The Wicked King

Cardan, the High King of Faerie, accepts visitors who make requests or offer gifts. Jude stands behind him as his advisor, distrusting the bargains made by the fae. She reflects on the events that brought her there, tricking Cardan into accepting the crown and the year and a day in which she has him under her control.

Locke, a friend of Cardan’s who is also betrothed to Taryn, and who was once a love interest of Jude’s, asks Cardan to make him the Master of Revels. Locke tries to incite Cardan into trouble, and Jude is called away by a spy, who has intercepted a letter to Cardan from his treacherous brother Balekin in prison. Jude decides to go see Balekin herself.

Jude travels to the Tower of Forgetting to see Balekin. When she arrives, a hostile guard named Vulciber brings her downstairs. Balekin is at home in his cell. At his command, Vulciber hits Jude. Jude conquers her pride and resumes the conversation, asking Balekin for a message for Cardan. Balekin tells her the message will reach him another way.

As they leave, another prisoner catches Jude’s attention and tells her she knew her mother, Eva. Jude tricks Vulciber into joining her outside, where she stabs him with a poison pin and loads him onto her horse.

Jude convenes with her fellow spies in the Court of Shadows: the Roach, the Bomb, and the Ghost. Vulciber is tied to a chair, and they bargain with him for information. In exchange for a better position outside the tower, he tells them that Orlagh, the sea queen, has been exchanging messages with Balekin. Orlagh’s daughter Nicasia is one of Cardan’s school friends.

After they release Vulciber, Jude and the Ghost unwind by sparring. She believes the Ghost has human lineage, and they compare memories of the mortal world. Both were born there but grew up in Faerie. Jude disarms him. They talk about Jude’s half-brother, Oak, who she has poised to take the throne after Cardan. He is living in the mortal realm with Jude’s older sister Vivi, growing up as a human child. As Jude returns home, she meets her estranged twin sister Taryn.

Taryn tries to make peace with Jude for their falling out over Locke. She asks Jude to come to her wedding and says that Vivi and Oak will both be there. As a peace offering, Taryn brings Jude her childhood stuffed animals and offers to bring her some of her clothes—she left them behind now that she’s living at the palace. After Taryn leaves, Jude throws the stuffed toys into the fire.

She begins her nightly ritual of mithridatism, taking minuscule doses of poison to build up an immunity. She has grown so acclimatized to the poisons that missing a dose makes her sick.

Jude is woken by the Roach and the Ghost, who tell her that Cardan is in trouble. They go to his apartments and find him with Locke and two other faeries reeling from a night of debauchery. Jude throws the others out and speaks with Cardan alone. The Ghost returns and they learn that Cardan and his female guest were both shot at by an unseen assailant.

Jude and the Ghost locate a secret passage leading from Cardan’s room, and Jude follows it to discover Nicasia at the other end. She reveals that she shot Cardan by accident while aiming for the other woman out of jealousy. Jude barters her silence for information about Nicasia’s mother’s plan. She learns that Nicasia is planning to marry Cardan so that she can become high queen. Jude realizes that if Cardan marries Nicasia, they’ll rule forever, and she’ll never be able to put Oak on the throne.

Returning to Cardan’s room, Jude tells them that she didn’t find anyone. She brings Cardan to her own room where he’ll be safe. They share an intimate moment before Cardan passes off into drunken sleep.