The Story So Far
Sylvie of House Verran travelled to Faros with her sister Adria and their House Guardian Larus Adama for the Great Festival, a three-month-long celebration and their best opportunity to assassinate Ronan IV, the God-King of Selara.
On their way, Sylvie learned that Adria intended for Sylvie to befriend and seduce Ronan to give them the opportunity to kill him at the beginning of their planned siege of Faros, something Sylvie swore she wouldn’t do.
Their plan was born out of a desire for revenge: ten years earlier, Sylvie and Adria’s parents led their province Nithyria in a failed civil war against Selara due to their demand for the ash of the rare phoenix cypress tree, the key ingredient of the alchemy of lead into gold.
The war lasted five years and resulted in the deaths of their mother (killed by Ronan’s father, King Aurelian), King Aurelian (killed by Sylvie’s father), and their father (believed to have been killed by Ronan).
When they arrived in the capital, Ronan greeted them personally, an experience Sylvie found intimidating due to his unique power to sense the emotions of others.
Though she slipped and let him see her anger, Adria praised her for attracting his attention.
Then Sylvie ventured into the market near the palace, where she met and flirted with the mysterious Soren, revealed to be Ronan in disguise by his signature wink.
The Festival of Sport began, with one of Ronan’s advisors, Quinn of House Horatio, antagonizing both Sylvie and Adria while Sylvie befriended Zara of Eki, the Mistress of the Alchemists’ Guild.
Sylvie entered the Tournament of the Blade and the Tournament of the Bow, training with Ronan.
Ronan revealed that his guard Taran, a member of the native Orsan people who were the ancient enemy of Nithyria, had his entire family brutally murdered by Sylvie’s family.
Sylvie sympathized but responded that Nithyria had little choice when they were starving, accusing Ronan of purposefully starving her people.
Sylvie met with Felix March of the Enez Islands, the leader of a mercenary naval force needed by Adria to blockade Faros as part of their siege.
He informed Larus that he needed to return home to convince his mother to lend her ships to their cause, leaving Sylvie without her primary ally for several weeks.
Then Sylvie returned to the market to confront Soren, where he informed her that some of his shadow-born spies were missing, and he needed her help to follow up on a lead.
They broke into a warehouse, uncovering a smuggling operation headed by one of his spies but not finding the other missing girl.
Sylvie confronted Soren and demanded he tell her the truth, and he confirmed that he was Ronan, disguising himself and using his spies to track his advisors and family due to sabotage.
Then Sylvie competed in the first round of the Tournament of the Blade, being injured by her opponent and saved by Guild Mistress Zara.
Ronan summoned her to his chambers, inviting her to dinner where they discussed their family history, with Ronan apologizing for taking her father from her and offering to take her on a trip they had planned.
Sylvie then competed in the final of the Tournament of the Bow, but the competition was cut short when one of her competitors killed the other as a distraction for an assassination attempt on Ronan.
Sylvie killed the assassin and won Quinn’s respect for saving Ronan’s life.
Ronan revealed that something was affecting his magic, limiting his ability to detect those plotting against him.
Sylvie neglected to inform Adria of this development.
Sylvie and Ronan met with a witness who had seen one of the missing girls, giving them a lead that the Alchemists’ Guild may have been involved in the disappearances.
Sylvie and Ronan argued over the gold alchemy and its chokehold on the people of Nithyria, with Ronan revealing that he despised taking from Sylvie’s people, but his father’s scouring of their primary food-producing land had made the alchemy essential to all of their survival.
He also revealed that he was not responsible for the food shortages experienced by Nithyria, leading Sylvie to suspect Adria of doing it to drum up support for the war.
Ronan crowned Sylvie the Champion of the Bow.
At the ball that followed, Sylvie flirted with Titus, the man who defeated her in the Tournament of the Blade, which made Ronan jealous.
He admitted his attraction to her, and they shared a kiss on the balcony, which was interrupted by Quinn.
Then Sylvie followed her House alchemist, finding him meeting with someone at the door the witness told her and Ronan about earlier.
Upon returning to the palace, Sylvie confronted Adria, who admitted that she had their brother Seth sabotage the grain shipments from Selara.
Ronan and Sylvie participated in the final event of the Festival of Sport: the hunt for a griffin.
There, Ronan befriended the creature rather than killing it, taking Sylvie for a flight over Selara.
Ronan admitted his desire to be with Sylvie and revealed his deepest secret: that he forfeited the duel with her father, being saved by Taran, which meant that Adria had a valid claim to the throne.
Sylvie took time to consider her feelings, attending the Festival of the Arts with Quinn and asking Larus to help her stop the war.
During this time, Sylvie began to sense Ronan’s feelings, potentially a projection of his powers in a way neither of them could explain.
With a plan for ending the war, Sylvie reunited with Ronan, reconnecting at the theatre.
When they left early, Sylvie was abducted by Guild Mistress Zara, revealed to be the person behind the sabotage of Ronan and his magic through the use of shadow-born blood due to his refusal to approve of some of the Guild’s more questionable research methods.
Sylvie was rescued by Ronan, Quinn, and Taran, and they found the missing shadow-born, saving them.
Sylvie and Ronan agreed to keep their relationship a secret.
He took her to the Great Library of Faros on her birthday, where they planned their trip abroad.
Ronan admitted that he loved her, and Sylvie felt guilty for plotting against him but did not reveal their plans.
After the Great Feast, Sylvie realized Ronan was nearly killed by her mother during the civil war.
Her guilt for her family’s actions finally led her to come clean about the Nithyrian war plans, revealing everything to Ronan’s war council.
After several days of tension, she admitted that she loved him too, and he forgave her for her betrayal.
Adria was imprisoned, but she escaped during the Festival of Night, the war plans having been moved up when they realized Sylvie’s changed allegiance.
She lured Ronan to the throne room using Sylvie, resulting in Sylvie nearly killing her in a duel, Quinn being left in a coma, and Larus and Adria escaping.
Sylvie, Ronan, and Taran put down the fight in the streets of Faros, but the siege continues.
The next night, Sylvie was kidnapped by an unknown abductor, and Ronan and Taran took off on the griffin Kira to rescue her.