The Traitor Queen

They arrive in Nerastis, and Zarrah discreetly drops Lara, Aren, and Jor off along the shore. While Jor sneaks off to find a vessel, Lara and Aren speak of her plans to return to Maridrina to kill her father. Aren warns her against the risk, but Lara is determined to get her revenge. They’re interrupted by attacking Maridrinian soldiers who mistake them for Valcottans. Recognizing them, Keris misdirects his soldiers long enough to buy them time to escape. With no other choice, Aren drags Lara into the boat with him and Jor.

Aren worries that his soldiers will kill Lara on sight as they sail for Ithicana. When they arrive on shore, they are greeted by Aster—the older Watch commander Aren replaced with Emra several months back. The men are unhappy to see Lara, but Aren narrowly convinces them to leave her alive by renouncing her as his wife, his queen, and a citizen of Ithicana. Aster and his men allow Lara to stay and help them defeat Maridrina on the assumption that she’ll leave Ithicana permanently once the war is over.

Lara and Aren are escorted to the Midwatch garrison, where they strategize for three days and nights. Throughout this time, countless Ithicanians tell Lara of the ways in which they’ve suffered because of her—how many loved ones have been tortured or killed and how many families have been separated. Lara’s guilt soars; she apologizes and promises to make amends, but no one is satisfied.

Jor, Lia, Aster, Lara, Aren, and a few other guards board one of the boats headed for Gamire Island. When the pier they plan to use is more heavily manned by soldiers than they anticipated, Aren suggests a more dangerous route: Snake Island, so named because it is heavily infested with venomous snakes. The risk is extensive, so Lara offers to do it, as she’s the only one fast enough aside from Aren. Lara races quickly through the sand on Snake Island’s shore and climbs the cliff to the pier while Aren and his soldiers shoot arrows at the snakes from the boat. She feels something pierce the back of her knee but makes it to the top.

Aren believes Lara has been bitten, and Jor holds him back from racing into danger to reach her. Lara, however, seems fine as she dispatches the Maridrinian soldiers on the pier and drops a rope for Aren and his group to climb. Aren climbs up and checks Lara’s leg. Luckily, the fangs didn’t break the skin. His group respect Lara more for risking her life to help them.

They take the bridge from Snake Island to Gamire Island, where they release poisonous gas into the section of its interior where the Maridrinians patrol. They race to pier to block the exit for any who might escape. They then race to the edge of the island, where Aren’s forces stage a decoy attack from the water, distracting the soldiers long enough for them to dispatch those manning the shipbreaker weapons, dismantling them to give his forces the opportunity to safely reach the island.

Aren leads his forces across Gamire Island toward the prison where Ithicanians are being held. They find Aren’s cousin and Lara’s friend, Taryn, alive. Lara and Aren kill the soldiers and free Taryn’s binds. Taryn lifts her sword as if to attack Lara but states that killing Lara won’t change anything. She then runs to join the battle.

Aren’s forces liberate Gamire and free all the Ithicanian prisoners. Taryn asks Aren why Lara isn’t dead; Taryn is only placated when Aren states Lara will leave as soon as the war is won.

Lara limps through the village, searching for any surviving Maridrinians, bleeding steadily from a wound on her leg. She reaches Nana’s home, finds a needle and thread, and begins stitching up her wound. Aren finds her and asks why she didn’t request help, to which she replies that she didn’t “have the right to ask any of them for anything” (310). Aren stitches her up himself and demands she stop risking her life to make amends. She knows she will never change their opinions of her, no matter how much she tries. Instead, she claims she’s doing everything she can to “find a way to live with [her]self” but it isn’t working (311). Aren gives into his desire for Lara, and they have sex.

Hours later, Lara wakes in his arms. Though it feels right, she senses something is wrong. Aren calls it a mistake—“not better than spitting in” the faces of his people (317)—and leaves to go on patrol. Lara begs him to stay and says she loves him, but he only apologizes.

Aren yearns to return to Lara but forces himself to leave her behind for his people. He joins Jor who sits at a nearby fire. Jor warns Aren that he needs to choose—Ithicana or Lara. Aren insists that he’s chosen Ithicana, but Jor suggests he send Lara away or she will continue to distract Aren from his kingdom.

Lara wakes the next morning, determined to prove she can keep up with Aren’s group when they depart from Midwatch. She gathers painkillers and stimulants from Nana’s shelves, packing them into a bag along with bandages. However, when she leaves the cabin and enters the village, she finds it abandoned. Lara screams in frustration and hurt until she hears a horn in the far distance signaling that the Valcottans had been victorious at Southwatch: Ithicana is free.

Aren and his forces climb the cliffs at Midwatch and take the garrison from behind. Though they are successful, they lose hundreds of lives. When they hear distant horns from north and south, they assume that Harendell and Valcotta have taken Northwatch and Southwatch.

Aren climbs the path to his Midwatch home, which he’d given to Lara when he still had dreams for bettering his kingdom. It has been ransacked by Maridrinian forces. He sets it on fire and watches it burn, feeling nothing. Jor finds Aren; both are suspicious of the easy victory. A soldier finds them and informs them of what the horns are communicating: no battle occurred at Southwatch because they found it abandoned, and Northwatch hasn’t answered their queries. Aren discovers that Maridrina knew what they were planning. Aren believes Keris betrayed them somehow, likely to save Zarrah’s life. They all wonder where Silas took his missing troops. Aren races to the lookout tower and sees an enormous signal fire in the distance—Eranahl calling for aid.

Lara heads south toward Maridrina to find her father. Though the horns’ message has changed, she is unable to decode the sounds. Eventually, she sees Eranahl’s signal fire and realizes it’s under attack.