A Conjuring of Light

The third and final installment of V.E. Schwab's Shades of Magic trilogy takes place across parallel versions of London separated by magical barriers. Red London thrives with magic under the Maresh dynasty of the kingdom of Arnes. White London is a harsh world where magic has nearly died. Grey London is our world, devoid of magic. Black London, consumed long ago by unchecked power, lies in ruin. Antari, rare blood magicians marked by one solid black eye, are the only people capable of traveling between worlds.

The novel opens in the aftermath of the previous book. Osaron, an oshoc (a piece of magic that has gained consciousness), has seized control of Holland, the White London Antari, after Holland made a deal to restore magic to his dying world. Wearing Holland's body, Osaron crosses into Red London. Meanwhile, Kell, the Red London Antari, is imprisoned in White London's castle. Because Kell's life is magically tethered to his adopted brother Prince Rhy's, his fading power means Rhy is dying too. Rhy briefly dies before the bond surges back, revived when Delilah "Lila" Bard arrives in White London. Lila, a thief from Grey London and a newly discovered Antari, kills Holland's knight Ojka, frees Kell, and carries them both back to Red London through blood magic.

Osaron ascends the palace during a celebratory ball and kills Kisimyr Vasrin, one of Arnes's strongest magicians, by flooding her with power until she burns to ash. Kell and Lila confront him on the rooftop, but their attacks fail. Holland briefly fights back from within, causing Osaron to abandon his body and become a figure of living shadow. He plunges into the river Isle, his darkness spreading until the entire current turns black.

A poisonous fog radiates from the river, infecting citizens. Some become willing puppets; those who resist burn to nothing. Kell and Lila mark people with protective blood, but the fog spreads too fast. King Maxim orders Kell back to the palace. Holland, in the royal cells, explains that Osaron feeds on chaos and craves an Antari vessel above all. Alucard Emery, Rhy's former lover and a powerful magician, ventures out to rescue his family but finds them possessed or fatally infected.

Kell proposes putting the city to sleep using a spell crafted by Tieren, the head priest, to strip Osaron of his puppet army. Rhy discovers he is immune to the fog, since his life force is entirely Kell's magic, leaving nothing for Osaron to claim. Tieren reveals that an Inheritor, a forbidden device designed to absorb and contain a person's entire magic, could trap Osaron permanently. Alucard discloses that he once traded an Inheritor to Maris Patrol, an ancient woman who runs a floating black market called the Ferase Stras. Using a pirate's cipher map, Alucard decodes the market's location in the Arnesian Sea.

Holland first proposes a public trap: He will offer himself to Osaron during a staged execution, and once the shadow king enters, Kell will seal him inside. The plan fails when Osaron refuses the bait, pushing Holland into the river and trapping Kell underwater instead. Lila dives in, and Holland holds back the current long enough for all three to escape.

Kell, Lila, Holland, Alucard, and several companions depart London to sail for the market, leaving Rhy behind. Queen Emira gives Kell a crimson cloth stitched with "KM," a token she made when he first arrived at the palace but never gave him, acknowledging him as family. King Maxim secretly forges 12 suits of armor animated by his own blood magic, a weapon against Osaron that drains his body with every passing hour.

Aboard the ship, Holland's memories reveal a life shaped by betrayal: His brother tried to kill him for his power, his lover attempted to cut out his heart, and Ros Vortalis, a rebel who became his king, was assassinated by the Dane twins—the cruel tyrant rulers who seized control of White London—who then enslaved Holland with a binding spell. At the port of Rosenal, Lila is ambushed by pirates and fatally stabbed. Holland heals her with blood magic, saving her life.

At the Ferase Stras, each member pays a steep price. Kell buys Antari binding rings, which allow multiple Antari to share and amplify power, paying three years of his life. Lila trades a silver watch belonging to Barron, her late guardian from Grey London, for the Inheritor. Alucard buys a truth-reflecting mirror called a liran for four years of his life. Maris privately reveals that she knew Kell's birth parents and placed the memory-erasing spell on him as a child. She offers to undo the spell, but Kell burns the paper unread.

The three Antari develop a strategy: Use their combined power to weaken Osaron until he seeks a body, then Holland will allow the shadow king to enter him and activate the Inheritor. Back in London, Tieren casts the sleeping spell, anchoring it to his own consciousness. Every infected person collapses. Osaron, raging at the sudden silence, reanimates Ojka's corpse as a new vessel.

An assassination plot by Veskans, citizens of a rival kingdom, strikes the palace. Princess Cora of Vesk stabs King Maxim while her brother Prince Col of Vesk attacks Rhy and Queen Emira. Col drives his sword through Rhy, but Rhy cannot die; the blade passes through him into Emira standing behind, killing her. Rhy kills Col, and his mother dies in his arms. Maxim survives thanks to Tieren's antidote but continues to weaken.

Maxim marches out alone to face Osaron, his 12 animated steel guards at his back. Osaron forces his way into Maxim's body, but the king triggers his final gambit: The guards drive their anti-magic swords into his chest, killing him and wounding Osaron. The shadow king survives but is significantly weakened.

Kell, Lila, and Holland return to find both monarchs dead and Rhy imprisoned in Osaron's shadow palace on the river, impaled on spikes of ice and kept alive only by his inability to die. The three Antari fight Osaron, who wears Ojka's reanimated corpse, coordinating their attacks through the binding rings. After destroying Ojka's body, they force Osaron into formlessness. Holland, blinded by Osaron's magic but sensing the shadow king's presence, allows Osaron to enter him and drives the Inheritor into his palm. Light explodes as the device drains Holland's magic and Osaron with it. Lila smashes her binding ring while Rhy tears Kell's off just in time. Holland collapses with white hair and green eyes, his Antari mark gone, his power spent. The shadow palace crumbles, and darkness lifts from London.

Rhy assumes the throne. He threatens a united alliance between Arnes and its ally Faro, a neighboring kingdom, forcing the Veskan fleet to retreat. The Inheritor, sealed in stone, is carried to Grey London by Kell and Lila and left with Ned Tuttle, a Grey London magic enthusiast who runs the Stone's Throw tavern. Kell returns Holland to White London, now reverting to its dying state. Holland asks to be left in the Silver Wood, a grove said to be where magic made its last stand, and dies peacefully.

Alucard publicly reveals through the liran that his brother Berras exposed his relationship with Rhy to their father, who beat Alucard and had him forced onto a ship. Rhy strips Alucard of his privateer title and orders him to remain at the king's side; that night, they reconcile. Kell says goodbye to Rhy on the palace balcony. Lila takes command of the Night Spire as Captain Bard, and Kell boards as crew. They sail from London as Rhy watches from the balcony, a single unspoken word between brothers: anoshe, meaning "until another day."