Lady Smoke (ash Princess Trilogy, #2)

The second installment in Laura Sebastian's Ash Princess trilogy, Lady Smoke continues the story of Theodosia (Theo), the 16-year-old Queen of Astrea, a magical nation conquered a decade earlier by the militaristic Kalovaxians. In the first book, Theo escaped the Kaiser's palace after years as his captive, poisoned her former friend Crescentia (Cress) with Encatrio (a magical poison from the Fire Mine), and fled aboard the Smoke, a pirate ship captained by her aunt Dragonsbane. She took the Kaiser's son, Søren, as a hostage.

As the novel opens, Theo is plagued by nightmares about Cress, who survived the Encatrio and gained fire powers. Aboard the Smoke, Theo finds comfort sleeping near Blaise, her oldest friend and an Earth Guardian blessed with power over the earth. His symptoms trouble her: feverish skin, sleeplessness, and increasingly unstable abilities. These are hallmarks of mine madness, a fatal condition caused by overexposure to the magic in Astrea's mines.

Dragonsbane, whose real name is Kallistrade, is Theo's mother's twin sister. She undermines Theo at every turn, treating her as an incompetent child rather than a queen. When her fleet commander advises against a direct assault on the Fire Mine for lack of forces, Dragonsbane proposes that Theo marry a foreign ruler in exchange for military support. King Etristo of Sta'Crivero will host a gathering of suitors. Theo objects, since Astrean queens traditionally do not marry, but reluctantly agrees.

Heron, an Air Guardian who can heal and turn invisible, asks Theo to question Søren about the fate of mine-mad slaves, hoping to learn what became of Leonidas, a man Heron loved. When Heron uses his invisibility to sneak Theo into the brig, she finds Søren beaten and bloody; Dragonsbane's crew has been using him as a target for their rage. Theo demands that Heron heal Søren, and Søren reveals that mine-mad slaves were either executed or kept for experiments. Theo insists Heron continue healing Søren but agrees to leave him in the brig to avoid antagonizing Dragonsbane.

Theo begins exhibiting mysterious fire powers, waking to find scorch marks burned into her sheets in the shape of her hands. She destroys the evidence and tells no one. Using Artemisia's Water Gift to disguise herself as Dragonsbane, Theo visits Søren secretly, and he coaches her on the foreign rulers she will encounter. Artemisia, Dragonsbane's daughter and a Water Guardian, reveals that no one truly knows which twin was born first, implying Dragonsbane may believe the throne should have been hers.

When the Smoke attacks a Kalovaxian trade ship, Søren interrogates a former crewmate named Mattin, who reveals the Kaiser's bounty on Theo. As Mattin is led away, he attacks, killing a guard and lunging at Dragonsbane. Søren kills Mattin with Theo's dagger, saving Dragonsbane's life. Theo later deduces that Søren secretly cut Mattin's bindings to engineer the attack, a gamble that proved his loyalty but cost the guard his life. The captured sailors reveal that the Kaiser has married Cress, crowning her Kaiserin, or empress. Theo leverages Søren's heroism and her agreement to meet suitors to negotiate his release from the brig.

The fleet arrives in Sta'Crivero, a wealthy desert nation. King Etristo, an extremely elderly man, treats Theo as a commodity and demands a virginity examination, which Theo refuses. The suitors include Archduke Etmond of Haptania, a brilliant military strategist, and Chancellor Marzen of Oriana, a charming politician accompanied by his scientist sister Salla Coltania. Erik, the Kaiser's illegitimate half-Gorakian son and Søren's half-brother, arrives claiming the title of Emperor of Goraki. His mother Hoa, the Kaiser's formerly enslaved concubine, passed her imperial claim to him. Hoa visits Theo privately and calls her Phiren, a name drawn from Gorakian mythology symbolizing fiery rebirth.

Against King Etristo's wishes, Theo visits the refugee camp outside the capital, where thousands of displaced people live in squalor. She meets Mina, who studied the mines and explains that people like Blaise, whose power far exceeds normal capacity, inevitably die from the strain. The suitor process turns deadly when Archduke Etmond collapses after drinking poisoned wine. Søren is arrested for the murder despite no evidence. Blaise's instability worsens: his anger triggers an earthquake that shakes the palace, and Theo forces him to camp outside the city for safety.

Theo overhears King Etristo arguing with the fleeing Czar Reymer of Etralia, who reveals that the Kaiser's assassin targets suitors and that Etristo agreed to host Theo in exchange for Water Gems, magical gemstones. Shortly after, Hoa is poisoned by grapes meant for Erik, who had departed to recruit warriors from other refugee camps. During a late-night encounter, Coltania reveals herself as the true assassin behind all the deaths: She killed the Archduke by exploiting his strawberry allergy, framed the Kaiser, and poisoned Hoa. Coltania drugs Theo's tea, planning to kidnap her and force a marriage to Chancellor Marzen. As Theo loses consciousness, she stabs Coltania fatally with her dagger.

Realizing King Etristo will sell her to the Kaiser, Theo formulates an urgent escape. She breaks Søren out of the dungeon, and Dragonsbane agrees to help commandeer merchant ships but refuses to join the war, believing the odds are too poor to risk her crew. Artemisia discovers Theo's burning palms and learns about her emerging fire power. The group frees the refugees and loads everyone onto 15 stolen ships, with 2,000 volunteers joining the fight.

During the two-week voyage to Astrea, Søren and Artemisia train the volunteers while Theo and Søren begin a romantic relationship. As the fleet approaches Astrea, Blaise uses his Earth power to destroy enemy patrol ships but loses control, tearing apart their own vessel. Artemisia knocks him unconscious before Theo can kill him. The army attacks the Fire Mine at dawn. The Kalovaxians deploy berserkers, mine-mad Astrean slaves given Spiritgems (magical gemstones that amplify power) to push their abilities into uncontrollable detonation. Kalovaxian reinforcements arrive through the mountains, but Erik appears with reinforcements from Goraki and Vecturia, and Dragonsbane's fleet returns to join the fight.

The Kaiser and Cress request a parlay. In the commandant's barracks, Cress murders the Kaiser by wrapping her scalding, fire-gifted hands around his throat. She then offers Theo a goblet of Encatrio-laced wine: If Theo drinks and dies, Cress will order her army to retreat. Recognizing the military calculus, Theo drinks the poison, gambling that her fire power might let her survive. Søren is dragged away by Kalovaxian guards, and Artemisia uses her Water Gift to counteract the worst of the poison.

Theo wakes two days later, alive but transformed. A streak of her hair has turned white, and she can summon fire with greater control, though her power remains weaker than Cress's. The Kalovaxians have retreated, honoring the bargain, and taken Søren prisoner. Erik suspects Cress will keep Søren alive to marry him and legitimize her rule. Blaise withdraws from Theo's council. Theo retrieves a Fire Gem pendant from the Kaiser's ashes. Her people give her a new title: Queen of Flame and Fury. In the epilogue, Theo enters the Fire Mine alone, hoping to fully claim her power. Inside, she encounters a vision of her mother, who tells Theo she will set the world on fire and leads her deeper into the mine.