61 pages • 2-hour read
The Traitor Queen
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Chapters 13-21Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of violence, torture, suicide, and suicidal ideation.
Chapter 13 Summary: “Aren”
Aren attends dinner with Silas. Zarrah, who is seated beside Prince Keris, rises and presses her hand to her heart when Aren enters the room. Keris, who is reading a book, frowns at what he reads but does not further acknowledge Zarrah’s action. Aren sits next to an older woman who introduces herself as Coralyn Veliant, one of the former king’s harem of wives. She reminds him of his own grandmother, who, during her time as a spy, became one of the former king’s wives. He wonders if Carolyn ever met her.
The kingdoms of Harendell and Amarid have ambassadors at the dinner, and the Harendellian ambassador does not seem to support Silas’s control over the bridge. Zarrah speaks on Valcotta’s behalf when she states that Valcottan merchants will refuse to trade through the bridge until Maridrina withdraws from Ithicana and Aren is released. In response, Silas threatens Zarrah’s life, at last provoking a reaction from Keris, whose fingers go white around his wineglass.
Aren is given a wooden spoon for dinner because it’s more difficult to turn into a weapon, but Carolyn “accidentally” drops her silver fork into his lap. Aren notices exchanged glances between Carolyn and another wife. Guards have been seated near Aren to eavesdrop on his conversations, but the wife distracts them long enough for Carolyn to have an unfiltered conversation with him. Carolyn asks him if there are gardens in Ithicana. He admits that there are, but they’re not cultivated like Maridrinian gardens. He states that wild things are more beautiful untamed, an attitude that reminds Carolyn of Lara. When Carolyn asks about their other flowers, he realizes she’s asking about the other sisters. Aren informs her that one was “clipped,” referring to Marylyn’s death, and “the gardener” (Serin) is monitoring the others.
Aren takes a risk in continuing the game. He asks if she’s fond of the scent of the flowers recently planted in her garden (the corpses left hanging by Serin) to which Carolyn says she is not. He suggests she consider asking the supplier to stop (the person sending his people to rescue him). He discreetly tells Carolyn that the supplier can be found at Sapphire Market, on the corner of Gret and Amot. When she asks why she should risk cancelling the king’s order of flowers, he simply says “Revenge,” but Carolyn states that revenge won’t bring their native flowers back nor keep them safe from the elements. Aren senses that he’s losing Carolyn’s support and takes a bigger risk, telling her to visit the florist and tell them that Amelie Yamure’s grandson sent her.
Chapter 14 Summary: “Lara”
Lara and her sisters stay separate in Vencia but meet in a workshop behind a jewelry store whose owner works as a spy for Ithicana. Aren’s grandmother, Amelie—or Nana as Lara calls her—finds out that Lara is using the space and visits to supervise the plans for Aren’s rescue. She resents Lara after the betrayal. They discuss their options, though prospects are bleak without a reliable informant on the inside. Their meeting is interrupted by the arrival of a harem wife who speaks with the store owner, Beth. Just as Lara and her sisters prepare to flee, the wife tells Beth that Amelie Yamure’s grandson sent her.
Chapter 15 Summary: “Lara”
Nana tells Beth to let the woman in. Sarhina recognizes her as her aunt, Coralyn, and they embrace. Coralyn asks for Lara, and Lara curtsies to her before scolding Coralyn for disappearing decades ago without a trace. The older women embrace before Coralyn informs everyone that while Aren is physically safe, the sight of his people being tortured, killed, and hung in the gardens torments him. The sisters ask Coralyn to help them infiltrate the palace, but she states that getting in is easy while getting out is impossible. When the sisters aren’t swayed by her warnings, Coralyn decides to help them. She will enlist the younger wives to help.
Chapter 16 Summary: “Aren”
The longer Aren spends locked up, the more he battles with his own thoughts. He feels helpless to aid his kingdom. Even if he were free, he believes his kingdom would be better off without him. He blames himself for trusting Lara.
Aren has another conversation with Keris. Keris urges Aren to listen beyond the palace walls, where people are shouting in anger. Aren remembers Lara’s plan to use Ithicana’s resources to feed Maridrina, “undercutting her father’s scheme to blame Ithicana for Maridrina’s” starvation (94). The plan has worked well, as Keris implies he spread a rumor beyond the walls that Silas is holding Aren captive, torturing him for information on how to invade Eranahl, and the people are rioting on Aren’s behalf.
Keris tells Aren that the Maridrinian people don’t want the bridge: It cost them everything, but they’ve gained nothing. Trade has dried up, and the kingdom’s coffers are empty. Keris states that the fate of Ithicana and the outcome of the war rests on Eranahl. The longer Eranahl stands strong against Maridrina, the more opportunity for the people to overthrow Silas and replace him with Keris. When Aren asks why Keris is trusting him, Keris explains that the harem will be involved in helping Aren escape, but he needs Aren to take Zarrah with him. In return, Zarrah has promised to send food to Eranahl so the city can outlast Silas’s siege.
Chapter 17 Summary: “Aren”
For days after his conversation with Keris, Aren studies all the palace’s defenses. Every single day, he tests a different route of escape, but everything proves impossible. This particular day, he breaks free of his guards and runs for a sewage grate but is tackled before he can slide through. Silas, who has become annoyed by Aren’s endless attempts, is tempted to execute him. Silas jokes with his harem of wives, calling Aren a feral dog and stating that Ithicanians aren’t like Maridrinians.
Chapter 18 Summary: “Lara”
Lara and Bronwyn visit a confectioner, where they discreetly meet with Coralyn, who delivers Lara a note and claims it’s time.
Chapter 19 Summary: “Aren”
Aren prepares for the escape attempt at dinner, the only time he and Zarrah are ever in the same room. All Aren knows is that Coralyn plans to sneak six of his soldiers inside. Aren waits eagerly for the sounds of battle outside the banquet hall’s doors, but instead, six of the harem wives arrive to perform a sensual dance for Silas. Silas ignores them, deep in conversation with the Maridrinian ambassador, but Aren soon recognizes them as Silas’s daughters. Aren finds Lara amongst the dancers, the sight of her causing complicated feelings to surface.
After the dance, Lara surprises Silas by jumping on his table and confronting him while her sisters kill the guards surrounding the room. As the banquet dissolves into battle, Coralyn unchains Aren, setting him free to escape with Zarrah when Lara and her sisters use explosives to blast open the walls. They flee to a nearby watchtower, where Keris meets them. With Zarrah now out, Keris has made arrangements for her to escape safely while Silas is focused on chasing Aren and Lara. Zarrah promises Aren that if she survives, she’ll make good on her promise to provide Ithicana with supplies.
Lara and her sisters give Aren a crossbow to shoot across the distance between towers. It is a long, seemingly impossible shot, but he makes it, providing a zipline for their escape. Lara takes it first, sailing unnoticed over the heads of the soldiers on the tower, who are preoccupied by more explosions below. Aren follows.
Chapter 20 Summary: “Lara”
Lara has noticed Aren’s cold behavior toward her. When he reaches the tower, she offers to help him up but he simply states that this rescue changes nothing between him. As soon as they reach safety, he expects to part ways. Athena, Cierra, Cresta, and Brenna cross over, leaving Bronwyn for last. Bron crosses just as the guards discover that the sisters are in the tower. As Silas’s men lift their weapons, Lara gives the order to blow the gate.
Chapter 21 Summary: “Aren”
The blast distracts the guards, allowing Bronwyn to land safely in the tower. Disguised to look like Maridrinian soldiers, they steal horses from the soldiers’ stables and ride them to the west gate. They kill the soldiers manning the gate and climb the cliffside to reach the meeting point, with Silas’s men in pursuit. Bronwyn is shot in the shoulder, and Lara begins to climb down to help her, but Aren decides to do so instead. When they reach the top, Lara sends everyone ahead while she stays behind with only three arrows to face off against the soldiers climbing up after them.
Chapters 13-21 Analysis
In this section of The Traitor Queen, The narrative momentum accelerates as Jensen includes plot threads of political intrigue, heists, and forced proximity, all conventional elements of the romantasy and high fantasy genres. The section’s climax—Aren’s rescue during Silas’s banquet—delivers moments of high-stakes action that act as a counterweight to the series’ focus on romance. Meanwhile, Jensen continues to rely on the dual point-of-view structure to juxtapose Aren’s despair with Lara’s determination. At this point in the narrative, the two protagonists occupy very different positions on The Long Road to Redemption. Each character believes they have made grave errors for which they must atone, but their attitudes toward this atonement are distinct: While Aren largely submits to suffering, believing he deserves it, Lara works tirelessly to undo the consequences of her fatal mistake.
Since the next duology in the series follows Keris and Zarrah’s love story, this section both continues its exploration of Aren and Lara’s fractured relationship but also introduces the nascent romance occurring between Keris and Zarrah. When Zarrah’s life is threatened by Silas, “Keris’s knuckles whitened around the stem of his wineglass” which Aren finds surprising “given that they were supposed to be mortal enemies” (71). Keris’s decision to ally with Aren to help Zarrah escape further solidifies the connection between him and Zarrah even when they’re not willing to admit that depth to themselves.
Meanwhile, Keris continues to be an enigma, as he spreads rumors of Aren’s imprisonment across Maridrina, causing public uproar. The unrest and instability in Silas’s kingdom is evidenced by the growing protests, urging for Aren’s safe release. The protests eventually become violent, “Silas’s soldiers resorting to force to drive the people back so that the nobility could come and go without harassment. Nobility who were in turn instructed to tell the mobs that Aren was being treated with the utmost courtesy and respect” (107). Keris’s manipulation of public sentiment benefits Aren and weakens Silas, but Aren remains uncertain of Keris’s motives. Keris embodies a high-fantasy archetype: the shrewd political operator who views entire populations as mere pieces on a chess board. His apparently amoral character presents a strategic challenge for Aren, but for now, the support of another nation’s people encourages Aren to believe he still deserves to be a ruler.
Through Keris’s game-playing and Silas’s tyranny, Jensen begins to explore a common theme found in the high fantasy genre—the costs of war and imperialism. The devastation of raids, sieges, and manipulation by powerful rulers throughout The Traitor Queen explores the price ordinary people pay for leaders’ ambitions. Jensen examines how nations weaponize resources, people, and geography to satisfy their leaders’ hunger for power. Silas uses propaganda to demonize the peoples he intends to conquer, thus enlisting his own people to sacrifice themselves for his greed. The book presents this mode of leadership as a failure to uphold The Responsibility that Comes with Power. By governing for himself rather than for his people, Silas inadvertently lays the groundwork for his own downfall.
When Lara strategizes how to enter Vencia’s palace, she rejects methods likely to cause collateral damage, demonstrating her own acceptance of responsibility:
[T]he Ithicanians were excellent with explosives, but the palace was full of women and children, never mind that they might accidentally kill Aren in the blasts. They could bring in reinforcements from Ithicana, but the death toll would be astronomical with no assurances of success. She and her sisters could try to infiltrate the palace blind, but that was likely to get more than a few of them killed, and the fact was, she wasn’t willing to risk them on a flimsy plan. Casualties every which way she looked, bodies to stack upon the bodies of all those who’d already died because of her mistakes (80).
This interior monologue reflects The Long Road to Redemption. Lara is determined to mitigate the damage she has already done with by accidentally disclosing secret information to Silas. As she tries to undo this damage, she must confront the risk of causing further damage. The costs of the war lie everywhere. It destroys lives, relationships, mental and physical health, economies, and more.
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