QUICK LINKS: TL;DR Summary // Chapter Summary 1–2 | 3–13 | 26–37 | 38–49 | 50–61 | 62–63
Chapter 14
The group rows to a remote gray beach with no town or road in sight. Odessa spots the Guardian in wet clothes speaking privately with the High Priest, who’s carrying the Shield of Sparrows on his back. She wonders briefly whether destroying the treaty could be part of her father’s plan. The High Priest then heads off into the forest in a different direction from the group.
A woman named Tillia meets them with horses and warns that their trunks may not keep pace. Odessa packs only her journal and a spare dress.
Zavier quietly tells Odessa he already knows she hasn’t told Brielle he can speak, because she’s been too focused on winning his trust. It rattles her. She realizes they’ve seen through her from the start and that she’s in over her head as a spy.
Brielle and Jocelyn are separated from Odessa and taken with a group of warriors. Zavier leads everyone into dense forest with no visible trail. Odessa rides in, resolved to find the road to Allesaria.
Chapter 15
The group has ridden through the night to avoid creatures called grizzurs that hunt in the dark. By the time they reach camp on an open plain, Odessa is in serious pain and barely holding herself together.
They make camp near a river, ringed by fires. Zavier helps Odessa dismount and guides her to her tent, where a cot and a tub of hot water are waiting.
The Guardian follows uninvited, tells Odessa they have a day and a half to rest, warns her not to wander past the fires, and confirms he’ll continue her training tomorrow. When she asks him to send Zavier, he makes a pointed remark implying he and Zavier share women. It rattles her more than she wants to admit. Brielle walks in, and the Guardian leaves.
In the bath, Brielle voices what Odessa already suspects. The Turans rode through the night deliberately to keep them disoriented and unable to track the route.
Just as Odessa is about to fall asleep in the tub, a fierce roar tears through the camp from beyond the fires.
Chapter 16
Odessa can’t sleep and walks the camp. Tillia shadows her on Zavier’s orders but shuts down completely at any mention of Allesaria.
The Guardian takes over. Odessa asks about the roar, and he confirms it was a grizzur, its blood still visible on his tunic. He takes her to the body without comment. The creature is enormous, bearlike, with spikes along its spine and claws as wide as her shoulders, its head nearly severed. The sight unnerves her, and she tells him again she wants her sword. He agrees and tells her to be ready at dawn.
After he leaves, she watches Zavier ride out of camp at speed with three warriors, the Guardian following behind. She notes it but doesn’t follow.
Another roar tears through camp sometime later. Odessa spends the rest of the night waiting for dawn.
Chapter 17
At dawn, the Guardian gives Odessa two short blades and puts her through a brutal session in the training ring as a storm rolls in. He teaches her to block, hold her ground, and go for weak points. She struggles and falls in the mud repeatedly.
When Odessa still can’t attack, the Guardian deliberately dredges up her worst insecurities, telling her that her family gave her away without a second thought, that her sister is probably already in Banner’s bed, and that she never got to say goodbye to her little brother. She snaps and goes after him hard. She still can’t land a hit. After one final wild attempt, she drops to her knees, spent.
Zavier walks in and calls a stop. The Guardian pushes back, but Zavier holds firm. Zavier then tells Odessa he has to leave for Perris on business and that she’ll travel on to Ellder without him.
Back in her tent, Odessa finds a warm bath and an apple waiting.
Chapter 18
The group camps against a rock outcropping with no tents, thirty-six warriors holding a tight ring of fires. Zavier, his best rangers, and the Guardian are all gone.
Through the night, packs of bariwolves circle and skirmish with the warriors. They hold them off. Then a grizzur approaches at a run, the fires smaller than before, the situation looking dire. Its roar cuts off suddenly. The Guardian walks through the flames, dark blood soaking him, sword in hand. The camp erupts in cheers.
He goes straight to Tillia, and the two share what looks like an intimate moment. The sight unsettles Odessa in a way she doesn’t want to examine.
The Guardian then crouches beside Odessa and speaks more gently than he ever has, telling her to sleep. She thanks him silently but says nothing out loud.
The next morning, the group rides out past the dead grizzur toward the mountains.
Chapter 19
After days in the foothills, Tillia tells Odessa they’ll stop at a village called Treow instead of going straight to Ellder.
Along the way, Odessa witnesses what she thinks is another intimate moment between Tillia and the Guardian but learns it was simply him telling her that her husband Halston was on his way. The relief she feels at the realization unsettles her.
Treow is built entirely into the trees, with houses on platforms, rope bridges, and ladders. Tillia explains that most Turan villages are built this way to protect against monsters, then takes Odessa to a large secluded treehouse where her trunks, a meal, and a warm bath are waiting.
The Guardian arrives and tells Odessa that Zavier has been held up in Perris, then asks directly whether she was sent as a spy. She denies it, and he tells her she’s a terrible liar, then warns her she won’t travel to Allesaria until Zavier trusts her.
On his way out, the Guardian throws the rope ladder to the ground and drops twenty feet from the balcony without a scratch, leaving Odessa stranded.
Chapter 20
Tillia gives Odessa a tour of Treow’s commons. When a pony rider arrives to drop off post, Tillia explains that hundreds of these riders carry mail across all of Turah. Odessa files it away as a possible way to learn more about Allesaria.
The Guardian intercepts them and takes Odessa to the training area for a nearly three-hour session. Odessa falls repeatedly and he shows no mercy.
During a water break Odessa asks what the Guardian was like as a boy. He surprises her by describing himself as reckless and rule-breaking. She notices carvings on his leather cuff and asks about them. He tells her they’re a reminder of every life he’s ended, so he never forgets.
The Guardian then warns Odessa that Turan loyalty runs deep. She understands the implication. If she betrays his people, he’ll kill her.
Chapter 21
After another brutal session, the Guardian disappears mid-training without a word, leaving Odessa alone in the ring.
On her way back, Odessa meets Cathlin, the librarian, who opens up early for her. Odessa loads up on books about Turah, monsters, and the other kingdoms, including one about Quentis by a man named Samuel Hay. She also runs into Brielle and arranges to bring her closer.
That night, Odessa reads Hay’s book and discovers he accuses her father of murder and suggests he was behind her mother’s death. She goes to bed furious.
Odessa wakes to a lionwick clawing at the base of her tree. She signals the Guardian on the neighboring balcony to kill it. He tells her to kill it herself, says he’s busy, and goes back inside. She realizes he has someone with him. The thought bothers her more than she wants to admit. She secures her door and lies awake staring at the stars.
Chapter 22
After training, Odessa heads toward the commons for breakfast. The Guardian races through camp on horseback, his face tight with fury. Moments later, armed soldiers ride in and surround the commons. Their leader is King Ramsey, Zavier’s father.
Cathlin silently urges Odessa to stay hidden while Ramsey’s soldiers fan out through Treow, pulling books from the library and treehouses and burning them in the square. Then the king and his soldiers leave.
Odessa returns to her treehouse to find it ransacked. Her clothes are thrown everywhere, her dye jar broken, her borrowed books gone, and her crown taken.
She retrieves a satchel she’d stashed on a high branch, checking that her journal, coins, and necklace are still safe. The Guardian watches from his balcony and laughs, telling Odessa it was clever. She realizes he now knows she’s hiding something.
Chapter 23
A week passes at Treow with Odessa settling into daily training with Tillia, afternoon rides, and failed attempts to gather information from pony riders.
When the Guardian returns and takes over from Tillia mid-session, Odessa is caught off guard by her own reaction to seeing him. He tests her reflexes with a light slap, and she partially deflects the second attempt. He acknowledges the improvement.
A small girl named Evangeline appears at the edge of the ring. The Guardian is clearly familiar with her and sends her back to her lessons, but when the sound of hooves reaches the clearing, her face lights up, and she sprints toward the horses. The Guardian follows, and Odessa trails behind out of curiosity.
Zavier rides in with three rangers, drops to a knee, and opens his arms. Evangeline runs to him, calling him Papa.
Chapter 24
Zavier confirms Evangeline is his daughter, that her mother died in childbirth, and that he keeps her hidden from court to protect her. He agrees to let Odessa get to know her.
When Odessa asks how long they’ll stay in Treow, Zavier tells her they’ll eventually move to Ellder before the crux migration. It’s a blow, meaning she won’t reach Allesaria in time to get information to her father.
At her treehouse, Odessa impulsively kisses Zavier on the cheek. He doesn’t pull away, but she can see pity in his eyes. She apologizes. He puts his hand briefly to her cheek and leaves.
Inside, Odessa finds the Guardian lying on her bed. He taunts her about witnessing the kiss, then leans in close and asks again whether her father sent her to spy. She denies it but too quickly and too shakily to be convincing. He leaves without a word, drops her rope ladder, and slams his own door.
Chapter 25
While Odessa is on a walk with Zavier and Evie, the Guardian emerges from the forest with troubling news and pulls Zavier aside. The walk is cut short.
Odessa seeks out Brielle, who hasn’t heard anything about sick monsters, but mentions that several men from Treow have gone missing and that King Ramsey is actively recruiting for his militia, pulling men from across the kingdom, including pony riders.
Between the book burning, the militia buildup, and the missing men, Odessa begins to wonder whether her father’s plan to reach Allesaria is a response to something Ramsey is already doing rather than the other way around.
Odessa decides waiting isn’t working. She needs to act like a spy and find a way out of Treow.