A Kingdom of Stars and Shadows (stars and Shadows, #1)

The first installment in the Stars and Shadows series is set in a world divided by the cleave, a magical barrier separating the Starless realm, where humans live, from Citlali, the kingdom of the high fae. Born with golden starlight markings on her cheeks and spine, Adara Cahira is the Starblessed, a human whose blood is prophesied to awaken dormant fae magic. Since childhood, she has been betrothed against her will to Prince Gavril Achlys, the crowned prince of Citlali. Her mother accepted the arrangement and the material comforts it brought, while her father resisted and was killed by the royals for his defiance.

As the fae army camps outside the cleave to claim her, Adara sneaks out to observe them and encounters a mysterious fae male named Evren. He disarms her, demonstrating his magic when her father's dagger floats in black smoke from his fingers. He tells her she will "determine the future of our world" (8) but introduces himself only as a soldier. Adara's marks hum in his presence in a way she has never experienced.

The next morning, the royal guard claims Adara. Her mother hands her over clutching a sealed royal parchment, her payment for surrendering her daughter. Townspeople throw white wildflowers, a funeral custom, as Adara departs. Passing through the cleave causes her markings to buzz with life, as though the fae realm is awakening something dormant inside her. During a rest stop near the Onyx Forest, a dangerous woodland, Evren reappears, and his guards address him as captain.

At the Achlys palace, Adara is assigned Eletta, a young fae woman serving as her lady-in-waiting. Eletta privately explains the stakes: Adara's blood is believed to either guarantee the Achlys family's continued dominance or expose the kingdom's vulnerability to Queen Veda, ruler of Sidra's vampyre Blood Court. During her formal presentation, Queen Kaida uses her power to rotate the floor beneath Adara so the court can inspect her back markings and bluntly asks whether her blood is "pure," meaning no one has fed from her. Gavril is more courteous, asking Adara to dance and telling her they will wed in a month.

Overwhelmed, Adara flees and collides with Evren in the corridor. He leads her to the palace gardens, but when Gavril appears, he casually reveals that Evren is his brother, exposing Evren's lie. In the following days, Gavril reveals a darker side, telling Adara he does not need marriage to take her blood; he could simply cut her and drink. Her options are becoming his queen or being locked in the dungeon. Adara resolves she must either escape or kill the crowned prince. At a family dinner, Queen Kaida calls Adara's father a traitor and threatens that without royal protection, vampyres could prey on the Starless realm. Afterward, Evren reveals that Kaida is not his biological mother. He is King Riven's bastard son, and his mother is a vampyre from Sidra whom he is forbidden to see. He shows Adara his blackened fingertips, a consequence of wielding dark magic.

The forbidden attraction between Adara and Evren intensifies. He calls every thought he has of her treasonous, while Gavril also expresses growing desire for Adara beyond her blood. Adara meets Quinn and Lydia Etkin, daughters of Nobleman Etkin, who grew up alongside Gavril; Quinn states she would have been in line to marry Gavril if not for Adara. In the palace library, Adara discovers a handwritten journal containing a cryptic warning: A mated Starblessed equals a threat. Evren finds her, and their encounter escalates into their first explicit physical intimacy.

Days earlier, Adara was attacked near the palace wall by an unknown man who slashed her thigh to taste her blood. Evren healed the wound with his dark magic, leaving a new mark blending her starlight and his shadows. At the ball held in her honor, the queen requires Adara to dance with various noblemen. During a dance with Nobleman Etkin, Adara recognizes him as her attacker and signals Evren, who intervenes immediately. The queen watches the pair closely, her gaze lingering on the star-and-shadow mark with suspicion.

After the ball, Gavril leads Adara to his chambers, where the queen and two guards wait. Despite her resistance, the guards pin Adara while Gavril cuts her inner wrist and feeds from her blood. The act sends involuntary pleasure through her body even as she screams for Evren. When Evren arrives, Gavril demonstrates new telekinetic power gained from the feeding, using it to halt Evren physically. Adara refuses Evren's help, furious he did not prevent the assault.

Vampyres are spotted inside the capital, and Gavril orders Evren to take Adara to Nabál, a distant safe location, while he stays to defend the palace. As Adara, Evren, Jorah (Evren's closest guard and friend), and two other soldiers ride out at dawn, Adara sees three severed heads on spikes outside the gate: the two guards who restrained her and Nobleman Etkin, all killed by Evren.

In the Onyx Forest, Adara slips away from the group and encounters Osiris, a forest nymph with bark-like skin and solid black eyes. Osiris calls Adara "sorceress," tells her she is destined for more than anyone realizes, and warns that her soul is irrevocably attached to another. When Adara instinctively reaches out, power erupts from her fingertips in black smoke, the first manifestation of her own magic. Evren finds her, furious but relieved, and acknowledges he cannot force her to return to Gavril.

Blood Court soldiers ambush the group, killing two of the guards. Evren sustains a deep wound and collapses from blood loss. Adara begs him to feed from her to survive. He sinks his vampyre teeth into her wrist, and the experience differs radically from Gavril's forced feeding: Her marks blaze with intensity, connection floods her body, and a new star-and-shadow mark forms over Gavril's scar. The diminished group stops at a village on the forest's edge. Alone together, Adara and Evren consummate their relationship, and Evren tells her she was made for him, not Gavril. During their final night of travel, Adara overhears Evren and Jorah whispering; Jorah asks whether they should "tell her," and Evren says not yet, hinting at a secret.

On the final morning, Blood Court soldiers led by a commander named Calix ambush the group and overpower Evren. Queen Veda steps from the trees and reveals the truth Evren has concealed: She is his mother, the vampyre queen of Sidra, and Evren has been her spy within the Citlali court. Veda declares that the Starblessed will make a wonderful queen of the Blood Court. Adara is devastated. Evren insists he told her about his parentage but admits he concealed his mother's identity. When Adara tells him she will never marry him, Evren binds her with his dark magic and says their union "can be arranged." Veda orders the group to move before Queen Kaida discovers the treason. The novel ends with Adara declaring she belongs to no one even as Evren's power holds her in place. The story continues in A Kingdom of Blood and Betrayal.