King of Battle and Blood

Isolde has an intimate dream about Adrian—a dream that seems real. When she wakes up, she goes to the gardens and swims in the grotto. When she surfaces, Noblesse Gesalac, the father of the noblesse that Adrian killed at the ball, is watching her. Isolde scolds him before returning to her room. She has breakfast with Violeta and Vesna and then offers to go to the market with them so that they may buy fabric to make clothing for her and Vesna. Violeta is surprised, as royals do not typically go to the market themselves.

Ana gives Isolde a tour of Adrian’s rooms and reveals that her vassal is visiting family; Ana only feeds from one woman, whom she loves, but the woman does not want to become a vampire. Ana also tells Isolde that while people now have the choice of whether or not to be turned, this was not always true. She hints that Sorin may not have had a choice in the matter of becoming a vampire so that he could be with Daroc. In a mirror, Isolde sees the same ginger-haired woman whom she thought she saw in Sadovea.

Adrian takes Isolde to a meeting of his council with some of the noblesse men. Isolde scolds him for only having one woman (herself) on the council, and Adrian promises to fix this issue. They discuss the attacks on Vaida and Sadovea. Ana reveals the autopsy results from the young girl who turned monstrous, telling the council that someone attempted to perform a crimson mist spell to turn all the villagers into monsters and raise some sort of army. However, the attempt failed, and the culprit was clearly not a natural witch or was not very skilled. One possible suspect is Ravena, a woman who was Dragos’s witch and went missing when Adrian took power. When a noblesse named Julian accuses Adrian of being too distracted to find Ravena, Adrian carves out his eye. When the meeting ends, Adrian explains that he punished Julian for calling Isolde a “whore” in his thoughts. Adrian also tells Isolde that Ravena is raising the army to harm her because Isolde is Adrian’s weakness.

Isolde is perplexed by Adrian’s claim that she is his weakness, given that Adrian has not known her for long. She, Violeta, and Vesna go to the market, accompanied by Miha and Isaac for protection. The mood in the city is festive, and Violeta explains that the Burning Rites are in one week. This is a celebration to remember the High Coven and the witches who were killed by Dragos. Isold implores Violeta to speak honestly about her opinion of the High Coven, and Violeta reveals that she is the descendant of Evanora, a member of the High Coven. Evanora was burned, as were many of her descendants. Violeta and her family remained in hiding until Adrian became king and stopped the killings. Isolde wants to be a true queen of her people, and Violeta assures her that she can be as long as she takes the time to learn her history.

Back at the Red Palace, Isolde seeks out Lothian in the library and asks him to show her around. Lothian introduces her to Zann, a vampire archivist for whom Lothian is a vassal. Zann offers to find older books about the High Coven and the Dark Era. Lothian gives her a tour, and Zann shows her some diaries written by Revekkians during the Dark Era; in this time frame, many citizens recorded their lived experiences and hid them until safer times. Zann also shows her some writings and art from the period, including portraits of 12 of the 13 members of the High Coven. Isolde asks about the missing member, and Lothian tells her about Yesenia of Aroth, whom Dragos blamed for the High Coven’s refusal to serve as his weapons. Ravena replaced Yesenia and claimed to be able to identify witches on sight, so she was able to have anyone she wanted burnt alive. Yesenia also had the gift of prophecy and foresaw Dragos’s death. Dragos imprisoned her and forced her to watch all the other High Coven members burn before he burned her. Isolde feels empathy for Yesenia and for the terror that she must have felt. Isolde reads more about the history of the High Coven, such as their internal processes and how they helped their communities. She also finds The Book of Dis, a spell book that appears to be empty. She asks Lothian if she can return and read more, and he agrees. She also asks Lothian to look for information about her mother’s homeland.

Isolde cannot sleep. She wanders the palace and sees vampires engaging in various carnal acts to celebrate the Burning Rites. Looking out the window, she is upset to see Adrian with Safira on his arm. She also sees Daroc and Sorin arguing, so she hurries on. Gesalac interrupts her and suggests that Adrian was the one who used the crimson mist as an indirect way to endear Isolde to him. Isolde privately considers the possibility but openly tells Gesalac to watch his words. Sorin arrives and rescues her, telling her that he has been tracking Ravena. (His special vampiric ability is tracking.) He does not reveal the reason for his fight with Daroc. Sorin escorts her to the library before resuming his attempts to track Ravena. Isolde finds a strange book with a blade hidden inside it. When she touches it, she has a vision of a dark-haired man attacking her, telling her that she must make her coven obey him. In the vision, she doesn’t know what he means, but when he tries to make her kiss him and promises that she will regret opposing him, she fights him off. He disappears. Returning to the present moment, Isolde does not understand what happened. She suspects that she might have had a vision of Dragos and realizes that she doesn’t understand the world around her. The only one with the truth is Adrian.

Isolde wakes up to find a letter from Nadia. Vesna gives her privacy to read it, and Isolde is struck with emotion as she reads Nadia’s descriptions of her father’s pain at her absence and his subjects’ belief that Isolde has failed in her mission. Nadia clearly still expects Isolde to kill Adrian, but Isolde is not sure that she wants to do this.

Isolde joins Adrian on the Burning Rites hunt. She rides on a horse with him peacefully, but when she sees an owl (an omen of death), she demands that Adrian turn around. However, he stops to fight an alp. While he is distracted, Isolde falls from her horse and catches a glimpse of the same ginger woman, finally recognizing her as Ravena. Ravena states that she knows Adrian has not yet drunk from Isolde; she also claims to know who Isolde really is, which Isolde finds confusing. Ravena hints that Isolde does not know her true self. Ravena uses crimson mist to control a noblesse named Ciro. Isolde stabs him in self-defense but sustains an injury. Sorin comes to her aid and kills Ciro before Isolde loses consciousness. He then flies them home in his hawk form, revealing to Isolde that he is capable of shapeshifting.

Isolde wakes up in a cold cell with an unconscious Adrian beside her. She cries and tries to wake him, and as he briefly wakes, he tells her that she cannot help who she is, just as he cannot help who he loves. Isolde wakes up and realizes that the scene in the cell was a dream, even though it felt very real. In reality, she is now safe in her bed in the Red Palace. Lothian knocks on her door with news of her mother’s people, announcing that King Gheroghe has enslaved all of them.