Tale of the Heart Queen

Lor is pulled from her grief when she and Nadir’s body are transported to a circular, marble-floored room. A woman appears whom Lor recognizes as Zerra, the former queen of Aphelion who became a goddess—the divinity at the center of Ouranos’s primary religion. Lor realizes she’s in the Evanescence. Zerra informs Lor that Nadir is not dead but in a suspended state, and she can revive him. In exchange, Lor must retrieve the Alluvion King’s ark for her. Zerra gives Lor a five-day deadline, warning that Nadir will die if she fails. Before Lor can protest, Zerra teleports her to a beach in Alluvion, just outside the king’s shimmering glass palace.

In Alluvion, a disheveled Lor approaches the Crystal Palace and tells the guards she is Serce’s granddaughter and must see the king. A guard feigns compliance, leading her inside only to deliver her to a female guard. This new guard coldly informs Lor that Serce’s descendants are unwelcome and that she is being kept alive only so the king can question her. Lor is then locked in a dungeon cell.

In Aphelion, Gabriel walks through the carnage of a massive battle. The city is in ruins in the wake of his public reveal of Atlas’s treachery, making all of Aphelion believe that the true king, Tyr, was dead. Gabriel’s announcement with Tyr by his side ignited a violent city-wide riot. Worried about Lor and Nadir, Gabriel proceeds to the dungeons to check on Atlas, who is being guarded by two of Gabriel’s warder brothers, Drex and Syran. He finds the dungeon cells empty and discovers the bodies of Drex and Syran, murdered and pinned to a wall by their wings. In Atlas’s former cell, his neatly folded jacket and crown signal that the traitor has escaped.

After a day in the Alluvion dungeon, Lor is preparing to use her magic to escape when Cyan, the Alluvion King, arrives. He is accompanied by the hostile female guard who imprisoned her. Cyan confirms Lor’s identity as Serce’s granddaughter. He then formally introduces the female guard as Linden, the former princess of The Woodlands and Lor’s great-aunt.

Lor learns that Linden despises Lor’s family because Serce was responsible for the death of her brother—Lor’s grandfather Wolf. At dinner on a balcony, Cyan is joined by Linden and another woman, Anemone, Cyan’s consort. Cyan reveals he has heard rumors of Atlas stealing Lor from Nostraza and Rion pursuing her. Lor further angers Linden by revealing that Cedar, The Woodlands King, welcomed her into his home and even let her hold their family’s Artefact, the Woodlands Staff. Linden remains hostile, and Lor notices that Anemone’s turquoise hair seems to be dyed. She wonders who the woman really is.

Nadir awakens in immense pain in an unfamiliar, cloud-like room within the Evanescence. The goddess Zerra is with him, acting overly familiar and seductive. She tells him that his mate doesn’t deserve him. Nadir is too weak to resist as Zerra touches him, but her kisses repulse him. She informs him that his heart is beating again and promises to take care of him before he loses consciousness once more.

After an unsettling dinner, Cyan and Linden show Lor to a luxurious room. On the way, she sees the Alluvion Coral, the kingdom’s Artefact, housed in a massive aquarium in the throne room. Overwhelmed with worry, she attempts to practice her magic in the shower but loses control, shattering the glass walls. The noise summons the guards, followed by Cyan, Linden, and Anemone. Lor’s lack of control makes Cyan suspicious, but he moves her to another room for the night, placing guards outside her door.

In a flashback to 287 years ago, Prince Rion prepares for his forced bonding ceremony to Meora, a woman he impregnated during a one-night stand. His true love, Rachel, confronts him for choosing the Aurora throne over their relationship, which he does not deny. Rion proceeds to the throne room, where his father, King Garnet, is dying from a magical illness called the Withering. During the ceremony, Rion briefly believes he hears the Aurora Torch, his kingdom’s Artefact, speak his name. He dismisses it and stands with Meora, ready to secure his claim to the throne.

The next day, Cyan escorts Lor to lunch, where she is ambushed by D’Arcy, the queen of Celestria, and Bronte, the queen of Tor. They interrogate her about her past. D’Arcy, detecting the scent of an Aurora royal on Lor, correctly deduces that she is mated. Lor admits her mate is the Aurora Prince, Nadir, but tells them he is dead. D’Arcy, who lost her own mate, many years ago, doesn’t believe Lor’s claim as the loss of a mate would leave her destroyed. Despite their questions, Lor refuses to tell them about the bargain she struck with Zerra.

Back in Aphelion, Gabriel orders his warder brothers to hunt for the escaped Atlas. Lor’s brother, Tristan, and Mael, the captain of Nadir’s guard, demand help rescuing Lor and Nadir from Rion, but Gabriel refuses, explaining that his soldiers are needed to control the riots. Gabriel removes the magical arcturite cuffs that had bound Tyr and gives them to the warders to use on Atlas when they find him. A guard arrives with the Heart Crown, which Lor dropped in the throne room during the riot, and Amya explains Lor’s true identity as the Heart Queen. Still, Gabriel cannot spare anyone. Mael, Amya, Tristan, and Willow resolve to pursue Rion on their own.

D’Arcy’s revelation about the debilitating sickness that follows a mate’s death gives Lor hope that Nadir is still alive. Desperate to find the ark, Lor asks her guards to take her to the throne room. There, she meets Cyan’s father Bain, the caretaker of the Alluvion Coral. Claiming the Artefacts speak to her, she convinces Bain to take her to the Coral. Bain agrees to meet her the next night to drain the tank. Back in her room, Lor fashions an escape rope from bedsheets and tests her magic, accidentally causing a cliffside to collapse into the sea.

Nadir wakes again, feeling stronger but still disoriented in the Evanescence. His magic is gone, suppressed by Zerra. Zerra continues her seductive and possessive behavior, providing him with clothes and leading him across a magical walkway to a dining hall. Fed up, Nadir demands to know where Lor is. Zerra smiles cruelly and delivers a destructive blow: She tells him that his own mate, Lor, is the one who killed him.

During a violent storm, Lor uses her sheet rope to climb down from her balcony. She sneaks to the throne room and meets Bain, who drains the water from the Coral’s tank. Lor touches the Artefact and is pulled into a mental void. The Coral speaks to her, explaining that Lor is destined to take the Heart throne to restore her queendom’s magic, which was sealed away after her grandmother, Serce, tried to take all the power for herself. The Coral then shows Lor the location of the Alluvion ark: hidden inside one of the small tide pools in the throne room.

Lor frantically searches the tide pools as Bain watches in alarm. She finds the ark, but as she turns to leave, Cyan blocks her path. He is furious, demanding to know why she’s stealing from him. Lor desperately explains that Zerra is holding Nadir hostage and demanded the ark for his return. Shocked by Zerra’s involvement, Cyan still refuses to give her the ark, fearing the goddess’s power. As guards surround Lor, Linden arrives with urgent news: The Aurora King and his army are at their gates.