      • I remember in the first book Nevada recalled that her parents warned her about her magic and the repercussions if people found out about it. When I read about the sisters also having magic, my thought was that they too had been strongly warned about keeping their magic under wraps. As for Bern, I don’t think he’s a prime, he’s just a very good hacker.

      • The line where one of the sisters ends up in a cage sounds like it has been repeated a few times in that household. Catalina on the other hand will get ripped apart if she is to use her magic because she can’t disengage. Bern is not really hiding with his school record being what it is, he probably just never bothered to test his magic level

    • Keep in mind that for Catalina, she has problems “disengaging” the magic and if she uses it too long, the objects of that magic want to literally tear her apart. That’s a pretty big incentive to keep it under wraps.

      Similarly, if Arabella turns into a giant whatever, there’s a real threat of capture and caging – also a good incentive to keep it under wraps.

      Bern doesn’t so much keep it under wraps as… distract people from it by using his insular/introvert geek persona.

      • How do they know about Catalina’s problem with disengaging and the consequences?

        How could practice that safely without anyone knowing?

        Also is there a passive field with her gift? Something that happens without thinking about it?

        • An incidence must have occured in the past, something serious enough that the two little sisters’s powers are so “guarded” by Nevada (it feels like they are not allowed to use their powers for their own protection)
          Nevada praticed her magic on her family (and they go to the length of being knocked into unconsciousness). So maybe, Catalina does the same (We know that Nevada and Arabella are immune to it because they are sisters. But… Are Leon and Bern immune to it ?)

  20. I’m wondering about the binding between spouses. It is mentioned a couple of times.

    • I think this only happens to animal mages. Bc they can’t bond like regular people (I had to go back and reread that part) in book 1 when he discussed his family and their disinterest of him and his life, it makes more sense now.

      • As Rogan explained it, it seems a thing for animal mages. But on the other side, Rogan admits that Nevada was “attuned” to his projections, when she experiences his nightmares.
        And Nevada manages to reach him during the Ascension at the end of Burn for me, a thing that not even Rogan’s mother, a Prime telepath, could do, according to evil cousin Kelly.

      • In the Wildfire teaser chapter, Rynda says of her husband, “We are bound, he and I.” So if the phrase has an additional meaning, it is not just the animal mages.

        • It would kinda makes sense for Rynda to be able to have a binding with her husband because she’s an empath. The animal mages’ binding is kind of like empathy.

    • I wondered about that too. It seems like something between primes. Somehow Nevada has become attuned to Rogan.

      • I noticed that Nevada experienced Rogans feelings in the sex scene.. so I guess they did bond- maybe a sideline of the telepathic abilities both have.

        • Rogan picked up on Nevada’s thoughts about him being a dragon, and Nevada had a dream about the cave in either in South America or Mexico (can’t remember which one). So…..they are bonding or have bonded.

          • Though in Burn for Me, he said that he can’t read thoughts though he usually doesn’t need to.

            Then in White Hot Nevada warns Cornelius that he can and then Rogan reads dragons from Nevada.

            • Oh yeah, and when she thinks of dragons and peasants he clicks his teeth. I lost it.

  21. If the trilogy won’t end as such, will there be books from Arabella, Catalina, Bern and Leon’s POVs? I’d love to have each of them getting a book or series.

  22. So many good point you all make! I am now slightly embarrassed I took ‘dual’ as in to HAVE a dual ?. Oops.

    I loved all the talent reveals so much. I also wondered if Evil Grandmother’s messing with her son’s mind when he was young led eventually to his brain cancer which may motivate / empower Nevada to destroy her Grandmother. Otherwise I can’t see how Nevada will face Tremaine and her talents though Nevada always comes up with surprising solutions.

    The book has entirely been worth the wait and we are lucky that the next is coming so soon ?

    • I didn’t think he had brain cancer — i thought it was nerves along the spine. Still I could see her fiddling with him — possibly even whatever it was to get him to be born — having caused the issue and fuel Nevada

    • I’m pretty sure the prospect of killing of Frida and Penelope, enslavement of Catalina and putting Arabella in a cage have Nevada very motivated already. Although her dad’s cancer will help, as will Rogan.

      If House Baylor is formed (a pretty sure bet, imo) Nevada will have some breathing room.

    • Ooh!!!! Good catch! And horrible, if true. How does magic affect these people physiologically anyway? I wonder if Primes (and significants) have shorter lives /develop health issues.

    • Ooooh yes.. I bet Evil Grandma DID have something to do with James’ cancer and eventual death.. with the genetic tinkering or whatever

    • The cancer Nevada’s dad had affects the peripheral nerves, not the brain. I’m not saying that it couldn’t be a rather nasty sequela of the genetic tinkering, but just being medically picky/pedantic… Interestingly, MPNST in the Real World may have a genetic component, since it is seen more commonly in Neurofibromatosis Type 1, which is caused by a gene mutation on chromosome 17.

  23. I have a theory about James, Nevada’s father. It was mentioned that the grandmother Tremaine “did things” so he was able to be born and specifically with an ability yet it didn’t work the way she wanted. I’m guessing he actually did have an ability that affected family member’s, or people he was in close proximity with, who were young in developing stronger and more unique magical abilities. Nevada became a Prime truthseeker, Catalina has a Prime ability not yet labeled (maybe Siren?), Arabella is hinted at having some sort of illusion or summoning ability not yet classified (probably prime or significant if she was being cocky to Augustine yet they, Nevada and Catalina, didn’t refer to her being a prime when they were talking about forming a House), and finally Leon has another talent that hasn’t been recorded before yet is most likely going to be very strong. Even Bern has an ability that is very strong yet we don’t know the rank of. We don’t have a lot of information about Bern and Leon’s genealogy other than Grandma Frida, the grandfather and their children, yet Penelope’s lack of magical ability (it seems like she is an Average or Notable) would lead to us believing that the strength or the characters powers don’t originate from her or the maternal side of the family. I would have said it was just something that was different in James’ genetics from the experimental circumstances of his birth if not for Leon’s unseen ability. But eh that’s probably just me reading to far into things and running with it 🙂 Absolutely loved the book, everything unfolded and was revealed at the right time to coincide with the fantastic plot. I can’t wait until Wildfire comes out!

    • James is not related by blood to Bern or Leon. That would be icky. However, we know NOTHING about their fathers. And Penelope’s sniper ability is extra special, from Grandpa Leon.

    • Cool theory! My guess is that the “experiments” Victoria did means that James doesn’t have a real father. She probably spliced the DNA of several different Prime males with different magical talents (I read too much sci-fi!). Because of that, he became latent (remember Rogan’s assumption that a child of different magical lineages wouldn’t be powerful) and had no magic. But for some reason, all his kids have magic (and Catalina and Arabella have weird, unknown types of magic).

      • I thought this myself and think it maybe the case. I’m curious to see who steps up as a prime with Nevada.
        I question Bern and Leon too. Bern appears to be a hacker but Freda “talks” to machines. I believe he talks to compters/electronics. I’m wondering if, with practice manipulation. They’re so many wild cards.

    • Here’s something else to add: Leon is supposedly some kind of precog, Leon’s mother was know to sleep around, Baranovsky is said to have a bastard that no one has seen…

    • I like the idea of calling Catalina’s type of magic sirens or some variation thereof.

  24. Has anyone figured out what day the 2nd book ended on? Rough calculations has it as Christmas Eve…. but it also could have been that there was a shift in calendar.

    I know Rogan said he already bought her a present and I’m hoping it is something shiney that goes on a finger, but then he already has the USB drive for her to make House Rogan… which I guess he could have had his people put together or did it while she was supposed to break the news with her family….

  25. Is it only me, or does Catalina have a major crush on Cornelius?

    She is so insistent that she wants to protect him and Matilda, and then when they take fort, Cornelius is surprised of her power, and comment that she is so shy, that she has barely spoken to him.

    • I’m with you in the long run, definitely seemed like she was more attuned to him and Matilda. But coming on the heels of his wife’s death, not to mention the age gap, I don’t think it’ll be a major player in the next book…(books??).

      • I don’t think so! He’s twice her age. I think Catalina is in general shyer than Arabella, maybe because she’s afraid of her magic unintentionally influencing people (this is pure conjecture on my part). She’s very attached to Matilda (in the book, she’s always chasing Matilda around) so any protectiveness of that family is due to Matilda.

      • Do we know how old he is? Because I can board this ship. It seems less predatory than the Catalina-Augustine one someone suggested upthread. Though it would be great if she meets boys her own age and goes from there.

        • I agree that there could potentially be something between Catalina and Cornelius, since he thought she was so quiet. Waiting for Wildlife.

        • not sure, but wasn’t it mentioned Cornelius was only in his late twenties? He has to be roughly the same age as Adam Peirce…

          • You’re right actually. They may only be ten years or so apart. Adam is not very old. Cornelius could have married young and had Matilda right away.

        • There’s nothing wrong with a teenage girl having an innocent crush on an older man. It’s only predatory if Cornelius or Augustine act on it, which they have not in any way and seem pretty oblivious to it.

          I don’t get the creepy vibe from either man that they would become predatory to the younger girls.

          The authors may just be hinting at something that is going to happen down the road when the girls are young women. Or maybe not :), we’ll have to wait and see.

      • This is an interesting thought, Catalina and Cornelius as a possible future couple. The age difference isn’t THAT severe (10 years or so, give or take), but I’d want to wait a few years, at least until she’s in her early to mid twenties, for anything to develop. Right now she’s just a teenager and he’s mourning his late wife. With him coming on board at the agency, that gives them plenty of time for interaction down the road.

        Magically they might work out. Catalina’s power causes people to love her to the point of obsession and death (am I the only one that thinks it’s irresponsible not to get her enough magical training to learn to tone that down and/or control it so that she can live a halfway normal life?) but Cornelius’ power makes it difficult if not impossible to form normal attachments to human beings. Is it possible he might have some innate resistance to her magic and/or her magic might be strong enough to overcome his resistance to bonding with other people?

    • I didn’t detect any crush.

      I am happy that Cornelius is being folded into the Baylor tribe. They accept him and his animals (and his daughter), and working for Nevada will keep him busy and may help him heal.

      Nevada is like Kate in that she collects people. They are drawn to her honor and goodness, and she will ALWAYS figure out a way to protect them, so her circle of friends and family just keeps getting bigger.

    • I just thought she seemed to like kids bc she also took care of Rynda`kids but honestly Im not a fan of that ship…

    • Hmmmm, now that you mention it, I have to agree. It would be such a sweet story line too!

  26. I absolutelly loved it! And as about questions; does Catalina have a “passive” aspect of her power? If yes, then what is it and how does it work? And why is Arabellas’ power so different? Is she also a Prime?

    • Given the fact that “charming” that large a group didn’t exhaust her, I think the charm may BE the passive field, and she has to work to contain it. Which leads to the question of what the active vector would be. o.O

      • Oh geeze, just pictured her as the elven queen off LOTR when offered the Ring. “All shall love me and despair. “

      • That is what I’m thinking. Also the beguiling doesn’t require a circle or power glyphs which indicates a passive talent. But that means that her active could be extremely important.

  27. I’m really curious about Ceaser’s talent. He would have to be a prime. And he gets suspiciously strong loyalty. That makes me wonder if it’s similar to Catalina’s love talent. And if his has a down side similar to hers.

    • It makes me wonder if they’re related somehow… Catalina & Ceasar. On the one hand, I think we’ve met Caesar, and he’s either Linus Duncan or Michael Latimer. I could buy into Leonora Jordan as Caesar, but it would take some convincing. I could also (and more easily) see Augustine on the side of the bad guys — maybe trying to woo Rogan and Nevada with wondering aloud if they’re on the right side. I like the idea of genetic splicing (“did things”) better than thinking that maybe James Baylor wasn’t the father of all three girls (my thoughts before I read this page). I also think EG can’t be Caesar — toooooo Evil — but can be on that team.

      • I can’t see Augustine as Caesar at all >.< And he considered Rogan as his best friend. If he's Caesar, it's another betrayal for Rogan and it's… just awful. I can't see his motive. Chaos is not good for business

      • Being on the side that is not trying to kill you — the only side that is possible. There is nothing going to convince then to join up with the Romans after all those assassination attempts.

  28. Oh and please, will there be a “meeting-future-mother-in-law” scene for Nevada? I’m really curious about Rogans’ mother. 😀

    • here here! Here here! That would be awesome, especially given how much Rogan clearly loves his mom.

      I’m curious what finally knocked his dad off, assassination attempts or a heart attack?

    • Yes, me too. I find surprising that we didn’t see one yet because Rogan is supposed to be close with his mother.

      • I think she was close to Connor, but can’t handle Mad. She is an empath so the darkness in him now probably scares her.

  30. I think that all those people who were born from magical parents but don’t seem to have magic are not duds (like her father and ryndas son Kyle (in wildfire excerpt)) they just have a different type of magic that was previously unknown. Like Leon, if that very specific situation hadn’t presented itself, they would still think he had no magic. Her mom mentions her father not being able to handle crowds, paranoia, and a compulsion to fix things. I figured he had some sort of magic they just didn’t understand.

    • I had figured it was a side effect of Tremaine’s pulling his mind apart like cotton candy on a daily basis. I was astounded he had a functional mind of any sort after that, but if it was simply compounding issues caused by latent or unknown magical abilities….interesting.

    • I figure that sometimes a secondary ability goes into hiding and then has the potential to pop out full strength in a later generation. Theory : a technomancer like Grandma Frida would be useful to a nursary when they started because it would be cheaper to have someone in-house fix vehicles that broke down. But once the money starts flowing that ability isn’t bred for. So a child generations later might not trigger around plants or psychically but show him cool vehicles…

  31. So many good questions!!!

    I’ve definitely wondered if Tremaine’s experiments on Nevadas’s father caused the massive differences in his children’s magics. I’ve also wondered if the trauma to his brain caused his cancer.

    With all the differences in Bern and Leon’s magics, I wonder if the family was levelling up in power already? Then adding a House bloodline just made it happen faster?

    The dual comment makes me very curious…

    When Nevada sees everyone’s magic as a colour. Is that a usual Truthseeker ability?

  32. I’m seeing loads of speculation about Caesar…am I alone in thinking it’s Cesare Costa?

  33. I have a silly question…was Sgt. Teddy in the first book? Or is he familiar because of a snippet teaser? Love that character…love, love, Love the series.

    • He’s familiar because of a snippet from a while back! The snippet was from the first chapter of WILDFIRE.

    • Snippet from Wildfire included Sgt. Teddy (and also at the time made me ponder what Nevada was doing visiting Rogan’s personal military base — which is now clear, she was simply crossing the street from home!)

    • When Nevada finds out about Rogan buying all the land and her mortgage, and the next morning they wake up and there’s a white line and the military base is now fully woken up? SGT Teddy is in that description.

  34. 1) How is House Tremaine still considered to be a house if there is only one prime (Victoria)? I thought you needed two primes in three generations to be a “house.” WHITE HOT says: “There were three in the continental United States, and House Tremaine was the smallest and the most feared. It had only one Prime: Victoria Tremaine.”

    2) Are Bern and Leon’s last names “Baylor?” Did Penelope and James officially adopt them?

    3) What is the level of Bern’s magic? Significant, notable, average, minor?

    4) Rogan says that two primes from different magical realms (e.g. telekinesis and truthseeking) will probably result in non-prime kids. But why is that? Why wouldn’t the kids just have one parent’s magic? Why would it mean a reduction in magical talent?

    5) Is Caesar someone we’ve never met before or has he appeared in the first two books? 😀 I predict the answer will be “read the next book!’

    • From what I understood you have to have those Primes to “start” a House. And until it runs out of them compleatly it is still considered one.

      • I don’t think that’s true though. Here are some quotes I found: they imply that if at any time there AREN’T two primes then they lose status immediately.

        QUOTE

        Finding the right person to marry and producing a gifted child dominated everything Primes did. In our world, magic equaled power, and the Primes feared losing power more than anything. “If there is no wife, then there is no heir and his family will lose the House designation.” A family had to have at least two living Primes in three generations to be considered a House and to qualify for a seat in the Assembly.

        • I wondered about that when I read it becuase if that is true how can Nevada form House Baylor? She, her sisters and her cousins are all the same generation and surely she can’t claim EG.

          • I think you should understand it as you need two living Primes in three generations or less which would explain how Nevada could form a House with her sister. A Prime and its Prime great-grandchildren​ could not form a House as it would span four generations.

          • I read that as IN three generations…and five in one cohort is still within a three generation span, though they will need offspring to continue.

    • 2) I am on the side that Grandma Frieda Afram kept her name when she married Leon Baylor, and James Tremaine took Penelope Baylor’s name.

      4) Rogan says his father was afraid of losing telekinesis, not Prime status. Rogan’s father’s first goal was to keep the House telekinetic. But the possibility exists that they would cancel each other out on some level.

    • 1 ) Victoria is the only prime of House Tremaine for her generation. Like Rogan is currently the only Prime of his House too

      3) I think Bern’s magic is at least significant. First, because he holds a record for the Nebula homework (among all the students taking Magic theory courses from his school who have that exact homework and even Leon and Nevada had to do it so it’s not just a one-year span taken into account). Secondly, because even Bug needs his help to crack the Deamon Eye (?) security lock (?). Having Bug’s recognition seems huge to me

      4) Maybe it’s a matter of compatibility ? Like water and oïl ? Maybe certain types of powers nullify other types of powers ? i don’t know. But in Rogan’s case, it’s his mother’s line that is disadvantaged I guess (it’s her type of power that got “reduced” in the process)

      I do think that Joanna is right. From what I understood, you need two Primes (alive) to start a new House (because it’s the “first generation”, so to complete the “two primes in three generations” rule, you have to be these two primes xD) . But after that first generation, I think it’s better to at least have one Prime for each other generation to maintain a House status. But it may not be imperative : I would say that the second generation, for example, could be a no Prime one. But this means that the third one have to be absolutely a Prime one (or else, the fourth generation won’t meet the rule and the House will lose its status). So the best way and the safer way to maintain a House status is to get at least one Prime for each generation after the first one. Plus, being the heir/head of your House without having a Prime status must be quite hard to be respected among the other Houses…

      • Forget about my 1) with Rogan being the only Prime of his House. I just forgot his mother O_O

  35. Am I the only one who’s thinking the revelation of Caesar is going to be a big betrayal? I don’t think it’s going to be a character we’ve just been introduced to. Maybe it’s because I was a Latin/Greek nerd in high school that Montgomery’s name made my radar go off, but Augustus was the founding emperor of Rome. His full title was Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus. Also, Augustus Montgomery’s middle name is Julian. Like Julius Casear, Augustus’ great-uncle who was murdered.
    It would explain why Rogan’s teams can never get ahead of the conspiracy. The head of it runs a PI firm and has eyes/ear everywhere, not to mention can make himself look like one of Rogan’s team to get an idea of where they’re headed. Talk about a betrayal!

      • It can’t be Augustine, for the simple reason that Nevada’s would have sensed a lie by now. For example, look at this line:

        QUOTE
        “Augustine sighed again. “I don’t like it. I don’t like not knowing what the hell is going on. In fact, I make it my life’s mission to know what is going on at all times.”

        Out of Augustine’s view, Rogan rolled his eyes.

        Augustine grimaced. “I’m tired of odd things happening. I don’t want excitement, I want boredom. Boredom is good for business.”

        END QUOTE

        He says a bunch of stuff like this in both books, talking about his confusion and lack of knowledge for the conspiracy. He hasn’t lied about it. He has no motive for it (the system of Houses is quite advantageous for him). It’s not Augustine.

        • Just playing Devils advocate here..

          He wasn’t lying. If you read what he said. He DOESN’T like not knowing. He DOESN’T like excitement. Those are general statements.

          That said, I don’t think it’s him either. He doesn’t strike me as someone the masses will follow without question/adore.

          • Great idea above about Augustine being Cesar. Taking it a step further:

            – Augustine is an illusion Prime.

            – He often looks more or less beautiful, so clearly using his illusion to change his looks… so

            – What if Augustine ISN’T Augustine? Maybe he isn’t enhancing his looks; maybe he is changing them completely? Maybe the real Augustine is long gone?

            • Oh man, you just opened a can of worms. This is a great idea. The real Augustine is dead, and has been manipulating Nevada and Rogan. I never understood the reasoning behind Rogan’s cousin, Waller (can’t get first name right now) got Rogan involved in saving her son. She obviously was okay with sacrificing him. Why get scary Rogan involved in going up against the Change. Maybe Augustine used Nevada not because she was expendable, but because she could get close to Rogan and keep Augustine updated, which she invariably did not. Like vampires, is he playing the long game?

              • Okay, I’m going to freak out now xD…
                Because even if I can’t believe it’s him (I don’t want to T-T), that I don’t see his motive at all… But you make great points with your etymology and… He could be the mastermind, he has the position to do it and it’s not like Nevada questioned him…

                “Why get scary Rogan involved in going up against the Change.”
                ==> Wasn’t it so that he could destroy the city ? Kelly Waller, if my memories are not wrong, and her “colleagues”, wanted Adam to destroy the city and involving Rogan and his Null Space state was another way to secure the success of the plan (like a plan B). And the plan was supposed to succeed.. But Nevada was there (the unplanned factor) and for an unknown reason, she managed to reach him in his trance state (even his mother couldn’t so…)

                And… How could Augustine know beforehand that Nevada could have that influence over Rogan ? It seems almost impossible to predict

                • I also have a question : Why do you think that in BFM, it’s stated that Lenora likes Rogan more than Augustine ? Back at that time, I was really surprised because Augustine is way less drastic or violent (I mean, the guy doesn’t destroy things on a massive scale like a certain someone or drops bus on somebody). Moreover, Augustine seems to be a more law abiding citizen than Rogan (who may not care about laws at all ? xD). From my point of view, Lenora would like Augustine more than Rogan if she’s a preacher of Justice and Law Oo’ (Or maybe I just misunderstood the words…)

              • They expected Rogan to destroy downtown Houston in trying to stop Adam.

                That was what Kelly said at the end of the book. She ask how he stopped.

                If he hadn’t stopped he would have been vilified and would have been in a worse position to investigate.

    • Ohhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn that would be such a good twist! And terrible, for Rogan.

      But wasn’t Caesar supposed to be revered and someone everyone trusted? Augustine is pretty mercenary and at the ball, all of his well wishers were lying.

    • Holy smokes! Especially as Nevada is warming up to him – his sense of humor, worrying about the shell vs everyone willing to kill him to protect her.

    • I really, really hope it’s not Augustine but that name connection is very interesting. Still, I feel like we have a good enough insight to his character to be confident that it’s not him. Plus, I just don’t think the IA team is that evil. Augustine is Rogan’s only friend and it would hurt him too much. I’m liking either Linus Duncan or Lenora Jordan for the big baddie.

    • It could totally be a red herring, but I wondered if anyone else picked up on the name thing. Especially with the random reveal of his middle name. I do agree it would be the worst for Rogan, but I think the fact that he’s supposed to be adored is what’s making me think twice about it. Unless he puts on an other face as Caesar.

      • I hadn’t picked up on the name thing at all. I agree, it’s a very strong connection, especially with the middle name. Plus he’s amazing at impersonating other people, so it’s entirely possible he has a whole other alternate persona that’s leading the group. Eek, this is terrifying to think about!

      • I’d been thinking Augustine might end up at least on the other team. The one thing that was holding me back was the reference to their Caesar being “above reproach”, but then Rogan mentions how Augustine has principles.

        • Also Remember when Rogan saw Augustine again in book one and he’s like what with the glasses. He said I know for a fact you don’t need them. Just playing devil advocate if he is dead and some was impersonating him.

    • Look at his password. In 45 BC,Caesar became dictator of Rome.
      The only thing that doesn’t fit is that he doesn’t seem like Augustine wants destabilization.

  36. Does anyone else find Leon’s moral code (or lack thereof) interesting? I know he’s a teenager and all, but I thought the fact that Nevada’s mom sat him down and gave him a talking to waved all sorts of interesting red flags. No theory, but it does make me wonder…

    • Yeah, I thought I heard (got the pulse of the story) wrong and had to go back and listen to that part again. Is Bern the one who works hard in school so he can support the family sooner, or was that Leon?

      • Leon is still in high school, vs Bern in college. Nevada wants Bern to take his time and enjoy it like she couldn’t , but he just keeps adding more classes ( which I wonder if that has to do with his power – patterns, etc – maybe just general knowledge accumulation ).

    • Wasn’t it Rogan or Bug who mentioned Leon’s “flexible morality” during the viewing of the recordings with his voice overs?

      • I think it was Rogan. In the context of “I could really use that in an employee” sort of way. More I think on it, more I wonder if it doesn’t link in with his powers somehow…

    • OK…. I will play. I am wildly speculating, but I wonder if there are some hints as to Leon’s father trailed…. For example, in “Burn for Me”‘ Bern says that Leon was conceived ‘…because [their mother] was too wasted to remember a rubber’. Bern then notes that his own father was her mother’s ‘boyfriend at the time’, so Giselda (their mother) appears to have had her two sons to different men. In “White Hot” it is noted that Baranovsky is an oneiromancer (prediction of future by dreaming, specifically a short term precog in his case). Given Nevada’s mother’s talent (and that she is Giselda’s sister), and, what we know of Leon’s talent, this looks like a good fit. Plus Augustine states of Baranovsky, ‘Rumour has it, there is a bastard child. But nobody’s ever seen him or her’. Also, the way Baranovsky is described in “White Hot” in terms of his build (‘…slender, almost slight’), and, his liking for Elena de Trevino (maybe, for similar reasons, he would like the straightforwardness of Griselda?), does make me wonder.

      Ah…. I am almost certainly wrong (and am not sure I want to be right), but ‘it’s fun to speculate.

      What is sure is that whatever direction the authorlords take the third book, ’twill be much fun!

      • I like your thinking…plus that would ease some of the financial burden on the family without tapping into Rogan’s money (since Baranovsky has already passed and the heir can step forward). Then Nevada would have her independence and the family would still be ok.

      • Unless Baranovsky had gone through a phase where he was seriously slumming, I don’t think Aunt Gisele would have been his type. Doubtful he ever associated with anyone who didn’t run in his circles. Nevada only warranted a second look because of the dress and the 2 men who were supposedly fighting over her.

        • Two scenarios that could bring Baronovsky together with Gisela. 1.she tried to rob his place. I think in the first book one of the boys mentioned that mom had sex with his father to keep from being arrested.
          2. She was his bodyguard.

      • Ok, I like that theory. When Bug revealed Leon’s talent I wondered when anyone would say, hey that looks like a very situation specific precog. I don’t remember much about Griselda, other than she slept around and had a substance abuse problem. Do we know if there was anything unique about her that would have made her attractive to Baranovsky?

        Also, from a somewhat legal perspective, even if it turns out that Leon is the missing bastard love child of Baranovsky and Griselda, it doesn’t mean he would inherit anything unless 1) Baranovsky died intestate and 2) there was irrefutable proof that Leon was his biological child. Both of which are unlikely. And even then it still might not be possible since Baranovsky never acknowledged Leon as a descendent as far as we know and depending upon the applicable provisions of the Texas probate code.

        • I’m wondering if House inheritance is always bound by the Texas probate code. Seems like they’d have their own system.

      • This is my favorite thing I’ve read so far. Love it. Do we have any descriptions of Leon’s eyes? Since that was a big part of the description of Baranovsky. And Leon runs track and Nevada described Baranovsky as having a runners build.

      • On one hand this is probably my favorite theory till now but on the other hand this would be such a huge coincidence where you cant help but think this will never happen in real life, only in fiction ( which it is ) but I dont like being made aware that it is fiction… Im not sure I make sense

        • I actually don’t think Leon’s magic is any kind of precog because Bug made a point of it. He brought up other zooms/camera changes where no one was hit but there was a feasible shot.

      • But where would Griselda meet Baranovsky? I’m sure he doesn’t hang around dive bars, and Griselda doesn’t sound like the high society type, even as a server or bartender.

  37. OMG. I have so many questions and theories. I’m so glad we only have to wait 2 months for the next book. Most of what I want to know has been asked above so I won’t repeat but my mind is now going further down the road when Nevada and Rogan have kids. I’m dying to see what their kids will be like and how powerful (or not) they would be. Are Rogan and Nevada dual primes? Or do they have 1 prime and 1 less significant? I will have to re-read if that is mentioned about having 2 prime abilities. So if they had kids would there be 4 prime abilities to choose from? Or 2 primes and 2 less significant? Or would all their prime-ness negate everything?

    I would also like Catalina, Arabella, Bern and Leon to have their own books exploring their powers in depth but including Nevada/Rogan in the books too. Gah.. I love this world!

    • I don’t think they are dual primes, or at least Rogan isn’t. His telepathic powers are not as powerful as his telekinesis. Not sure yet about Nevada’s other power.

    • Rogan is sure that their powers come from different realms, and their children would not be primes. I think they could probably get technological help for this problem.

      • Nevada seems like she’d be happy as long as the kids were healthy and loved. She’s not worried about rank, at this point anyway.

      • Hum, I remember him saying that their powers were not compatible (from different realms) and that his father’s attempt was a clear proof… But I don’t remember him saying that their child would not be Prime (like, 0% to be Prime).. Their child “may not be Prime”. Now… I’m not English and I’m still learning the language at school so I’m in no position to play with words but I still cling to that “may” and the potentiality within it x)

  38. Here’s my #1 question – are we going to get some more Rogan POV to help us wait for Wildfire??? I love the other snippets from his pov and there are a bunch of scenes that I’d really like to know what he was thinking! And I’d REALLY love to know at what point he realized he was in love with Nevada and how he reacted to that revelation.

    Also, thank you, thank you, thank you!! This was totally worth the wait. You guys are so amazing. Seriously. <3 <3

    • This!!!!!! When he said the world needs people to do evil deeds to protect the ones they loved, I wondered when he realized that. I thought it was cute that mad rogan was happy that Nevada likedhis house.

      • My thoughts exactly! I loved that line. At the end of Burn for Me, he knew he wanted her but I don’t think he’d quite reached the “I love her” thought yet. Maybe in the two months when they didn’t see each other, he missed her so much that he started to realize it? If not then, maybe when he heard about the attack on her on the overpass – he got to the warehouse, watched the video of her almost dying, and then had to go up to see her to make sure she was okay. I suspect if he didn’t know it already, he knew it then.

    • I love the other snippets too T-T I actually was praying to have a snippet on the battle against David (so that we could know Rogan’s mental state since he more or less decided to sacrifice himself ._.)

  39. Completely off the wall question here.
    Does anyone else picture the late Barbara Jordan when Lenora Jordan is mentioned?
    It’s a different world, no reason she could not be an analog or a relative…
    Anyway, I am old enough to remember her and it struck me.

    • It did cross my mind, mostly because they are both strong, principled, and eloquent women from the state of Texas.

  40. Pretty trivial question but it’s bugging me: during the atv attack on the warehouse, Nevada sees an aerokinetic/elementalist “floating three feet above the pavement”. I always thought the floating thing was associated with a prime expending enough magic to create null space. So how did Nevada manage to shoot him?

    • The floating thing with primes has to do with entering a higher state of power for mages who weren’t able to levitate normally… Neither Logan nor Adam could levitate, but they did when they entered that trance to let their power loose indiscriminately while inside a power circle.

      1) It’s possible that the aerokinetic was able to levitate themselves with their own wind power without actually entering null space.

      2) The aerokinetic didn’t use a circle, so no null space.

      2) It’s also possible that someone else was levitating the aerokinetic mage, like someone tried to do in the YouTube of Logan’s first military test, where you can hear the levitation mage freaking out when he’s beyond her range. If so, then no null space.

      I don’t know the specific answer, but I can think of possible explanations.

  41. It seems like so far all of the characters in Nevada’s generation have mental powers, of one sort or another, except Arabella. A few people have mentioned that maybe her magic is similar to illusion, except, if that is the case, 1) why would there be talk of putting her in a cage, illusion magic has been portrayed as fairly common; and 2) why would she need such a big hole to get Catalina out of the building? As I recall, Rogan had to practically knock down the whole wall so that she could leave the building. I also don’t recall whether any previous scenes involving pure illusion discussed any changes in mass, e.g. did the demon illusion that came after Nevada have difficulty getting out of the truck? I don’t believe so, but I’d have to go back and reread it specifically for that point to be sure. Regardless, it appears that Arabella has a type of magical ability unique in her generation. So far it seems that the only ancestor we know of whose magic isn’t some sort of mental variety is grandma Frida. She has some sort of affinity for heavy equipment/ vehicles/artillery/ metal. I don’t know that we’ve ever been given an exact classification. We also know next to nothing about the powers on the Tremaine side of the family, except that James’ mother has extensive mental powers. There has to be at least one other living Tremaine prime for it to still be a house. Who is this person and what are their abilities? Perhaps Arabella’s unique ability can be traced to the Tremaine side somehow.

    I’m also very worried about Rynda in the next book. In this book she came across as very likeable and sweet in spite of her hellion mother. But her story really doesn’t make a lot of sense. So far we know that the two families had arranged a marriage between Rynda and Rogan from the time they were toddlers but in their late teens Rogan decides that he can’t marry Rynda because he doesn’t love her and he’d never be able to be himself around her because of her empathy. So he runs off and joins the army and they remain friends. Wait…. what?! Put yourself in Rynda’s shoes. Her whole life she has been expecting to marry a particular person because he is supposedly a good magical match for her. Every description we have of young Rogan claims that he is handsome, intelligent, personable, rich, and very powerful. He and Rynda have supposedly been friends their whole lives. Suddenly, Rogan decides, nope, not gonna do it, and runs off to the army. And Rynda is supposedly ok with this? Not if she’s anything like every single teenage girl I’ve ever known. The phrase “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” comes to mind. So what happens to Rynda after Rogan does a runner? Her family, that has painstakingly spent years plotting the perfect match with the powerful Rogan family, is suddenly ok with marrying her off to a magically incompatible plant mage? Have we met her mother, the psycho bad guy from book two? I don’t think so. And then in the preview chapter of book three she’s suddenly ensconced in Nevada’s kitchen doing an odd split personality act alternating between, “I hate you, you killed my mother”, to “oh, woe is me, my husband mysteriously disappeared and you’re my only hope” (the timing is suspicious at best on that one), and making doe eyes at Rogan. I’m with grandma Frida on this one, the chick is bad news, kick her butt to the curb.

    Let’s think about this for a second. Rynda is an empath prime. Her default setting is absorbing/ feeling the emotions of everyone around her, sort of like Nevada can tell when anyone around her is lying without even trying. If Nevada puts some effort into it she becomes a truth seeker and can force people to reveal the truth. What can Rynda do if she puts some effort into it? Can she manipulate people’s feelings, force them to feel a certain way? Would they even know she was doing it? Her mother was a manipulator and could force people to act against their will. And speaking of her mother, Rynda had to spend her whole life growing up with this woman and being exposed to her emotions on a daily basis. According to Rogan, Rynda is so sensitive that he could never be himself around her because it would upset her too much. And yet she has been exposed to her volatile, psycho, mother all of her life and is supposedly unaffected by that? Unlikely. Part of me is really looking forward to seeing how IA deals with this in the third book. They are far, far too good at writing intricate plots not to be fully aware of the inconsistencies inherent in the portrayal of Rynda’s character. I can almost picture them giggling behind their hands at how they are going to stun us with an unforeseen revelation or twist in book three. The other part of me really, really, really, hates the vindictive/conniving ex storyline. I cringe at the thought of reading about Rogan getting caught in Rynda’s twisted web. On the other hand, IA are far too talented to be that cliche. Either way, it’s a long wait until August to find out.

    • I don’t like Rynda. I don’t know if it’s because I’m firmly entrenched on the Nevada side of the border and just see her as potential competition ( history, beauty, ‘save the princess’ ) or at least that Nevada sees her as potential competition – OR if somwthing in my head is saying ‘this B is going to be a problem!’

    • Yep. Been looking at her cross-wise too. Have her in a bucket as possible Caesar, or at the very least on their team like her mother was.

      • I’m with Siobhan. Laura brings up good points about a woman scorned and Rhonda seems adored by many, especially because her empath abilities make her seem all “fragile flower.” If she CAN manipulate people’s emotions, that would go a long way towards gaining devoted followers. I can entertain the idea of her being Caesar, or at least connected to Caesar.

      • I’m not happy with the choice of IA bringing Rogans ex in book 3. I personally lose respect for our main characters for the love triangle BS. Easy strings… IMO. I don’t see the characters as stupid but this screams BS, betrayal, and (redacted. Andrea, please try not to cuss on the blog, we have younger readers. Thank you – Ilona).

    • And Rynda would have been part of the distraction at the party with her witchy Mommy.

      • Mmmmmm. IA already did scorned childhood fiancé gets revenge in Silent Blade, I don’t think they would repeat themselves.

    • Yes, totally agree. No way her mom can be that evil and some of it did not rub off on her. I think she may be able to manipulate others, or maybe she is able manipulate others impression of her and hide her true intentions and make herself appear sweet, a peacemaker, light and nice, when really she is much much darker. I just can’t help but think she cannot be as good as the image she seems to project.

      Also, remember that Rogan’s mom was a powerful empath, and she was still capable of killing, aggression (thwarting assassination attempt, leveling summerhouse at age 14 of family that targeted hers)

    • Totally agree with all of this! Rynda was my only (minor) grumble about WH, I really detest the conniving ex angle but I suspect you are right and that IA with handle it beautifully ?

    • Im going to play devils advocate:

      1) You can have horrible parents but still turn out okay e.g. like Nevada`s father although their circumstances might be different bc while James hated his Mother, Rynda still loves her

      2) Olivia probably loved her daughter and most likely showed an other side of herself to her daughter, we cant treat her as an one-dimensional villain, she wasnt one to her daughter

      3) Olivia might have been different in the past, we dont know when she got involved with Caeser and turned into a psycho fanatic

      4) Rogan knew Rynda her whole life and didnt notice her supposedly dark side ? Rogan seemed like a good jugde of character ( except the case with kelly) so how didnt he notice that Rynda isnt as innocent as she seemed

      5) If feeling emotions of other people was a passive skill she wouldnt be able to switch it off, so she would even feel the emotions of the people she hurt which might be a detriment to her. Yes, Rogans mother did kill people even though shes an empath, but theres a difference between taking revenge against evil people who would murder children and being “evil” yourself and I dont think empaths can be truly evil

      6) If Rogan had a change of mind about the marriage although he really liked her why couldnt she? She saw Rogan as childhood friend and if he explained his decision to her and she could feel his feelings she might have understood where he came from. She might have been already in love with her now husband bc they married pretty fast, but it still doesnt explain why Olivia agreed to let her daughter marry a plan mage ? This doesnt make sense.

      • All very good points Sarah!

        I think I’m trying to make sense of the Rynda we meet in chapter 9 at Baranovsky’s soiree and the one who shows up in Nevada’s kitchen in chapter 1 of book three. They just don’t even seem like the same character. Why does she immediately accuse Nevada of killing her mother? There were a lot of people involved in that mission, including Rogan, why single out Nevada?

        In fact, Nevada should not have even been on that mission. She told Cornelius that she would find irrefutable proof of who killed Nari but she wouldn’t participate in his revenge. Then, after learning the extent of the evil perpetrated by Olivia, she decided she had to see it through so she went. But she didn’t kill Olivia, Cornelius did, so why is Rynda in Nevada’s house accusing Nevada of killing her mother?

      • I’m not sold on Rogan being a good judge of character *in his youth* after reading this book- remember Dr Daniela Arias talking about their calling him BL- Bubble Lieutenant ie the guy who didn’t realise he was being played and protected. In the timeline this was happening in his late teens (18+) or early twenties so he would’ve known Rynda for 15+ years at this point….

    • I think it would be interesting if Rynda were Caesar. What if she could compel adoration by pushing it at her followers? What if her mother was so vindictive because she was being manipulated by Rynda? We know Rynda’s son is apparently lacking in magic. What’s a better reason for overthrowing the status quo than to give your child a better future?

      Loved the book 🙂 can’t wait for the next one!

      • She could have been good girl until Rogan walk away. Revenge is a dish best serve cold.It could also be the reason why Rogan was involved by his cousin Kelly they knew what he was capable of ie leveling cities which would cause the chaos they needed,

    • Laura> Grandma Frida’s type of magic might be classified (I don’t remember well, but maybe in a FAQ of the Reddit post or in a blog post… But I remember reading something along with Bern’s type of magic)
      If we supposed that the colors seen by Nevada at the end correspond to types of magics, so Arabella’s power (color red) is not Illusion (Augustine’s color was grey/white or something like that)
      With the cage story, I thought that Arabella was a kind of beast/demons (like.. shapeshifting) but it’s just speculation (the first idea that pops in my mind xD)

      I totally agree with you about Rynda. She makes me uncomfortable. I don’t like her at all. And.. Her mother was in the bad team and… she seems to be still quite close with her mother. The woman is very powerful but she acts like an innocent sheep, it just too upsetting and feels suspicious xD She knew Nevada was jealous of her and she didn’t go to Montgomery (she definitely has the money for it). Nop nop, she goes right to Nevada (who was a major role in her mother’s death) and she was immediately hugging Rogan in front of the PI she said she wanted to hire. So maybe, she goes to Nevada not to have her help but Rogan’s one (forcefully, since she thought he didn’t want to help her) ? Or… I don’t know, I can’t find the logic here. This woman’s brain is a total mystery for me.
      Maybe, I’m totally wrong and she’s indeed a gentle and innocent sheep, but I’m more rooting for her trying to jeopardize their relationship and her being an evil girl (Team Grandma Frida 100% !). The third party who tries to jeopardize the relationship between two people is a well-known scheme but I don’t see it following the usual plot (“the cliche plot”). Indeed, first, the bad guys tried to use Rogan to destroy the city and make one of their plans succeed, but it was a failure because of Nevada’s ability to reach Rogan ; then, they tried to get rid of the two of them ( separately first by targetting Nevada, then together with David) but the attempts are also failures… one of them because Rogan’s was in her house (and he was not supposed to be), another because of Nevada keeping a chalk on her and Rogan’s magical knowledge… What I mean is… Both of them, together, in a team ? They are way too powerful xD So, if I were the mastermind, I’d try to separate them completely (emotionally and physically) and kill them after. More chance to succeed with my evil plans… (and it’s the best timing to do that with Nevada being an emergent Prime and being potentially coveted by a lot of Prime guys xD). And as you said Laura… who could do that better than an empath “ex girlfriend” (who could, potentially, manipulate feelings) that is already aware of the jealousy she can create ?

      And maybe she accused Nevada because… they might not have been able to kill her mother if Nevada’s was not there ? (the mental war, Nevada was the only (?) one who could be able to do that)

      And Sarah> I totally agree with you too in your point 1) 2) and 3) and 6)
      But point 4) : Yeah, but… He knows her past self, not her present self (the one after his departure, which can be a trigger to her “dark” side), right ? And you tend to be softer with your childhood friends… So his judgement in the present might be biased
      5) There is a way to be empath and evil : being totally nut (because of your empathy, you’re so sensitive that.. too much suffering, too much anger, too much something and bam, you break ?) ? (I don’t know, but I don’t feel like these two things are that antagonical)

      And finally, your “she might be able to control feelings” makes me go into overanalyzing mode… But…
      What if… Nevada’s mysterious ability at the end to see colors will be helpful later to detect that manipulation and to find the true mastermind -Caesar- ? What if, it’s like an upgrade of her current power : instead of just detecting the truth in words, she’d be able to sense deceptive actions, know the true power of each individual (since Prime tends to hide the extend of their talents)..

      (I think i’m going to sleep because I’m thinking too much xD)

    • I would be so on board with a highly disciplined manipulative* empath just because empaths are so frequently portrayed in a fairly narrow range of ways and I’d find some shaking up of those motifs refreshing. Also, the look on Rogan’s face would be hilarious. (Oh, so you thought she was a wilting flower, did you?) I don’t know if that’s the way things are heading, mind…

      * even if just receptive empath, I don’t mean they’re necessarily projective. If you know what someone is feeling, and you’re reasonably intelligent, you shouldn’t need projective empathy to manipulate them.

  42. Did anyone else question the “disappearance” of Augustine’s secretary? She was the only other person who knew who the Lady in Green was…and Nevada went to such trouble to mind-protect Augustine but never gave a thought to her. Then she’s gone and a man is sitting at her desk…
    Did Evil Grandmother get her hooks in the secretary before Nevada could cover her? Is that how EG knows to come after Nevada?

      • I made the assumption, perhaps unwarranted, that Augustine deliberately choose another secretary for the time period he expected EG to be around. As you pointed out, the 1st secretary knew who the lady in green was and therefore was at risk from EG. On the other hand, maybe she got a late start and hadn’t finished her make up yet 😉

          • Although now that I think about it, why didn’t Nevada put the fake shield over the secretary? Unless the assumption is that bad granny would think a secretary was beneath knowing the identity of the Lady in Green. (At least she wasn’t the Lady in White — that would have been a cliche.)

            • Nevada had to anchor the shield over Augustine’s mind in his magic. If Lina, his secretary, has no magic (nothing so far has suggested she does), then Nevada might not be able to protect her.

              Also, just protecting Augustine wiped out Nevada’s reserves.

    • I thought about this. We don’t know who the guy at the desk works for. If the assistant (name Lina I think) does know Nevada and the Green Lady are one in the same, wouldn’t Augustine just have to tell Lina to get lost to keep GFH (grandma from Hell) from having access to her and guy was just filling space so GFH wouldn’t get suspicious?

    • I assumed he brought a temp in for the duration of the visit, someone who didn’t know anything that EG could ransack his brains for. Augustine was protecting both himself and the usual secretary.

      • He has shown how he treats some people as disposable. So having a sacrificial goat would be withing character.

  43. Is anyone else thinking that James Tremaine had no apparent magic BECAUSE his mother took his mind apart daily looking for it?

    • Possibly, I could see that happening. Also could see the theory that whatever she had done to -ugh- create him could have caused it as well.

    • Ditto on both of those thoughts.

      Also, are we all sort of dancing around the concept of hybrid vigor? From what we’ve seen, the families try to set up pairings with similar types of magic to try for offspring with high magic potential. This seems to be a sort of hit or miss proposition. And then we have Nevada’s family who all have new or rare abilities that are seemingly off the charts. What if the prevailing theory is wrong and they should be mixing different types of magic and just looking for unusual or unexpected results?

      • So, the Primes themselves have the wrong idea about how to breed babies? But magic has been around for a while now, and there are alot of families. They even have that Failed Vector thing figured out. Shouldn’t they have been able to see what breeding programs work best by now?

        • One would think so. Just trying to figure out how Nevada and het siblings are possible given the prevailing thinking.

        • Rubber band theory. They forgot to take their time. Only so many generations have occurred since Osiris.

  44. Would Sgt Teddy, as an animal, even though magically-enhanced, be immune to a Truthseeker’s powers? I’d love for him to give Evil Grandmother a hug.

    • I approve of this plan. Also, I suspect that, even though SGT Teddy is a pacifist, he might make an exception for Tremaine. In fact, I fully expect SGT Teddy will function pivotally at some point. Why else introduce him in White Hot and make a point of explainin him in Wildfire?

    • I am waiting to see Cornelius get ahold of Sgt Teddy. Can you imagine him as part of Nevada’s team?

  45. I had the thought that maybe Grandma Tremaine, in trying desperately to have a child, made some sort of venture into the arcane realm and pulled something out in a last ditch effort to save her House. I like the theories about genetic manipulation but there seems to be just as much impact of