The Shattered Castle

The fifth and final installment of the Ascendance Series picks up in the fictional medieval kingdom of Carthya, where young King Jaron prepares for his wedding to Imogen, the woman he loves. Complications arise with the arrival of Imogen's mother, Lady Batilda Lamont, who openly despises Jaron for his reckless reputation. Three days before the ceremony, Castor Veldergrath, the son of a disgraced former regent, appears at the castle. Castor has blackmailed or pressured all but two of Jaron's 18 regents into resigning and naming him as successor. Jaron refuses and orders Castor removed.

Jaron harbors a dangerous secret. Six months earlier, he stole the Devil's Scope from the Prozarians, a seafaring enemy nation he defeated in the previous book. The scope, combined with three lenses, is said to form a map to a legendary ancient treasure. Jaron has let everyone believe it was destroyed, but he studies it in a hidden underground room, unable to decipher its symbols or unknown language. When Imogen discovers the scope, she is furious, accusing Jaron of endangering everyone. She storms out. That evening, Batilda invokes a legal right to forbid the marriage, a law Castor pointed out to her, and she and Imogen leave to stay with the Veldergraths.

That night, Jaron spots Mercy, top counselor to Prozarian Monarch Wilta Strick, among his sentries. Mercy kills the guards, and the Prozarians launch a surprise attack. Boulders shatter the castle walls, and Wilta's mother, Captain Jane Strick, leads soldiers through the breach. Jaron's chief regent, Rulon Harlowe, is gravely wounded. Jaron retrieves the scope and escapes through a secret exit as the castle falls.

Jaron hides the scope in a tree hollow and reaches Elmhaven, the Veldergrath estate, seeking Imogen. Castor pretends to welcome him but instead chains him in the dungeons, strips the king's ring from his finger, and orders him whipped for the scope's location. Jaron meets Levitimas, an old scholar and the scope's original guardian, who offers cryptic guidance: To live, Jaron must die. Captain Reever, one of Castor's officers who secretly remains loyal to Jaron, fakes most of the whipping. Imogen visits and, pressured by Castor, tearfully urges Jaron to accept exile. Castor privately admits he helped the Prozarians invade in exchange for being named Steward and intends to execute Jaron.

Batilda, secretly acting on Imogen's behalf, leaves the cell unlocked. Jaron escapes using a wooden carving board as improvised chest armor. On a bridge, an archer shoots him. The arrow strikes the board, and the impact knocks him into the river far below. Imogen screams his name as the current carries him away.

Jaron survives and disguises himself to infiltrate the Prozarian army marching toward the castle. He watches helplessly as Mott, his loyal companion-at-arms, is captured outside the gates. Inside the occupied castle, disguised as a servant, Jaron witnesses Wilta proclaim herself Monarch and announce his death. Castor is named Steward, though the crowd shouts "traitor." Jaron frees Carthyan soldiers from the dungeon and reunites with Fink, his adopted younger brother. Fink reports that Lord Kerwyn, the high chamberlain, was killed by Prozarians while helping others escape.

Jaron's friend Tobias, a regent and physician, reveals that Imogen is a direct descendant of Faylinn, one of Carthya's three founding rulers, giving her a royal bloodline. Castor knows this and plans to marry Imogen to claim the throne. Jaron reveals himself to Wilta and proposes a secret alliance against their common enemy. He notices scars on Wilta's arms, signs of an unidentified illness. Under pressure to save Tobias's life, Jaron writes down the scope's hiding location and gives it to Wilta.

Wilta forces Imogen to choose at a private supper, with Jaron hidden in the bushes. If Imogen chooses Jaron, Castor and his Stewardmen, the soldiers loyal to him, will be executed. If she chooses Castor, she must publicly denounce Jaron. After agonizing silence, Imogen chooses Castor. Wilta tells Jaron afterward that Imogen still loves him and chose Castor only to keep the Stewardmen alive for her own plan.

Jaron escapes with the scope and rides to Farthenwood, an abandoned estate, hoping to find Roden, a close ally leading the returning Carthyan army. No one comes except Amarinda, a trusted friend, who arrives with the gravely wounded Harlowe. Jaron returns to the castle alone and confesses his deepest secret to Imogen: Years ago, as a starving boy, he stole coins from a woman on a roadside. Those coins were Batilda's rent money; without them, Batilda was forced to sell Imogen into servitude. Jaron's theft caused the worst suffering of Imogen's life. He acknowledges the fault is entirely his and apologizes. Imogen takes his hand.

Imogen publicly accepts Castor's marriage proposal to save Tobias from execution. Wilta announces Imogen's royal bloodline and declares her Queen of Carthya, stripping Castor of his title. Imogen delivers a defiant speech calling on Carthyans to resist. Roden's army attacks from the east while Darius, Jaron's elder brother, breaks through the main gates with Mott and armed civilians. Jaron announces himself alive from the curtain wall and threatens to fire two cannons. When Captain Strick orders the Prozarians to fire a cannon Jaron left on the wall, the weapon explodes because Jaron overloaded it with gunpowder, destroying the curtain wall and half the remaining Prozarian forces.

When Imogen is captured, Jaron orders a retreat and is cornered in the cellar. Tobias deliberately reveals to Wilta that the treasure lies beneath the royal crypt but the entrance is blocked, prompting Wilta to send soldiers to clear it at great cost in lives. Meanwhile, Jaron discovers a tunnel from Levitimas's dungeon cell into the crypt. They crawl through, find the tombs of Carthya's three founders, and use the scope's lenses to decode inscriptions. Rotating one tomb reveals a staircase into an enormous underground cavern filled with gold, gems, ancient weapons, and a book of knowledge Levitimas has sought his entire life.

Wilta, Mercy, Strick, and dozens of Prozarians follow into the cavern. Greed tears them apart. Strick removes Wilta as Monarch, and fighting breaks out. Lump, Wilta's loyal commander, kills Strick. Castor then appears above and drops lit bags of gunpowder, destroying the staircase and sealing everyone in darkness.

Jaron demands the surviving Prozarians pledge loyalty to him and leads them along an underground river to a cliff above a lake. Mercy attacks from behind, but Tobias strikes him down. Jaron jumps into the lake far below, and the survivors follow. He orders the Prozarians to leave Carthya forever. Wilta, badly injured, transfers leadership to Lump, who promises to rebuild the Prozarians peacefully.

Mott, Darius, and Carthyan forces meet Jaron outside the castle. Captain Reever and the Stewardmen have arrested Castor on Imogen's orders, given before any marriage took place. Jaron reclaims his king's ring, which he secretly slipped off Castor's finger in the treasure room. He gives Levitimas the book of knowledge, which Jaron secretly transferred from Mercy's bag and hid beneath coins Castor unwittingly carried out.

In the great hall, Jaron finds Imogen in his mother's wedding gown, surrounded by their friends and the people of Carthya. Darius stands in for their parents. Jaron speaks honestly about his flaws and promises no more secrets. He produces the wedding ring from his boot, where it spills out with water from his plunge into the lake. He proclaims Imogen "the Peacebringer," and they are married before all of Carthya.