Curse of Shadows and Thorns

Curse of Shadows and Thorns (2021) is a romantic fantasy novel by L. J. Andrews and the first story in The Broken Kingdoms series. Curse of Shadows and Thorns centers on the story of Elise Lysander, the king’s niece, who is trying to avoid an arranged marriage but is ultimately paired with the arrogant Legion Gray as her matchmaker. As the passion—and conflict—between them grows, so do the dangers threatening their kingdom. The novel explores The Importance of Choice in Love, The Complexities of Trust, Loyalty, and Forgiveness, and Power Versus Justice.

This study guide uses the 2021 Kindle edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of enslavement, racism, gender discrimination, sexual violence, attempted death by suicide, graphic violence, illness, and death.

Plot Summary

A hundred years before Curse of Shadows and Thorns takes place, the rulers of the Northern kingdom of Etta were overthrown by a race of people called the Timorans. New Timoran was built on the ashes of Etta, and the Ettan people were enslaved while the Night Folk—a magic-wielding community who often married into Ettan families and passed down their powers—were driven away for fear of their powers. The Timorans established rigid rules and hierarchy, building their power on the backs of others and doing whatever they needed to uphold their lavish lives.

In the present timeline, Elise Lysander is not like the other royals. The second daughter of the king’s sister, Elise, feels out of place in the cold and cruel world of Ravenspire Castle, particularly because she cannot stand the way people of other races and classes are treated. Unlike others in her family, Elise befriends the Ettan serfs who labor in her household, becoming especially close with her maids, Mavie and Siverie. She often sneaks out of her palace and disguises herself as a boy to attend gambling dens and practice sparring with her maids. However, Elise knows that, as a member of the royal household, she has little say in her future and will ultimately have to marry a nobleman of a matchmaker’s choosing.

In New Timoran, marriage matches are typically arranged by a woman’s father, but Elise’s father is gravely ill, and her uncle, the king, threatens to withhold medical treatment from him if Elise doesn’t go along with his demands for her marriage. The king entrusts a prominent bargain broker named Legion Grey to broker Elise’s vows and find her a match. Elise is terrified of what this means and does not trust the handsome stranger to consider her choices. However, as she gets to know him, Legion begins to surprise Elise, as she does him.

Legion is surprised to learn that Elise is bright, fearless, and kind, and she is not concerned with the frippery of most royals. They bond over their hidden feelings about injustice in the kingdom, but Siverie warns Elise that she thinks something isn’t right with Legion or his two companions, Tor and Halvar. As Elise and Legion meet with different suitors, neither of them finds any of her options suitable. The only suitor bidding for Elise’s hand that she even considers is Jarl Magnus, an old acquaintance who has grand ideas about changing New Timoran. Legion fears Jarl’s ideas to change the kingdom don’t align with Elise’s views about the treatment of others, especially as Jarl is close with her conniving cousin Calder and her suspicious sister Runa.

One day, when Elise is looking for Legion, she learns that he has taken ill with an affliction he suffers from about every month. When she meets him a few days later, she is shocked to see how much of a toll this ailment has taken on him. While he is missing, her home comes under attack by Agitators, a group of people who rebel against the Timoran royals because they believe an Ettan royal called the Night Prince is still alive. These Agitators are followed by a mysterious cloaked figure called the Blood Wraith, with whom Elise had a horrifying encounter years earlier. Everyone in New Timoran knows that no one escapes an encounter with the Blood Wraith alive, yet she got away after an injury to her fingers when the Guild of Shade that accompanied the Blood Wraith took him away. When she sees the Blood Wraith at her palace, she believes he is back to get her, and fears him far more than the Agitators.

Elise and Legion’s feelings for one another grow as the date Legion must choose a match for her gets closer. He makes the radical statement that Elise will be the one who chooses whom she marries, stunning people like Jarl. One day, when they are discussing Elise’s future, she and Legion are attacked by two Agitators. They survive the attack, but the king declares that all Agitators will be killed for their disloyalty.

Celebrations are held at Ravenspire Castle when three Agitators are captured, but Elise is uncomfortable with these festivities. She wants to understand the Agitators’ point of view and believes they should have a fair trial like anyone else. When she tells this to the king just before the Agitators’ execution, the king is suddenly killed, and chaos ensues at the castle as more Agitators storm the gates. Legion and his men take Elise and her maids into hiding, but Elise is shocked when Legion claims that Siverie is an Agitator who was sent to kill her. Though Siverie pleads with Elise that things changed when they became friends and she betrayed her clan months earlier, they still take her as a prisoner.

Legion begins to suffer from his affliction once he kills a man as they try to escape the castle. He leads Elise to the kitchen, where a steward has brewed an elixir that helps him with his pain. He also gives Elise an elixir to tie her strength to Legion, whom he reveals cannot die, but she has to choose to stay with him for the remainder of the night. After she makes this promise, Legion reveals that he is the Blood Wraith. He and his men take Elise and Siverie away from the chaos at the castle. As they are leaving, they learn that Runa and Calder were the ones who arranged the assassination of the king. They have now taken the throne and will kill anyone who does not accept them as their new sovereigns.

Elise doesn’t want to hear Legion’s explanations about being the Blood Wraith, and escapes from him as soon as she can. However, when Jarl confines her and threatens to kill her, Legion comes to save her and forgoes taking the elixir that calms his affliction, which Elise has now learned is a curse. The curse gives Legion an insatiable bloodlust, which can only be quelled if his own blood is drawn. When Elise discovers he has no choice in his actions, she forgives him and agrees to help him break the curse. This involves spilling royal blood, but when Elise is about to sacrifice her life for Legion’s, he sacrifices his life to save her from an attack instead.

As Elise holds Legion’s limp body in her arms, he begins to glow with a bright light and transforms before her eyes, as do Tor and Halvar. Once the curse has been broken and Legion has transformed, Elise realizes that he is the missing Night Prince—the rightful heir to the kingdom, whose memory had been wiped to keep him from reclaiming the throne. Elise wants to help him effect change in the kingdom as they have always talked about, but the Night Prince seeks vengeance against his family’s murderers, and knows Elise wouldn’t be safe if she followed his quest.

Legion tells Elise that they must part and uses his magic to make her unable to mention that the Night Prince has returned. Runa and Calder’s army begins to approach as Legion sends Elise and a now-forgiven Siverie away. Unable to return to New Timoran as enemies of the crown, yet cast away from their friends, Siverie takes Elise to her clan of Agitators, who reveal that they have selected a new king as they have lost faith in the Night Prince’s return. Elise is unable to tell the Agitators that the Night Prince is back, but has faith that fate will bring her back to him so they can build a more equal kingdom together.