QUICK LINKS: Rites of the Starling Recap by Chapter P–8 | 9–20 | 31–40 | 41–51 | 52–59 | 60–64 // Shield of Sparrows Book 1 Summary
Rites of the Starling Chapters 21–30 Summary
This chapter-by-chapter summary of Rites of the Starling by Devney Perry contains spoilers.
Rites of the Starling Chapter 21
Caspia is unsettled by a vision she had the night before. She saw a burning courtyard, her cousin Xandra transformed into something monstrous, and Andreas dead with a gruesome neck wound. Caspia also accepted her own death in it. What frightens her most is that this is the first time her visions have ever shown her the future or her own fate.
After leaving Genesis, Caspia and Andreas head into Laine. Along the way, Andreas opens up about his past. He comes from a wealthy family but has a strained relationship with his father, and he retreated to his cabin to prove he could live independently.
When they stop for the night, Caspia comes clean. She’s a Starling princess who came to Calandra to find her sister’s murderer, and her visions aren’t dreams but real accounts of actual events. Andreas is hurt she kept so much from him, but he believes her. The conversation brings Caspia to tears, and they spend an intimate night by the fire. Even so, she keeps one secret. She says nothing about her ability to shapeshift.
Rites of the Starling Chapter 22
For two days, Thora rides alongside Odessa and asks constant questions about the Lyssa infection, how the monsters behave, and where they’ve been spotted. Eventually, Thora splits her forces, sends six Mavins off on a separate assignment, and keeps only five warriors to guard Odessa and Evie.
The smaller group camps in a cave near the Genesis border. With the larger group gone, Golding and Dair stop hiding their relationship. Thora explains that Mavins are supposed to give up personal ties when they join, but she admits some bonds are impossible to break.
Odessa asks about the Mavins and their history. They’re all bound to a man named Salem, who controls them through debt and threats against their loved ones. Mathias joined at fourteen to save his mother’s life. Jodhi warns Odessa never to bring up Salem again and makes clear that her father’s reward won’t buy their freedom.
The mood changes when Odessa mentions the Voster. Thora refuses to discuss the brotherhood and storms out. While she’s gone, Jodhi tries to convince Odessa to get rid of Faze, warning her that the pet will become a threat. Odessa refuses. The distant clicks of bariwolves interrupt their argument.
Thora returns and takes charge. She orders the group to bring the horses inside and stay close to the fire. Odessa is terrified because she knows fire won’t stop a pack of wolves driven by the Lyssa plague.
Rites of the Starling Chapter 23
Caspia and Andreas are staying at an inn in Skanshon. Caspia has seen a vision of Andreas’s death six times, each time clearer and more terrifying. Out of fear that it will come true, she convinces him to stay in bed every morning to delay their departure for Turah.
They head to a market where Andreas buys Caspia a new kukri to replace the one she lost. At a baker’s stall, Andreas catches a boy trying to steal from him and gives the boy a loaf of bread instead of turning him in.
As the boy disappears into the crowd, Caspia is hit by a waking vision. She sees him alone in a grimy tent when an older kid bursts in and steals the bread. The boy is left crying and empty-handed. When it clears, Caspia insists they find him and explains to a confused Andreas what she saw.
The experience gives Caspia a flicker of hope. If she can change that boy’s future, maybe she can prevent the vision of Andreas’s death from coming true.
Rites of the Starling Chapter 24
Caspia and Andreas spend a long day searching Skanshon for the young thief. Caspia’s distinct golden eyes draw suspicion, so Andreas takes the lead while she keeps her head down.
A shopkeeper points them to unfinished buildings across the river. The boy is hiding in the exact grimy tent from Caspia’s vision. He tells them his name is Kos, and Caspia recognizes him as the child she saw months ago in a vision surrounded by levitating books.
Caspia and Andreas bring Kos back to the inn, feed and bathe him, and Kos falls asleep still clutching his bread. Watching him, Caspia reaches a conclusion that changes everything. If she could alter this boy’s future, she could do the same for Andreas.
She abandons her quest for revenge and cancels their trip to Turah. Caspia tells Andreas she wants to go to Quentis instead. Andreas suspects she saw something in a vision but agrees. The next morning, all three board a ship to his homeland.
Rites of the Starling Chapter 25
The group rides through the skeleton forest, a desolate stretch of Genesis where the trees are charred and the ground covered in ash. Odessa reads aloud from a journal to comfort Evie. Jodhi shocks Odessa by translating a name from the old language, and Odessa grows uneasy about what else the book might reveal.
The quiet breaks when Thora spots nine bariwolves in the dead trees. The Mavins take down the whole pack, but a second wave of over a dozen arrives. Outnumbered, Mathias calls a retreat.
Odessa and Evie flee on horseback while the Mavins hold the line. One wolf breaks through and slams into Freya, bringing the horse down and throwing both riders to the ground. Odessa knows they can’t all make it out. She hands Evie and Faze to Jodhi, tells him to ride ahead, then performs a mercy kill on Freya before the pack reaches her.
Left alone, Odessa faces the final two wolves. Just as they prepare to pounce, a blade strikes one from the side. A dark horse tears through the woods. The rider has silver eyes. It’s Ransom.
Rites of the Starling Chapter 26
Ransom heads straight to Odessa and takes care of the remaining wolves before the two finally reunite. Odessa is so relieved that she practically collapses into his arms. Ransom makes it clear that he’s done with the lies and hidden identities and promises her that the pretending is over.
Thora approaches, and it’s clear she knows exactly who Ransom is. She makes no effort to hide her dislike for him. Ransom isn’t happy that Odessa shared the secrets of the Lyssa infection with the Mavins, but he saves that argument for another time. He asks if anyone spotted a one-eyed bariwolf among the attackers, hinting that the monster he’s been tracking may have entered Genesis.
Jodhi returns with Evie, who breaks down the moment she sees Ransom. Ransom catches her and lets her sob against him. Evie finally releases all the grief and pain she carried throughout the trip.
The Mavins deal with their own losses. Thora retrieves Mathias’s body, refusing to leave him in the skeleton forest. Golding and Dair have already left to warn Mathias’s family before Salem learns Mathias is dead. Odessa leaves her horse behind. Ransom loads their gear onto Aurinda, helps Evie up first, then checks on Odessa. Odessa gives him a nod, and the group rides out.
Rites of the Starling Chapter 27
Caspia, Andreas, and Kos are sailing toward Quentis. Kos has improved with regular meals and a safe place to sleep. Caspia’s visions of Andreas’s death have stopped, which she takes as proof that choosing her new life over her old mission was the right decision.
Along the way, Andreas recounts a myth about a traveler who returned to Calandra with beasts that destroyed her. Caspia suspects this woman was a Starling and worries that the truth about her people has been buried in legend out of fear.
This leads Caspia to share her final secret. She tells Andreas that her people can shapeshift and that Xandra became a bariwolf, possibly trapped in that form somewhere in Genesis. Andreas is troubled but chooses to believe her. He insists Caspia must never shift herself and asks for her solemn word.
Andreas mentions that the capital of Quentis has a library that might hold some answers. The conversation turns dark when Caspia describes the swifts her family prefers to shift into. Andreas goes pale and tells her these birds are actually the terrifying monsters known as the crux.
Rites of the Starling Chapter 28
The group camps at the edge of the skeleton forest. Thora and Jodhi leave the fire to perform a nighttime burial for Mathias. Ransom explains that this is a common custom in Genesis since people believe the moons help guide a soul to its resting place. While Thora and Jodhi are gone, Ransom tells Odessa that Thora is the niece of Cathlin. Thora’s real name is Vale, and Luella once offered to pay off her debts, but Thora turned it down to earn her own freedom.
Odessa and Ransom catch up on everything after the fall of Ellder. Ransom killed the crux scout in the air, but the fall knocked him unconscious until morning. The fortress had already been evacuated by the time Ransom woke up. He spent weeks tracking Odessa through Ozarth and Laine by questioning a ferryman and a merchant along the road.
Ransom then shares that Zavier was found alive by a healer named Geezala. Odessa is stunned and relieved. She and Ransom agree to keep it from Evie until they can confirm Zavier has truly survived.
Odessa raises her concerns about the spreading Lyssa infection and the migration happening sooner than expected. Ransom promises to look into whether other scouts have been spotted once they reach Quentis, though he seems to be holding something back about the crux that attacked them in Ellder. Ransom promises they’ll find a way to stay together.
Rites of the Starling Chapter 29
In the castle gallery, Caspia encounters a painting of a swift she recognized from home named Bisten. In Nelfinex, these birds are beloved companions, but the mural depicts the creature as savage and violent. The sight makes Caspia physically ill, and she collapses.
Andreas explains that these creatures are known as the crux and have terrorized Calandra for generations. He describes the heavy defenses cities must build to survive the migrations. Caspia is forced to confront the reality that the animals her culture worships are the same ones that slaughter the people of this continent.
The couple visits the castle library, where Andreas introduces Caspia to his former teacher, Faxon, who agrees to help Caspia investigate her family history and educate Kos.
On their way home, Andreas tells Caspia about his younger brother, Arick. A riding accident left Arick in chronic pain, and he became addicted to a drug called korakin. Arick died in a fall while intoxicated. Andreas’s father refused to admit addiction was the true cause of death, so Andreas cut ties with his family.
As Andreas kisses Caspia on the street, Caspia feels a familiar vibration in her body. The ritus has returned for the first time in weeks. Caspia closes her eyes and tries to ignore it because she’s not ready to face what it means.
Rites of the Starling Chapter 30
Odessa finds Thora alone at the ship’s railing, clearly mourning Mathias. When Odessa tries to comfort her, Thora insists Odessa shouldn’t feel responsible for his death. Thora says the weight of his loss belongs to her alone and returns to her silence.
Ransom finds Odessa on deck and returns the two knives he salvaged from Ellder. Odessa is hesitant because of the trauma they represent and asks Ransom to hold onto them instead. Nearby, Jodhi tries to provoke Ransom by mocking his secret life as both a prince and a warrior. Ransom keeps his temper out of appreciation for how Jodhi protected Odessa and Evie during their journey.
Tension rises when Evie brings Faze up from the lower decks. Faze is agitated and refuses to stay in his crate. When Ransom tries to move Faze back downstairs, Faze scratches Ransom’s arm, and the wound leaks discolored green blood. Jodhi sees the injury and quietly warns Odessa to be prepared to use her knives when the time comes.
Alone in their quarters, Odessa shows Ransom the leather cuff and tries to return it. Ransom refuses and tells her he trusts her. They talk about Odessa’s suspicions regarding her father and his true motives for finding Allesaria. Afterward, Ransom fastens the cuff back onto Odessa’s arm.
Jodhi then calls Odessa and Ransom to the deck. Another vessel is closing in, and as it draws near, the group realizes Brother Dime is standing at the front of the boat.