A Promise of Peridot

The second installment of The Sacred Stones trilogy picks up after the battle of Siren's Bay. Arwen Valondale, a healer and full-blooded Fae, sails toward the underwater Kingdom of Citrine. The Fae are a magical race whose power, called lighte, distinguishes them from mortals; Arwen's status as the last full-blooded Fae makes her central to a prophecy declaring she alone can destroy Lazarus, the tyrannical Fae king of the realm of Lumera. Arwen's lighte has been depleted since the battle, and she is emotionally numb, grieving the woman she believed was her mother and consumed with anger toward Kane Ravenwood, the king of Onyx. Kane concealed the prophecy foretelling Arwen's death at Lazarus's hands and had intended to use her as a weapon against his father before falling in love with her.

Kane is tormented by Arwen's silence. In strategy sessions with his commander Griffin and Princess Amelia of the conquered Peridot Provinces, he discusses their need for Citrine's army and mermagic, a form of oceanic energy powering the underwater kingdom. They must find the Blade of the Sun, the legendary weapon required to kill Lazarus, while keeping Arwen's identity hidden. Meanwhile, Arwen's friend Mari, a young witch, performs impressive magic with an amulet Arwen took from Kane's study. Mari believes it channels the power of Briar Creighton, a legendary witch, though Kane has told Arwen the amulet is merely a trinket.

The group enters Citrine through a magical underwater funnel and reaches the capital, Azurine. Queen Isolde and King Broderick reveal Kane was banished after refusing to marry their daughter, Princess Sera, because she was only thirteen. Kane secures asylum by promising that defeating Lazarus will yield a Fae ruler for Lumera who will marry Sera, but the royals refuse to commit their army or mermagic.

Kane arranges a covert card game with Crawford Switch, a Citrine crime lord, hoping to learn the blade's location. Arwen joins the game and wins a critical hand, demanding to see a weapon Crawford boasted of possessing. Kane corners Crawford, and Arwen discovers a wanted poster of herself on his wall. Crawford reveals the blade is rumored to be in Reaper's Cavern in the Peridot Provinces. Kane kills Crawford to protect Arwen's identity and because of his trafficking of kidnapped Mer, Citrine's sea-dwelling people, then recovers a map to the cavern. That night, Arwen and Kane share a passionate kiss in an alley, but Arwen pulls away, telling Kane he broke her heart.

Dagan, Kane's former kingsguard and Arwen's sword trainer, arrives and confronts Arwen's resignation to death, calling it cowardice. Arwen agrees to join the expedition to Peridot. Prince Fedrik, Princess Sera's older brother, also joins, hoping to persuade his parents to commit their armies. The group flies to Peridot, with Kane and Griffin shifting into dragon and griffin-like forms to carry the others, and camps in the jungle.

Inside Reaper's Cavern, Arwen and Mari crawl through a hidden tunnel into a treasure room, but the Blade of the Sun is not there. The cave begins collapsing. Arwen shields Mari with her lighte and pushes her to safety but cannot follow, leaping off a cliff into a lagoon as the cavern seals behind her. Fedrik's leg is shattered by falling rock during the escape.

Pirates rescue Arwen from the lagoon, but Amber soldiers ambush them. Arwen is captured by Halden, her childhood friend from Abbington who previously betrayed her to Lazarus's forces. Now an Amber general, Halden brands her with a heated poker, demanding information about the blade. Under torture, Arwen's lighte regenerates. She disintegrates her bindings and escapes in an explosion of white fire. Kane finds her through a binding spell Mari cast to connect his spirit to Arwen's.

Back at camp, Arwen heals Fedrik's shattered leg overnight. Fedrik kisses her, and Kane witnesses the moment. Before Arwen can explain, bandits attack. A stray arrow strikes Mari's amulet, shattering it but saving her life. Arwen reveals the truth: The amulet held no external magic, and all the power Mari channeled was her own. Mari is devastated and furious. Shortly after, she attempts magic, collapses into a coma, and cannot be roused.

Kane flies the group to Briar Creighton's manor in Willowridge, the Onyx capital. Briar, a powerful witch and former ally of Kane's murdered mother, Queen Valeria, diagnoses Mari as experiencing magical withdrawal. The amulet, which Briar crafted for Valeria, contained a protective spell that Mari somehow tapped into, bolstering her own power. When the amulet broke, the magical debt caused her collapse.

Kane confesses his love to Arwen, explaining she is the hope birds represent to lost sailors, which is why he calls her "bird." They share an intimate night, but Kane pulls back, saying he cannot be physically close without full emotional commitment. They travel to Crag's Hollow, a coastal Onyx town, to find Esme, a Fae woman whose mother wrote the prophecy. Arwen deduces that Esme's young daughter Beth is the true seer.

Beth confirms the blade has been in Onyx all along and reveals that Arwen's father was a Fae God who knowingly fathered the prophesied child. Arwen's lighte healed her mortal mother during pregnancy, but the sustained exposure left her chronically ill for life. Beth confirms Arwen will die fulfilling the prophecy. That night, Arwen breaks through her emotional numbness, weeping in Kane's arms and admitting she does not want to die. Kane promises they will find another way.

After Citrine's royals expel all refugees associated with Kane's war effort, the group reconvenes at Shadowhold, Kane's fortress. Arwen realizes the blade was stolen by Drake Alcott, a thief once imprisoned in Shadowhold's dungeon near the vault before being exiled to Hemlock Isle, a volcanic prison island. She confesses her love to Kane, and they consummate their relationship.

Kane and Arwen fly to Hemlock Isle alone. The island's warlord, Killoran Grim, ambushes them, binding Kane in lilium chains, a rare alloy that suppresses Fae power. Killoran sentences Arwen to be fed to a widow, a giant spider-like creature with acidic venom. Arwen endures the widow's bite, knowing the acid will melt the creature's collar and free it. She rides the freed widow to Killoran's war room and realizes Killoran's sword is the Blade of the Sun itself. Kane, still bound, shifts only his dragon fangs and tears out Killoran's throat. Arwen claims the blade, and both she and the weapon erupt with light. She frees Kane and destroys Killoran's remaining followers.

Before they can escape, Lazarus arrives in dragon form with the surviving Halden on his back. Kane cannot shift due to lighte depletion. Arwen suspects her brother Ryder inadvertently revealed their location to Amelia, who may have cut a deal with Lazarus to protect her conquered people. Arwen decides to fight now, tells Kane she loves him, and leaps onto Lazarus's back. She battles Halden in midair, driving the blade through his heart. She weeps for her former friend, then climbs toward Lazarus's neck. Lazarus executes a violent barrel roll, throwing Arwen into freefall, and dives beneath her with an outstretched claw, impaling her through the stomach. Kane watches from above, believing she is dead. Lazarus flies away with Arwen's body and the blade.

In the epilogue, Arwen awakens alive in Lazarus's palace in Lumera, restrained by lilium-woven ribbons. Lazarus reveals the blade is destroyed and declares Arwen will become his queen, bearing him full-blooded Fae heirs. Arwen vows she will never comply. The novel ends with Arwen trapped in Lumera and Kane believing she is dead, resolving to seek the White Crow, a powerful sorcerer who might make Kane full-blooded and thus capable of killing Lazarus, to hunt down Amelia for her betrayal, and to kill his father and join Arwen in death.