Shield of Sparrows Chapter 49
Ransom explains that Odessa’s father wants to eliminate any obstacle to the king’s expanding power, and Ransom’s silence confirms that the Voster reside in Allesaria.
He also explains that all five kingdoms are militarizing ahead of the crux migration, with Ramsey drawing people into fortified cities even at the cost of smaller settlements. Odessa pushes back, but Ransom points out that Roslo faces the same impossible choices.
Ransom kisses Odessa, softer this time, but a scream cuts it short.
Bariwolves flood through the still-open gates. Odessa drags a wounded soldier to safety, then sees a small boy kneeling beside his mother’s body and runs toward him. The one-eyed bariwolf beats her there. It’s the same monster that bit Ransom four years ago. The creature kills the boy, then turns on Odessa, and every monster in the courtyard locks onto her at once.
Odessa runs. The High Priest steps in front of her and cuts down the bariwolves with shards of ice, killing most of them. The one-eyed bariwolf flees with a handful of others.
Ransom finds Odessa and pulls her into his arms. Then Zavier appears, and Ransom lets her go, picks up a sword, and orders the gates opened to pursue the one-eyed bariwolf.
Shield of Sparrows Chapter 50
A week passes with no word from Ransom or the hunting parties. Samuel delivers the completed map to Odessa. She transfers the details to her journal and burns Samuel’s copy, but she can’t identify a clear pattern or epicenter for where Lyssa started.
Tillia and Halston’s party returns first, along with two unconscious men found wandering near Treow. Tillia also reveals that she’s pregnant.
Ransom and Zavier ride in shortly after. Zavier has a dislocated shoulder and a limp. Tillia tells Odessa that the one-eyed bariwolf was never found.
Straight to Odessa, Ransom walks with purpose, and they share a brief, charged exchange. Then the High Priest and Brother Dime arrive. Without warning, the High Priest grabs Odessa’s hand, causing her intense pain. Ransom puts his sword to the priest’s throat and orders him to let her go. The High Priest releases Odessa and asks who Odessa’s mother is. Before anyone can respond, Luella comes running across the courtyard. Evie is gone.
Shield of Sparrows Chapter 51
Evie had slipped out through a secret migration tunnel with her bow and arrows. Cathlin finds Evie on the road and keeps the girl safe until Zavier reaches them. Zavier carries Evie back, furious and shaken. Cathlin tells Ransom that Evie “was born to fly” and that they’ll need to find a way to let her grow without losing her entirely.
Ransom finds Odessa and tells her about the tunnel and where it leads, then warns her not to use it. Odessa assures him she has no reason to. She asks Ransom outright if Cathlin is his mother. He says no.
Odessa describes what happened when the High Priest grabbed her hand, a force driving into her bones far beyond anything she had felt before. Ransom tells Odessa he has never heard anyone describe the priests’ magic that way. Before they can find the priests to ask, they learn that the High Priest and Brother Dime have already left.
Shield of Sparrows Chapter 52
That evening, Ransom comes to Odessa’s suite and gives her a dagger that he carried as a boy, telling Odessa it will leave a mark on anyone who touches her without permission.
Ransom tells Odessa that the hunt failed and the trail vanished. He also admits he has been wondering whether the monsters are drawn to Odessa specifically, pointing to the grizzur, the bariwolves in Ashmore, the tarkin in Treow, and even Faze.
Odessa blames herself for the deaths and suggests leaving. Ransom refuses to let Odessa spiral. He tells her nothing has frightened him more than watching her run toward the boy, and that even if they were kingdoms apart, Odessa is his choice. She tells Ransom he is hers too.
They spend the night together.
Shield of Sparrows Chapter 53
Ransom finds Odessa on the balcony, and they sit together. Odessa presses Ransom about Allesaria and its possible connection to the origins of Lyssa. He deflects, seemingly bound by a blood oath, but pushes back on Odessa’s theory. She suggests that even if Allesaria didn’t create Lyssa, it might hold the key to curing it. Ransom insists the Voster have concluded there’s no cure. Odessa refuses to accept that.
A knock interrupts them. Zavier reports a bariwolf pack nearby, and Ransom and Zavier head out to hunt.
Later, Odessa goes for a walk. One of the unconscious men Tillia brought in from outside Treow bursts out of the infirmary in a fever, raving about burning and serving his king. When Odessa reaches out to steady the man, he grabs her throat with unnaturally strong hands. The street is empty, and Odessa can’t scream. As her vision starts to go dark, she pulls her new dagger and slices it across the man’s throat.
The man drops, and Odessa collapses, gasping. As he dies, his eyes turn milky white, and his blood runs dark green. He had Lyssa.
Shield of Sparrows Chapter 54
Odessa is recovering in bed, bruised and hoarse. When Luella comes to check on Odessa, she notices Luella’s green eyes and familiar features and tells Luella she has figured out who she is. Luella confirms it and says she’ll never leave Turah because she won’t leave Ransom behind. Odessa promises to keep Luella’s secret.
Ransom arrives, having ridden hard to get back. In the brief exchange between Ransom and Luella, Odessa sees clearly how much the two of them resemble each other.
Odessa tells Ransom she killed a man today and asks if he remembers the first person he killed. Ransom tells her about Zavier’s abusive stepfather, who tried to push Ransom off a cliff during a hunting trip. Ransom killed the man with a dagger. He tells Odessa she’ll never forget, but she has to keep living.
The grief breaks through, and Odessa cries until she falls asleep in Ransom’s arms.
Shield of Sparrows Chapter 55
Two weeks pass. Odessa and Ransom spend almost all their time together, with Zavier visiting each morning to maintain appearances in front of Brielle and the rest of Ellder.
Among Cathlin’s books, Odessa finds a handwritten journal about cave ginger, a plant from Ozarth that grows in alligask bogs.
When Odessa tells Ransom she wants to know why the man she killed tried to attack her, Zavier steps in. The man had no bite scar, only fresh injection marks. Someone gave him Lyssa deliberately. Odessa realizes whoever created the infection is trying to replicate what it did to Ransom, giving soldiers enhanced abilities. But the experiment is killing them instead.
Ransom confirms the man was from Allesaria. Odessa goes to Cathlin and asks how long Cathlin has known what the king is doing to his soldiers. Cathlin can’t answer. Odessa realizes Cathlin took a blood oath of secrecy and has been leaving books and clues instead, guiding Odessa to the truth without speaking it.
Then Luella walks in carrying a jar of cave ginger. Odessa looks at the jar, thinks back to the handwriting in the journal, and realizes the person with the real answers is Ransom’s mother.
Shield of Sparrows Chapter 56
Luella confirms what Odessa suspected. She created an elixir from monster-derived ingredients, including cave ginger and korakin, intending to strengthen human bodies against the crux migration. Luella tested the elixir on a small group and eventually used it on a dying patient who survived.
Without Ransom’s knowledge, Luella had her healers administer the elixir to Ransom while he was unconscious after a serious leg wound. None of the other ten recipients developed Lyssa. Only Ransom did.
Luella’s theory is that the elixir was the foundation, and when the bariwolf bit Ransom, its saliva provided the missing piece. The two elements bonded in Ransom’s body and created Lyssa. The bariwolf then spread the infection to other monsters through its bites.
Ransom realizes that he was the origin of Lyssa, not the bariwolf.
Shield of Sparrows Chapter 57
Luella confirms that a betrayal by one of her alchemists likely contributed to Ramsey’s attack on her. Ramsey is now trying to replicate Lyssa by injecting soldiers with infected monster blood, but the attempt is failing because he hasn’t connected the elixir to the process. His soldiers are dying.
The book burnings are Ramsey’s attempt to destroy research notes left behind by his alchemists, information that other kings could use to attempt their own versions of the experiment.
Odessa realizes that her father’s obsession with Allesaria is tied to the Guardian’s powers. He likely suspects the secret to surviving the crux lies in understanding Lyssa and wants to steal that knowledge for himself.
Ransom snatches Luella’s research book and threatens to burn it. Luella begs him not to, saying the book is part of her work toward a cure. Ransom throws the book on the table and storms out.
As Odessa moves to follow, she notices the book has flipped over. Etched on its cover is a winged emblem, the same emblem as the pendant Odessa has worn around her neck since childhood.
Shield of Sparrows Chapter 58
Odessa finds Ransom on the steps outside their suite, and they walk into the forest.
When Ransom tells Odessa that he has to leave for Allesaria without her, Odessa decides to tell him everything. Her father sent Odessa to find Allesaria’s location, send information back, and kill Ransom if she had the chance. He suspects Lyssa holds the key to surviving the crux. Ransom laughs and tells Odessa she’s a terrible spy.
Ransom explains that he has to reach Allesaria to stop Ramsey from continuing to kill men with failed attempts to replicate Lyssa. If the crux become infected before the migration, the death toll would be unsurvivable.
When Ransom says this was only ever going to end one way, Odessa insists there has to be another. Ransom tells her he has no army to challenge his father with. It occurs to Odessa that Ransom may not, but her father does.
Shield of Sparrows Chapter 59
In the days before Ransom leaves, Odessa discovers a hidden migration cellar beneath Luella’s house. Inside, she finds the scrolls and books moved from the dungeon, and hidden under a stair step, three books, one of which is the black leather volume with the emblem matching Odessa’s necklace. She decides to come back for them before leaving Turah.
That evening, Ransom tells Odessa that he’s taking Luella to Allesaria. It was Luella’s idea. Luella wants to convince Ramsey to stop the experiments and attempt a cure. Ransom knows the journey is dangerous but won’t deny his mother the chance to make things right. He asks Odessa to stay and look after Evie, and if something happens to both him and Zavier, to take Evie out of Turah.
Odessa agrees. Then Ransom looks past Odessa into the trees. Torchlight is catching on armor and helmets. An army is marching through the forest toward Ellder. Ransom shouts at the soldiers on the wall not to open the gates.
Shield of Sparrows Chapter 60
Ramsey arrives with a full legion to collect Ransom on his deadline, bringing Banner, Brother Dime, and Jocelyn, who has been spying for Odessa’s father all along. Jocelyn has also brought Brielle, and it becomes clear that Banner came not for Odessa but for Brielle, the woman Banner has loved all along.
Jocelyn leads Ramsey’s soldiers to Luella, who’s dragged out in her nightgown.
Odessa grabs Ransom’s sword and puts it to Ramsey’s throat. Ramsey disarms her. Ransom breaks free from the soldiers holding him. Ramsey grabs Odessa by the hair, and Ransom threatens to kill his father. Ramsey shoves Odessa at Brother Dime, and the moment the priest touches her, agonizing pain tears through Odessa’s body. She screams and collapses.
Even after Brother Dime releases Odessa, the screaming doesn’t stop. Everyone in the courtyard goes still.
The crux has arrived.