Two Twisted Crowns

Still shaken from his recent encounter with Elspeth, Ravyn digs at the Shepherd King’s grave, which is located in an ancient chamber within Castle Yew’s meadow. He finds a sword atop the skeletal remains of the actual Shepherd King and takes it with him. He forgets that he is using the Mirror Card to stay invisible, and as he leaves the chamber, the Card shows him a spirit named Tilly, who tells him that she and the rest of her family are waiting for her father, the Shepherd King. When he asks her who killed her, she confirms it was the first Rowan king, though she does not know how her father died since she was the first one to be murdered. She tells him she and her family will continue waiting for him until he finishes his task of righting wrongs, freeing Blunder, and collecting his due.

Accompanied by two Destriers, Elm goes to Hawthorne House to look for left-behind Providence cards on the king’s orders. In Elspeth’s old room, he meets Ione, still using the Maiden Card. Stunned since he had commanded Elspeth’s remaining family to flee, Elm tries to get her to leave, but when the Destriers see her, he knows he has no choice but to arrest her and bring her back to Stone. He explains to her what happened between Hauth and Elspeth and that her father, Tyrn, has been incarcerated in Stone’s dungeons. He saddles his horse and takes her with him, while she never once looks back toward her home.

The man in gold tells Elspeth his name is Aemmory Percyval Taxus and promises her she’ll start remembering herself soon. He tells her of their story of the girl, the king, and the monster they became.

Now at Stone, Ravyn encounters his sister Jespyr, who insists on accompanying him to retrieve Nightmare from the dungeons. Ravyn sends her to retrieve a Chalice Card instead. When Ravyn meets with the Nightmare (in the body of Elspeth), he is discomfited at seeing the changes to Elspeth’s body. He uses his own Nightmare Card to connect their minds, but he cannot find Elspeth in the mind she shares with the Nightmare. Ravyn questions the Nightmare, who confirms that he does, in fact, know where the Twin Alders Card is, but he remains cryptic with the details. Ravyn warns the Nightmare to be on his best behavior when they meet the king so as to not jeopardize Emory’s conditional freedom. They bicker on their way to the Rowan King’s chambers, and Nightmare mentions that he gave Ravyn and Elspeth privacy in their intimate moments by retreating to the shore he made in the darkness he and Elspeth share. Ravyn guesses that this is where Elspeth is, while Nightmare has taken control of her body. Ravyn finds Quercus, the Rowan King, in Hauth’s rooms, drunk and angry. Quercus attempts to use the Chalice Card’s truth-telling serum to question the Nightmare about the whereabouts of the Twin Alders Card, but the Nightmare is immune to the power of the Providence Cards and only gives half-truths to protect Ravyn and Elspeth’s families. He reveals, however, that to acquire the Twin Alders, there are three barters to make: the first at a lake, then at the neck of the woods, and the last in a place with no time and from which no one will leave.

Elm and Ione travel down the forest road. Elm reflects on what he has observed about Ione over the years—how he found her beautiful even before the use of the Maiden Card and completely at odds with a scheming place like Stone. Distracted, he doesn’t notice the highwaymen until they’re upon them. Having noticed where Elm keeps his Scythe Card, Ione taunts the highwaymen to kill her as she subtly reaches for it. When she activates it, she compels them to kill each other. Elm barters for his Scythe Card back by promising to convince his father to give her free reign of the castle when they return.

Elspeth’s memories begin to return, and Taxus leaves her to rest as she recovers them.

Elm and Ione arrive at Stone, the latter completely frozen. As Elm brings her to his room to get warm, they encounter Linden, a fellow Destrier and Hauth’s closest ally. He reproaches Elm for not visiting Hauth and for not bringing Ione directly to the dungeons, then leaves. In his rooms, Elm helps Ione remove her sodden dress, and she burns it since it was a gift from Quercus. As they dress and warm themselves by the fire, Ravyn contacts Elm through the Nightmare Card and comes to find him before Elm can warn him of Ione’s presence.

Ravyn feels despair at the future that awaits Ione, Elspeth’s favorite cousin. Linden comes to bring them all to the King, happily claiming that he will be using the Chalice Card on Ione, her father Tyrn, and Elspeth’s father Erik at their inquest. Using the Nightmare Card, Ravyn speaks to Elm, who tells him about his encounter with the highwaymen. Ravyn wants Elm not to honor his deal with Ione, knowing she will most likely die. Elm refuses.

In the throne room, the Rowan King demands Ravyn and Elm stand by him—a first for Elm. Ione, Tyrn, and Erik are forced to drink the truth serum. The King outlines Elspeth’s crimes and questions the three of them to determine their involvement. Tyrn admits under compulsion that he had known about Elspeth’s infection, while the other two disavow this knowledge. Tyrn then admits that he was the one to bring Elspeth to Hauth, and Elm uses the opportunity to manipulate him into absolving his daughter of guilt. As the shock of his revelation reaches Elspeth’s father Erik, he steals Linden’s dagger and demands to know where Elspeth is. A brawl ensues in which he is quickly subdued by Jespyr and two other Destriers, though the dagger still harms Ione. Elm ceases the chaos by making everyone keep still with his Scythe Card.

More memories, this time about Ravyn, return to Elspeth. Tilly appears on the shore and asks if they can swing on the yew tree. When she leaves Elspeth behind, it is to join a group of children, one of whom has gray eyes and deplores his father’s absence.

Ravyn gets treated for his injuries by Filick as Quercus admonishes Elm for not acting sooner. He blames Ravyn for everything, but the latter only feels guilty for arriving 10 minutes late to Spindle House when Elspeth had been facing Hauth. If he had been on time, he believes he could have stopped what transpired between them. The Rowan King decides to keep Ione at the castle to dissuade rumors, as Elm had intended for him to do when he manipulated Tyrn. He then tells Elm to leave and, in private, orders Ravyn to retrieve the Twin Alders Card with Night and leave Elm behind. Ravyn bargains to have Jespyr with him, and the Rowan King insists he take another Destrier, Gorse, whom Ravyn knows will report everything he does back to the King.

Elm goes to find Ione because he’s concerned about the injury she received from Erik, but when he encounters Filick, he tells him Ione has no such injury. When he finds her, she is angry with him for using her father to secure her life. When he confirms that the injury Erik dealt has truly healed, Elm figures out that the Maiden Card has healing magic and that Ione wanted to remain in the castle to retrieve hers. He decides not to divulge this information, even if it means Hauth’s body will remain broken. He then decides to bring Ione to meet Elspeth.

All of Elspeth’s memories finally return, and she demands to be let out, but Taxus-as-Nightmare does not answer her. The children return, and they speak to her as if she were their father. When they leave, Elspeth worries about what’s become of her family now that everyone knows she’s infected. As more of the Shepherd King’s children find her and speak to her, she understands that the shore is where the Shepherd King keeps his secrets, and now she is one of them. She swims out and falls beneath the waves.

Ravyn contacts Jespyr, tells her they will be leaving at dawn to search for the Twin Alders Card, and asks her to bring Emory to Castle Yew. He prepares Emory for the trip first and notices how his degeneration has gotten worse. Accidentally, Emory touches Ravyn and has one of his visions. In an odd voice, he asks whether Ravyn finally knows his real name. When Emory’s vision ends, he’s forgotten everything. Jespyr arrives and leaves for Castle Yew with Emory, while Ravyn leaves the King’s castle to visit the Nightmare.

Elm and Ione avoid everyone on their path to Elspeth. He correctly guesses that Ione has lost her Maiden Card and does not know where it is. Ione remains vague on how she lost it. She redirects the conversation to the court’s opinion of him as an unruly, rotten Prince. When he jokes that women of the court find him less disappointing, Ione’s cheeks color, which intrigues Elm since the Maiden usually conceals all emotions. When the Nightmare greets them, Ione correctly guesses that the person speaking to her through her cousin’s body is no longer her cousin. She demands to speak to Elspeth, but the Nightmare only stares at Elm and promises Elspeth will be free once his work is finished. Elm asks whether the Nightmare can locate the Maiden Cards in the castle. He confirms there are three in Stone, though he cannot say where, then retreats into the darkness. Elm and Ione leave, and the former asks why she wants her card back. She tells him it is about regaining her choice to feel again. Elm offers his help because he feels guilty for how poorly he’s treated Elspeth in the past. He wants to do better and be nothing like his brother.

In the dungeon, Ravyn emerges from beneath the Mirror Card’s concealment. He heard Elm’s conversation with the Nightmare and knows his cousin is beginning to have feelings for Ione. The Nightmare promises that he would never hurt Elm, since Elm is a Rowan who is already broken. At dawn, they prepare for their trip, and Ravyn leaves three notes, one for Filick, another for Elm, and the last for Gorse. He tells the Nightmare his plan to recruit the Ivy brothers, and the Nightmare approves, mentioning cryptically that they’ll need a spare. In the early sunlight, Ravyn notices that Elspeth’s hair is shorter and is furious at Nightmare for cutting it. They leave for Castle Yew, with a final rhyme from the Nightmare about Elm being neither Rowan nor Yew but something in between, a prince of the dark.