Goldfinch

The sixth and final installment of the Plated Prisoner series, a dark adult fantasy reimagining the myth of King Midas, follows multiple characters across two realms as a fae invasion threatens Orea while Slade Ravinger, a fae king hiding his true nature, fights to reunite with his fated mate Auren Turley in the fae realm of Annwyn.

Slade departs Fourth Kingdom after learning the bridge of Lemuria, a magical path connecting Orea to Annwyn destroyed centuries ago, has been rebuilt and a fae army is invading. His sole aim is to reach Auren, a golden-skinned woman he sent through a magical rift into Annwyn to save her life. He assigns his brother Ryatt as commander, orders his captains Lu and Judd to lead soldiers to defend Fifth Kingdom, and flies ahead alone on his timberwing Argo, a large winged mount. Mid-flight, the rotting heart poisoning him since his two magical forms were torn apart nearly kills him. As he lies dying, a pāyur bond, the rarest fae soul-bond, fuses between him and Auren across the realms, healing his heart, merging his split forms, and triggering the manifestation of a shadowy dragon, an ancestral power his abusive father spent years trying to force out of him.

In Annwyn, Auren wakes in fragmented confusion. King Carrick, the Stone King, has captured her alongside Vulmin rebels who consider her their symbol as the last heir of the Turley bloodline, a royal family the Carricks tried to exterminate. On the advice of Slade's estranged father, a fae noble known as Cull, Carrick spares her to use as propaganda. A memory fae named Una tunnels worm-like creatures into Auren's mind that consume her memories and implant false ones. Despite the deepening erasure, Auren clings to one truth: her name is Auren Turley, and she is stronger than the dark.

Argo carries the unconscious Slade past his destination into Sixth Kingdom, where thousands of fae march past the burning city of Highbell. He encounters Queen Malina, the former Cold Queen who possesses ice magic, leading starving survivors about to be massacred. Slade kills the attackers with his rot, then unleashes his dragon in full combat for the first time, devastating the fae army. He clears Highbell Castle and forces Malina to show him the gilded birdcage where Auren was imprisoned for years. Malina, driven by guilt for having unwittingly helped rebuild the bridge with her royal blood, accompanies Slade to Seventh Kingdom to blockade the bridge entrance with ice, joined by Dommik, a shadow-wielding assassin devoted to her.

At Brackhill Castle, Osrik, the captain of Fourth's army, declares his love for Rissa, a former royal courtesan recovering from a near-fatal stabbing. After years of being used by powerful men, Rissa agrees to be with him on her own terms.

In her dungeon cell, Auren discovers she can channel rot through her gold magic to bypass her dampening cuff and destroy Una's memory worms one by one. When Una returns, Auren's fury triggers the return of her ribbons, long golden strands that burst from her spine. She kills Una, uses gold-shaped keys to unlock every cell, and fights her way to freedom.

Ryatt defends Cliffhelm, Fourth's border outpost, by releasing decades of Slade's accumulated rot frozen beneath the ground to swallow the marching fae. The gambit collapses the outpost itself, but reinforcements from Third Kingdom and snow pirates salvage a costly victory.

Slade crosses the bridge alone into Annwyn, finds the land cursed and dead, and encounters Vulmin rebels who guide him toward the capital, Lydia. Auren has entered the city disguised and discovered a public spectacle: King Carrick forces Emonie, a captured Vulmin spy glamoured to look like Auren, to bow before him while Wick, the Vulmin leader, and other prisoners face execution. Auren reveals herself, attacks with gold magic, and rallies hidden Vulmin supporters. Carrick escapes when Brennur, a crown-aligned fae whose rare fairy ring magic allows transport through magical circles, whisks him away.

Slade finds Auren on the streets of Lydia, but she does not recognize him because her stolen memories include all knowledge of him. When he calls her "Goldfinch" and their auras connect, the pair bond destroys the remaining memory worms and restores her mind. They retreat to a Vulmin safe house where the bond demands consummation over two days. Afterward, Auren learns Brennur kidnapped her from Annwyn as a child and sold her to flesh traders; she kills him. Wick reveals he is her second cousin, a secret Turley who left her behind during a childhood attack on their families. Auren forgives him.

The combined armies of First, Second, Third, and Fourth Kingdoms unite at Ranhold and defeat the fae. The coalition pushes to Seventh Kingdom, where Carrick has built a fortress with animated stone soldiers. Judd is killed saving Ryatt during the assault. Ryatt launches himself onto Carrick and decapitates him, deactivating every stone soldier.

Malina, captured near the bridge with Dommik, realizes the bridge's magic runs on willing royal Orean blood: Her sacrifice rebuilt it, and only her willing death can unmake it permanently. Freed by the injured Emonie, Malina runs onto the bridge with Dommik, who refuses to let her die alone. She plunges a dagger into her heart, and he follows. The bridge is destroyed, swallowing the approaching Gore, a faction of cannibal fae Carrick recruited as his final weapon, and thousands of soldiers into the void.

In Annwyn, Slade and Auren fly toward Glassworth Palace, where Cull has gathered his own army. Cull traps them under magic-suppressing nets, breaks Auren's bones whenever she attacks, and uses Slade's mother Elore as a hostage. His true purpose is to steal the dragon's power through an ancient blood ritual. As a blade arcs toward Slade's heart, Auren flings herself between them and takes the killing blow. The dragon dies from a simultaneous wound, but Cull's distraction loosens Slade's net. He breaks free, rots his father alive, and grinds his skull to dust. Auren dies in Slade's arms.

In the ether between realms, Auren exists as an extinguished star. Goddesses beckon her to join them, but she feels her pair bond still reaching. Her mother's voice tells her she does not have to fall. Auren pours herself back, and a goddess sends a droplet of healing light after her. She returns to her body as she and Slade plummet through the void; he had carried her into the cursed deadlands before the ground collapsed beneath them. Her ribbons fuse into golden wings, and she flies them both to safety. Pressing her hands to the dead earth, she channels the goddess's gift, transforming the barren landscape into lush meadows, forests, and a new city.

When the people acclaim Auren as queen, she declines, choosing to live for herself after a lifetime of stolen autonomy, and endorses Wick to lead an elected assemblage. In Orea, Ryatt, alongside Lu, Osrik, Rissa, Auren's loyal guard Digby, and Argo, crosses into Annwyn through a fairy ring that Emonie reveals. The brothers embrace, and the group grieves together for Judd.

Two months later, Auren and Slade settle in Bryol, her rebuilt childhood home. Slade's dragon has returned in a smaller form, healed through their bond. He shows Auren a fae storybook with a final page depicting them together, captioned "the golden one and the deathly flight." When he asks what she wants, she names visiting friends, rebuilding her hometown, and living every day as the "one day" they always dreamed about. They walk home along a gilded path under the purple Annwyn sky, choosing each other and the peace they have finally earned.