Court

Court is the fourth book in Tracy Wolff's Crave series, a young adult paranormal fantasy set in a world where vampires, witches, werewolves, dragons, and other supernatural creatures coexist in secret. The story follows Grace Foster, a gargoyle and newly crowned gargoyle queen, as she and her friends try to stop the vampire king, Cyrus Vega, from seizing ultimate power.

The story opens from Hudson Vega's perspective. Hudson, Grace's vampire mate and Cyrus's eldest son, returns with Grace to Katmere Academy, a school for paranormals in Alaska, after a devastating battle. They find the school ransacked and every student kidnapped by Cyrus. Their friend Luca has died, and Flint, a dragon shifter, has lost his leg. Luca's parents reveal that Marise, the school's nurse, secretly alerted Cyrus to the group's return. Wolves attack to capture Grace, and Hudson, who can disintegrate anything with a thought, eliminates dozens of attackers, devastating him psychologically. Grace's cousin Macy, a witch, opens a portal to the Witch Court while Hudson and his brother Jaxon, a vampire with telekinetic abilities, collapse the school onto the wolves and escape. Katmere is destroyed.

At the Witch Court in Italy, King Linden and Queen Imogen Choi refuse to help because Cyrus holds over 100 witch children hostage. Grace reveals the Crown, a tattoo on her palm that can permanently strip any paranormal of their abilities, and the gargoyle king's emerald ring. The queen agrees to pledge if Grace frees the children. Outside, the queen's sister Viola warns Grace never to let Cyrus capture her, as "death would be better than what he has planned" (101), and reveals that Macy's mother, Rowena, has been imprisoned at the Vampire Court.

Earlier, the Unkillable Beast, a creature the group encountered on the island, transported Grace to a vision of the Gargoyle Court, a medieval castle on the Irish coast. There the Beast revealed himself as Alistair, the former gargoyle king and Grace's distant grandfather, and passed her his ring, making her queen. When the group flies to Ireland, they find the Court in ruins. Hudson theorizes that a green string Grace perceives inside herself connects her to the Bloodletter, a legendary ancient being who can also manipulate time.

Hudson asks Grace to use the Crown to strip his powers after they defeat Cyrus, confessing that each time he uses his ability, "a little bit of the light fades inside me" (127). Grace refuses, believing the loss would hurt him more. They travel to the Bloodletter's ice cave in Alaska with friends including Eden, a dragon shifter, and Mekhi, a vampire in their inner circle.

The Bloodletter reveals she is Cassia, the God of Chaos, and Grace's grandmother. She created all paranormal creatures and trapped herself in the cave to protect them from her twin, Adria, the God of Order, also known as the Crone. Cyrus, once Cassia's lieutenant, allied with Adria and channeled a god-killer poison through the gargoyles' telepathic network, poisoning the entire Army. Cassia saved them by freezing them in time and hid a God Stone, a gem of immense power, with Alistair's general Chastain. When Grace tries to push the poison out of the gargoyle strings, the telepathic threads binding her to the Army, she tears a hole in time.

Jikan, the God of Time, arrives and threatens to unfreeze the Army, which would kill them. He reveals an antidote called the Tears of Eleos, guarded by a deadly creature in St. Augustine, Florida, and transports the group there. They find Monster Taffy, a shop run by a woman named Tess that conceals an arena for the Impossible Trials. All 3,695 previous competitors have died.

The group learns from the Order, Jaxon's vampire allies, that Cyrus is draining kidnapped children of their magic. Macy, Flint, and Mekhi impulsively portal to the Vampire Court, and Grace, Hudson, Jaxon, and Eden follow through a secret tunnel. They are ambushed by Isadora Vega, Cyrus's daughter and Hudson and Jaxon's half-sister, whose Soul Siphon ability lets her drain others' magic and life force. The group is captured and imprisoned with the kidnapped students. Cyrus demands Grace retrieve the God Stone in exchange for the prisoners' lives, and they strike a magical bargain.

Grace transports everyone to the frozen Gargoyle Court, where time moves six times faster. They train with the Army while searching for the God Stone. Each night, a Skeleton Army of reanimated gargoyle corpses attacks, and Hudson destroys them at devastating personal cost, feeling each death. Grace discovers the God Stone is the gem in Chastain's ring. When he refuses her challenge, she freezes every gargoyle simultaneously, provoking Jikan into collapsing the time bubble. The gargoyles turn to stone to survive the poison, but Chastain surrenders the ring first, moved by Grace's plea for the children.

A powerful warlock named Remy and a manticore named Calder arrive to help the group escape the Vampire Court. Grace offers Delilah, Cyrus's wife, revenge against Cyrus in exchange for freeing all prisoners. The group brings Isadora to the Crone, who is her mother, but Isadora rejects the reunion and returns to Cyrus.

The group of 12 competes in four rounds of the Trials, facing shadow creatures, debilitating potions, and a massive beast. Order members Byron and Rafael are killed, and Grace loses a wing. Rather than kill the beast, Grace heals it with her friends' combined power, transforming it into Tess's son, cursed for 1,500 years. Grace's tears of compassion become the Tears of Eleos. She drinks the elixir and channels it through every gargoyle string, curing the poison.

The group portals to the ruins of Katmere, where Cyrus has assembled 10,000 followers around a stone altar, planning to use the God Stone during an eclipse to become a god. In the battle, Calder is killed shielding Remy. Grace tricks Cyrus into a binding contract protecting her friends, but he straps them to a machine that drains their magic during the eclipse, transforming himself into an apparent god.

Grace discovers her demigod power is immune to the machine's restraints. She embraces her chaos power fully, causing vines and trees to erupt and free her friends. She pulls the stolen power from Cyrus, returns each friend's magic, and grows a new green wing as her demigod and gargoyle natures fuse. After she freezes Cyrus's forces, the Gargoyle Army arrives through portals worldwide, channeling energy into Grace to activate the Crown. She strips Cyrus of all his powers, rendering him human for 1,000 years while leaving his immortality intact, forcing him to live as what he most despises.

Grace delivers Cyrus to the Bloodletter's cave and locks Delilah in with him, fulfilling her promise of revenge. The Bloodletter, reunited with Alistair and freed by the Crown's power, passes the Crown back to Grace.

In an epilogue three months later, Hudson and Grace have settled in San Diego, where the Gargoyle Court is being rebuilt. Hudson reveals the promise behind Grace's ring, quoting Bayard Taylor's "Bedouin Love-Song": "I will love you, Grace, till the sun grows cold and the stars are old" (673). Grace whispers that she remembers "everything," implying her memories are returning. Eden arrives with news of a cure for Mekhi, who was poisoned during the Trials, and the group prepares for their next adventure.