The Cruel Prince

The endgame begins at what should be Prince Dain's coronation. Instead, his brother Balekin stages a coup, with covert help from Madoc, and the ceremony turns into a massacre: King Eldred, Dain, and several other members of the royal line are killed. Only Cardan survives, and Jude gets him out alive, dragging him to the hidden headquarters of the Court of Shadows, where she keeps him bound and captive while the political order of Faerie collapses around them.

In captivity, Cardan tells Jude, the Roach, and the Ghost the truth behind Dain's ruthlessness: Dain had fathered a child with Liriope, one of Eldred's consorts, and had the infant killed rather than risk a prophecy claiming that child would keep him from the throne. Jude eventually pieces together that the child did not die — he is Oak, the boy she has known for years as Madoc and Oriana's son, and he is the true, secret heir to the crown. At the same time, her personal life is unraveling: she discovers that Locke has been carrying on with both her and her twin sister Taryn simultaneously, and the resulting confrontation nearly turns violent before Vivi intervenes.

Madoc, who now sees a path to power through the boy he has raised as his own, tries to buy Jude off, offering her almost anything in exchange for handing Cardan over to him. Jude refuses. Instead, she exploits the fact that Cardan is infatuated with her, using it to bind him magically to her service — he swears an oath to obey her for a year and a day. At a banquet thrown by Balekin to cement his claim to the crown, Jude and Madoc duel for control of the succession; she wins by poisoning his wine, incapacitating him rather than killing him.

With the balance of power in her hands, Jude does not crown Oak, who is far too young to rule, nor does she let Madoc or Balekin seize the throne. Instead, she has Oak formally crown Cardan as the new High King of Faerie. Balekin, exposed as an architect of the massacre, is arrested and imprisoned for treason on the new king's orders. The book ends with Cardan sitting on the throne of Faerie, resented and afraid of Jude, bound to obey her for a year and a day — and Jude, a mortal girl with no crown or title of her own, now the true power behind the High King's seat.

Jude Duarte was seven when Madoc — a redcap general of Faerie — murdered her parents and carried her, her twin sister Taryn, and her older half-sister Vivienne off to live in Elfhame, raising them alongside his own son with his wife Oriana, a boy named Oak. Ten years later, Jude is obsessed with earning a permanent, respected place in Faerie despite being mortal, even as many of the fey, including Prince Cardan, the cruel youngest son of High King Eldred, torment her for it.

Prince Dain, next in line for the throne, recruits Jude as a spy, granting her immunity to all glamour but his own. Through this work she infiltrates Prince Balekin's household, uncovers evidence of court treachery, and joins Dain's secret network, the Court of Shadows, working alongside the Roach, the Ghost, and the Bomb. Along the way she kills Cardan's friend Valerian in self-defense after he tries to murder her, and begins secretly building immunity to poison. Her romantic life gets complicated too: Locke, a charming courtier, pursues her — and, unbeknownst to her at first, pursues Taryn at the same time.

Everything comes apart at Dain's coronation, where Balekin, aided by Madoc, stages a bloody coup that kills King Eldred, Dain, and most of the other heirs. Only Cardan survives, and Jude smuggles him away, holding him prisoner at the Court of Shadows' hideout. There she learns Dain's darkest secret: he fathered a child with Eldred's consort Liriope and had the baby killed to dodge a prophecy — except the child didn't die. Jude realizes that Oak, the boy she's called her foster-brother for years, is that child and the true heir to the throne, secretly protected by Madoc, who now hopes to rule through him.

Jude refuses Madoc's offer to trade Cardan for anything she wants, and instead manipulates Cardan — who she discovers is infatuated with her — into swearing a magically binding oath to obey her for a year and a day. At a banquet meant to crown a new ruler, she duels Madoc and defeats him by poisoning his wine, then has young Oak formally crown Cardan as the new High King rather than letting Madoc or Balekin take power. Balekin is arrested for his role in the massacre. The book ends with Cardan uneasily on the throne, magically bound to obey Jude, who now wields real power in Faerie from the shadows despite holding no title herself.

Going into the next book, key open threads include: Cardan's resentment and unpredictability as a king controlled by an oath he didn't choose; Madoc's survival and simmering ambition after his defeat and humiliation; the unresolved fallout between Jude and Taryn over Locke, who was involved with both twins; Vivi's continued unhappiness in Faerie and her attachment to her human girlfriend Heather; and the precariousness of Jude's position as a mortal girl secretly ruling through a resentful, bound king with only a year and a day guaranteed before his oath expires.