Today, we’re checking in with the Royal Family, including the heirs King Damien so fears. Like last time, stop reading here if you haven’t read Book 1! This whole post is full of spoilers.
AND, keep the questions coming! I’m collecting questions from you in my inbox (info@maggieplatt.com) and private messages on FB and Instagram. They have been great so far! If you have a question for me about the book or writing process OR a question to ask one of the characters, send it my way! I’ll answer them in a future blog.
Without further ado…
King Damien
Last Appearance:
The army. The army following the conquerors. It all clicked in his mind. Adwin had the four conquerors and an army. The end was coming. He must stop it.
He found Adwin’s face and stared at it.
Like a maniac who didn’t know he was speaking to paint and not a real man, he shouted, “So, you have them, do you? You have the conquerors gathered all together, ready to lead the army. You cleared them out of that rat hole in the Bottom Rung.” Black spit sprayed on the mural as he became more and more agitated. “Where are you hiding them, Adwin? You can’t hide them forever! They can’t get through your glass curtain, so it is only a matter of time before I find them and kill every last one of them.
“It is no longer a game, old friend. This is war.”
The book ends on that quote above. Damien is frustrated and furious, sensing that the end is drawing near. Too many details from the prophecy are coming together. The pain he inflicted on his family all those years ago may have been for naught if Lena lives and the four grandchildren can be reunited. All in one night, he learns that his grandson is missing, there has been another prison break from his dungeon, and the headquarters of the underground resistance is suddenly empty. Everything points to Adwin’s victory, but he won’t give up his kingdom so easily.
Current Status: Ruler of Mount Damien
Location: Mount Damien
Prince Ajax
Last Appearance:
When the guard was finished doling out food, he came back and took her from her cell. Holding her by the arm, he pulled her down the aisle and up the stairs. They reached the patio where King Damien was breakfasting with Prince Ajax and Jairus.
“Excuse me, Your Majesty, this one refused her breakfast.”
“I see,” he said calmly and evenly.
Tovi stood uncomfortably before her brother, father, and grandfather, affected by her exhaustion, hunger, and sore muscles.
We don’t spend much time with Ajax in Book 1 (but that will change in Book 2!). We know he is glum and quiet, following his father around when he must. King Damien has little faith in him as a future monarch. When Tovi learns that Ajax is her father, her dreams of loving parents crash down around her. This man allowed her family to be torn apart on the night she was born.
Current Status: Prince of Mount Damien, first in line to the throne
Location: Mount Damien
Princess Thomae – Wife of Prince Ajax
Last Appearance:
And there she was. His mother. She was just feet away. And she was far more wonderful than he had dared to imagine.
They walked toward one another, and when they were close enough, she reached out to touch his hair with trembling fingers.
Not knowing where the word came from, and having never said it before, he sobbed, “Mama,” as his face crumbled.
Through her weeping, Thomae’s smile returned broader and more glorious than anything he had ever seen before.
While Tovi’s hopes were dashed by meeting their father, her twin brother Tali has the opposite experience when he meets their mother. Thomae, long believed dead by those on the mountain, has lived in a simple hut on the seashore since the fateful night of Tovi and Tali’s births.
Current Status: Believed to be dead, living in exile. Devoted follower of Adwin.
Location: A hidden, sandy cove along the sea.
Princess Helena – aka Lena, aka Meira
Last Appearance:
“Lena!” she cried, running to embrace her daughter. Tali smiled. Of course, he thought. Lena was her real name. He would have to get used to calling her Lena instead of Meira.
It was beautiful to witness the reunion, and he watched with a deep hunger and pain that he didn’t want to show. But try as he might, he couldn’t shove it away like he usually could.
The two women were talking animatedly, but the crashing of the ocean waves drowned them out. He watched their faces, unable to look away, yet feeling like he was spying on something sacred, a place where he did not belong.
Before going to the mountain on a mission for Adwin, Lena had lived in hiding with her mother in their seaside cove. It had been several months since they had seen each other, as Lena worked in the mines, spied on the elite, and led the Hidden Heart rebels. It was time for a rest, and Silas ordered her to save Tali from Leeto’s bonds and take him to the sea—a respite for both of them under their mother’s care.
Current Status: Loyal to Adwin.
Location: Seaside cove
Prince Jairus
Last Appearance:
Damien stared at the guard while his mind raced. Before he could recover himself, his butler returned. “Where have you been, and where is Jairus?” he bellowed, the veins in his eyes dark and pulsing.
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. We have searched throughout the palace. Prince Jairus is not here.”
Just then another guard entered the room. “Your Majesty, I’m sorry to interrupt you. There is something you must know.”
Damien’s head was already spinning. Xanthe gone. Jairus gone. He looked at the guard. What else could there be?
When Damien summons Jairus to the throne room, his intentions couldn’t be darker. He has decided he must murder his grandson to stop the prophecy from being fulfilled. The butler returns, but he doesn’t have Jairus. Jairus is gone—no one can find him anywhere in the palace.
Current Status: Prince of Mount Damien, second in line to the throne (due to the common belief that his older sister Lena is dead)
Location: Unknown
Prince ?? (Never named on the mountain) – aka Tali Tivka
Last Appearance:
Tali stepped from the shadows. It had been a long journey, and he had enjoyed getting to know his newly discovered sister. But this was bigger and so much more. He had never known about Lena, so he hadn’t had the opportunity to miss her. He had always known he had a mother somewhere, and he had always longed to find her, even if his longings hadn’t been as vocal or demanding as Tovi’s.
And there she was. His mother. She was just feet away. And she was far more wonderful than he had dared to imagine.
The last we see Tali is the same scene when we last see both Thomae and Lena: their reunion at the sea. While on a mission for Silas, Tali was captured by Leeto. Lena/Meira frees him and takes him to the sea to rest, recover, and hide from King Damien.
Current Status: Loyal to Adwin
Location: Seaside cove
Princess ?? (Never named on the mountain) – aka Tovi Tivka
Last Appearance:
Light played against Tovi’s closed eyelids in strange, rounded patterns, as if dancing through swaying leaves. The first conscious thought Tovi had was: But that’s impossible. There aren’t any trees here on the top of the mountain.
Images came back to her of her past days. The look on Calix’s face when he saw Leeto’s mark. Eryx brutally attacked at the first fight. Starving families in the Bottom Rung. Leeto’s body lying contorted on the ground. Dion curled into a ball in the corner of his cell. The evil that reflected in King Damien’s eyes as he cut into her hand. The swords piercing through Silas right before he faded away forever.
Then, still with eyes shut against the world that had caused so much heartache, she noted the softness she was lying on, the coziness of the material she was wearing, so unlike the silk she had become accustomed to.
She cracked her eyes open and tried to decipher her whereabouts. Flowers everywhere. Vines in the window. Waving willow leaves in the distance. Home.
Home! Tovi makes it home to the safety of Adia. Her last two chapters cover her conversation with Silas as she processes her perilous journey and everything she has experienced since leaving. Our heroine rarely stays still for long. So, while she’s bedridden for two solid chapters, we know she won’t stay that way long. Stay tuned for Book 2, when she is antsy to get out into the world on a mission for Silas.
Current Status: Loyal to Adwin/Silas
Location: Adia
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