SPOILER WARNING. THIS BLOG SERIES IS INTENDED FOR READERS WHO HAVE FINISHED OATHBOUND AND WANT TO EXPLORE ITS DETAILS IN DEPTH.

A New Call and Response Relationship: Bree’s Bloodmark

Since day one, Bree and Nick have felt connected. Bree aptly names this feeling “call and response.”¹

In Oathbound, a new call and response relationship develops, one forced upon Bree by Erebus when he modifies the bloodmark on her chest. The change he makes allows him to check Bree’s power levels whenever he wants. He calls the mark; the mark sends him information.

Compared to her call and response connection with Nick (which I characterize as something naturally occurring and spiritual), this new call and response with Erebus is nefarious and intrusively physical.

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The Twist: Bloodmarks are inherited

When is it Sel calling Bree’s bloodmark? When is it Erebus?

I feel like this question is top of mind for every reader upon finishing Oathbound. At the end of the book, when we learn that Sel can call on Bree’s bloodmark because he is the Scion of the Shadow King, it puts every bloodmark call in the book in question.

Twists like this are when annotation becomes essential.

On my reread of Oathbound, I set out to answer the mystery of Who is calling the bloodmark, Erebus or Sel? by annotating EVERY MENTION of Bree’s bloodmark in Oathbound. Here are the results.

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Smell is the key to determining who calls Bree’s bloodmark.

Bree’s unique magical gift is the ability to distinguish individual magic users by the distinct smell of their magic. When her bloodmark is called, the caller’s magic smell gets transmitted through the bloodmark connection. However, it’s not until chapter 61 that Bree discovers 2 things:

1. Two people have been calling her mark this whole time, both Erebus and Sel.
2. There’s a discernible difference between the smell of Erebus calling vs. Sel calling. Bree had been under the impression that all the smells belonged to Erebus and only differed depending on what form he took.

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Here’s the text evidence, the moment Bree realizes the smell differences:

Be sure to mark this in your book with a tab and a margin note!

“But the scent of my flaring bloodmark isn’t the same as it had been moments ago with Erebus. It’s not the earthy fragrances of oud and incense and myrrh… but the charred spice I’ve grown accustomed to over the past few months. This scent—warm resin turned to ash—has become as familiar as my own face. A signature once rich and full, now burnt to embers.”

Oathbound, Ch 61 p 638

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I’m positive Sel is calling in these moments.

Bree smells Sel’s signature scents of charred spices at The Eclipse in front of Daeza, and, as if Sel can eavesdrop, Sel calls right after Bree and Nick discuss him at Penumbra.

ANNOTATE SEL CALLING AT THE ECLIPSE (1)

Chapter 25, page 291-292

“The King’s burnt ember signature fills my nose. Spices, charred and furious.”

ANNOTATE SEL CALLING AT PENUMBRA (2)

Chapter 37, p 405

“I wince, turning my head away from the glow and the charred spice scent. The King is angry.”

ANNOTATE SEL FLEXING HIS HAND AND CALLING GREEN AETHER (3)

Chapter 13, p 176

“He snaps his green aether into existence in his palm, clawing the magic, feeling its shape, then releasing it.”

[Sel is probably activating Bree’s bloodmark in this moment. This occurs two months after Sel and Bree disappear. Bree doesn’t have an equivalent chapter with this time stamp, so this moment can’t be lined up with another bloodmark flare.]

ANNOTATE SEL CALLING IN THE FINAL SCENE (4)

Chapter 61, page 638-639

• Erebus has fled, and in this moment Bree and Nick realize Sel is calling her bloodmark.

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I’m positive it’s Erebus calling in these moments.

The big clue that Erebus is calling is the “oud” smell, and he’s also usually right in front of Bree and touching her when he calls too. His signature scent is “oud and sap, myrrh and incense.” (Ch 60 p 629)

ANNOTATE EREBUS CALLING (1)

Prologue: Part V, page 42

• We first see Erebus’ signature smell in the Prologue when he alters her mark.

“Not yet,” Erebus says, eyes snapping open and flaring bright. With a twist of his wrist, something inside the bloodmark snaps painfully—I gasp. A flood of ancient magic fills my nose: myrrh, oud, saps, and incense. Then, he releases me.

Oathbound, Prologue: Part V, page 42

ANNOTATE EREBUS CALLING (2)

Chapter 18, page 236

• Erebus and Bree are about to train. Erebus calls the mark while he is right in front of Bree. She smells his magic: “Oud and incense.”

ANNOTATE EREBUS CALLING (3)

Chapter 60, page 629-630

• Before Bree brings Erebus to his knees by tugging on “the invisible thread” connecting her and Vera, Erebus calls the mark. She smells his magic and remarks that it’s not the “charred spice and embers” aroma that we will soon learn belongs distinctly to Sel.

It’s unclear who is calling in these moments.

The mystery of who is calling is not 100% solvable because Bree does not always give us a specific description of the smell.

ANNOTATE THIS UNKNOWN CALL (1)

Chapter 17, page 224 – 225

• Bree is in Asheville hunting lesser demons with the twins. When her mark flares, she doesn’t clearly state which set of smells she smells, but talks about them both.

ANNOTATE THIS UNKNOWN CALL (2)

Chapter 42, page 456-457

• Bree isn’t clear about the smells here. She just says the smell is “rich and ancient and suffocating.” I think it’s likely Sel calling. Reasons: Bree is with Nick, and they just talked about him. Also, Sel’s signature smoke/ash scent is a pretty suffocating type of smell.

ANNOTATE THIS UNKNOWN CALL (3)

Chapter 52, page 547

• No smell is described when Bree sees Valec for the first time in Oathbound, and her bloodmark flares.

ANNOTATE THIS UNKNOWN CALL (4)

Chapter 56, page 587

• No smell is described when Bree is with Valec and Zoe getting teased about “canoodling” and her bloodmark flares.

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Not calls: Plot points to annotate involving the bloodmark

THE TWINS ATTEMPT TO CONSUME BREE’S POWER (PLOT POINT 1)

Prologue: Part III, page 32

• After finding Bree, the twins try to inhale Bree’s power, and her bloodmark flares..

EREBUS EXPLAINS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DEMONS DRAW POWER (PLOT POINT 2)

Prologue: Part IV, page 33-38

• Erebus explains to the twins about Bree’s bloodmark. He also explains to Bree what happens when unbalanced cambions (like Sel) consume Bree’s power.

VALEC MESMERS WILLIAM TO FORGET BREE HAS A BLOODMARK FROM THE HUNTER (PLOT POINT 3)

Chapter 4, page 90-92

• After picking up Alice from William, Valec decides to mesmer William so he forgets the knowledge about Bree’s bloodmark.

VALEC COMMENTS ABOUT BREE’S BLOODMARK (PLOT POINT 4)

Chapter 4, page 97

• Talking with Mariah, Valec doubts that Bree would go willingingly with Erebus.

ZOE COMPLAINS ABOUT BREE’S BLOODMARK (PLOT POINT 5)

Chapter 14, page 187

• Zoe challenges Bree’s fighting skills, bringing up her bloodmark.

BREE TELLS ZOE ABOUT HER TRUE IDENTITY (PLOT POINT 6)

Chapter 38, page 414

• Bree talks about her bloodmark first, which Zoe is familiar with, then unloads the truth bomb that she is the Scion of Arthur.

BREE MAKES A CONNECTION BETWEEN HER BLOODMARK AND THE KINGSMAGE OATH (PLOT POINT 7)

Chapter, 43, page 461

• Nick feels Sel’s anger through the Kingsmage oath, which hurts, and Bree figures out why Nick asks if her bloodmark hurt her.

BREE’S OBSERVATION ABOUT HER BLOODMARK CALLS (PLOT POINT 8)

Chapter 45, page 479

• Bree makes a comment about the frequency of calls here. It’s worth annotating, just for thoroughness!

BREE WORRIES ABOUT NICK BECAUSE HE DOESN’T HAVE A BLOODMARK TO PROTECT HIM FROM MIKAEL (PLOT POINT 9)

CHAPTER 46, page 493

• Bree worries about Nick going through Communion.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Call and response & Sel’s whistling

For some final creepy thoughts, I had to bring this up. The reveal of Bree’s new call and response connection with Sel completely changed the way I read Sel’s whistling antics and singsongy voice.

Sel loves a grand entrance. So, when he arrives to confront Bree and Nick, he announces his arrival with some unnerving whistling. I read this moment in hindsight much differently.

The whistling feels like soft foreshadowing or at least a way for Tracy Deonn to gently prep us to expect a plot twist that will feel unnervingly off key. Sel’s whistle, as he walks up to Bree and Nick is part warning signal, part heraldry. On one hand it’s an alert for the plot twist that’s coming about his parentage, and it’s a soundtrack for that plot twist too, as if the prince is trumpeting his own arrival and royal procession.

The whistling is also connected to call and response in another way too. He’s calling out in a whistle to see how Bree and Nick respond, and the musicality is very connected to the music in his voice when Sel singsongs dialogue throughout the final scene. In fact, the final line, “What…shall…we…do?” feels like a call to Nick and Bree. What will their response to this call be?

P.S. Sel is an owl shifter. Birds are inherently musical. Could there be some connection between the call he can make in his owl form (who? who? who?) and the whistling call he makes with his human voice?

Will Nick be able to unmake Bree’s bloodmark using his enhanced vision from the Line of Lancelot?

This line feels like foreshadowing. It made me really hopeful.

He nods at the mark. “I can see how a construct was made, and sometimes, I can see how to … unmake it.”

Oathbound, Chapter 42, page 457

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Thank you for reading the seventh installment of my series, Deonn’s Pencraft, where I plan to explore details I annotated in Oathbound by Tracy Deonn. I finished my second read of the book and have dozens of deep dives on its themes, humor, and imagery. I’ll also be sharing several annotation projects that you can do yourself!

Check out the whole series here.

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1. The first time she says this is in Legendborn in Chapter 24, page 209. ↩︎