The Shadow Throne

The third and final installment of the Ascendance Trilogy follows Jaron, the young king of Carthya, as he fights a war on multiple fronts to save his country from three invading nations.

Three weeks before the war, Jaron stages a public argument with Roden, the captain of his guard, in Drylliad, Carthya's capital, then banishes him with forty soldiers. The fight is a deception: Jaron wants enemy spies to report Carthya's armies as divided. In truth, Roden has been secretly sent to the northern border with the neighboring kingdom of Gelyn to capture a garrison and block their army from crossing into Carthya.

When war arrives, it comes from every direction. Avenia, the aggressive kingdom to the west, raids the town of Libeth and kidnaps Imogen, a young woman Jaron loves, to use as bait. Gelyn advances from the north, and Mendenwal, a historically diplomatic kingdom, mobilizes from the east. Jaron convenes a war council with his closest advisors: Lord Kerwyn, his high chamberlain; Mott, his loyal protector; Amarinda, his betrothed princess from the allied kingdom of Bymar; Tobias, a young regent; and Harlowe, his prime regent and a father figure.

Jaron dispatches each on a critical mission. Kerwyn travels to Mendenwal to appeal to King Humfrey's friendship. Mott goes to rescue Imogen, since everyone agrees the camp is a trap designed to capture the king. Amarinda, Tobias, and Fink, a young Avenian boy Jaron considers family, will travel through Avenia in an "escape carriage" with a hidden compartment beneath a false floor to summon Bymar's armies. Harlowe stays to fortify Drylliad. Jaron privately releases Amarinda from their betrothal, telling her she should marry only for love.

Jaron rides north and arrives during a fierce battle at Half-Moon Pass, the sole corridor between Carthya and Gelyn. He fights his way into the garrison and is nearly trapped before Roden rescues him. A captured Gelynian commander then reveals that Avenia's real target is Mott: King Vargan of Avenia plans to capture Jaron's most trusted man and force him to reveal Carthya's strategies by threatening Imogen. Jaron realizes Mott walked into the trap and decides he must go himself.

Riding south, Jaron detours to sabotage a Mendenwal cannon by overloading its barrel with gunpowder, ensuring it will explode when fired. He then locates the Avenian camp and, using stolen gunpowder and flaming arrows, blows holes in the walls and creates chaos. He frees Mott and Imogen, but as they flee, a soldier fires at Jaron. Imogen crashes into the archer, deflecting his first shot, but a second arrow strikes her in the chest. She falls from a hilltop and disappears. A soldier calls out that she is dead. Jaron collapses and is captured.

Jaron is beaten and chained in an underground cell. The Avenian Commander Kippenger tells him the world will be informed the king is dead. For days Jaron withdraws into grief, refusing food until guards threaten an innocent woman, and he chooses to live as Imogen had asked. King Vargan threatens to execute Jaron's allies unless he cooperates. Later, Tobias is brought in; he explains that Amarinda returned to Drylliad to lead from the throne after hearing of Jaron's "death," while Fink continued alone to Bymar. Jaron feeds Kippenger elaborate false strategies and negotiates Tobias's release.

During a meeting with Vargan, Jaron steals keys from a guard. Vargan offers to let Jaron remain as a tributary king; Jaron refuses. Harlowe then arrives at the camp, secretly aware Jaron is alive through contact with Mott, who has been hiding nearby. In the dungeon, Jaron uses the stolen keys to free himself, Tobias, and Harlowe. Mott storms in, and the group escapes disguised in Avenian uniforms. During the flight, Harlowe shares the story of his infant son, stolen years ago by an Avenian nurse who died before returning him.

Jaron sends Harlowe to Drylliad and travels to Tarblade Bay, the pirate stronghold, demanding the pirates honor their oaths to fight for him. He also arranges for Vargan to intercept a false message directing Carthya's wealth to Farthenwood, a former nobleman's estate known to have secret passages, to misdirect Avenian forces. Mott confirms Imogen was placed in a burial wagon; there is no hope she survived.

Crossing into Carthya, Jaron's group reunites with Amarinda, who has been surviving alone after escaping her captors. Jaron observes the deep affection between Amarinda and Tobias and gives his blessing to their relationship. When Amarinda learns of Imogen's death, she and Jaron mourn together. Mott challenges Jaron to embrace his identity as the Ascendant King of Carthya, meant to rise from the darkest night. Jaron resolves to finish the war.

Near Drylliad, Jaron devises a plan. When Mendenwal's army marches toward Roden's defensive lines along the Roving River, Jaron signals his forces to pour heating oil into the water. Archers ignite it, setting the river ablaze and routing the enemy. However, Avenia remains conspicuously absent from the battle.

Jaron learns that Fink was captured trying to find him and likely revealed plans at Falstan Lake. At Falstan Valley, Jaron springs a trap months in the making: He had secretly dammed the river, draining the lake where Mendenwal now camps. He lures their army into the dry valley, then detonates gunpowder at the dam's base, releasing a catastrophic flood. The survivors surrender.

Victory is short-lived. Fink appears with hands bound as Vargan's massive army advances, accompanied by Bevin Conner, a treasonous former nobleman who escaped prison and allied with Avenia to become Carthya's puppet king. Trapped on a cliff, Jaron ties a rope around himself, puts Fink on his back, and leaps. Below, Avenia devastates Jaron's forces. Mott is gravely wounded while drawing enemy attention. Jaron orders a retreat into the forest, where fewer than 200 soldiers survive. With Mott near death and Tobias lacking medical supplies, Jaron surrenders himself to Vargan in exchange for supplies and an end to the fighting.

At Farthenwood, where a gallows awaits, Jaron discovers Imogen alive in the dungeon, pale and bandaged but standing. She survived the arrow wound but deliberately refused to heal so she could not be used against him. Jaron passes her the stolen keys during an embrace. Roden is also chained there. The next morning, Vargan forces Jaron to choose which of his three imprisoned friends will be spared from two nooses. He saves Tobias and faces the gallows with Roden. Conner ties Jaron's hands but secretly slips a knife up his sleeve and loosens the knots.

On the platform, Jaron tells Roden that Harlowe is his father, the stolen infant from Harlowe's story. When the stools are kicked away, Jaron jumps forward, tears free, and uses the knife to cut Roden's rope. He calls for the pirates, who pour from Farthenwood's secret passages, while weapons hidden beneath false floors in the gold wagons arm the Carthyan soldiers. Inside the castle, Vargan attacks Jaron with a dagger, but Conner intervenes and is fatally slashed; he dies asking forgiveness. King Humfrey of Mendenwal emerges alongside Kerwyn, who convinced Humfrey to witness Vargan's treachery. When Kippenger reads aloud the insult Jaron wrote on the surrender papers instead of his name, Humfrey orders Mendenwal to ally with Carthya. Vargan lunges at Jaron, but Kippenger kills him and offers Avenia's surrender.

A year later, Jaron and Imogen marry in the great hall at Drylliad. Tobias and Amarinda married months earlier. Mott survived his wound but will never fight again. Roden and Harlowe have spent the year building their relationship as father and son. Carthya faces a long recovery, but the kingdom is at peace.