The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes mention of rape and suicidal ideation. In addition, the source text describes enslavement and enslaved persons, using outdated terms that are only replicated in this guide in quotes from the source material.

Oraya is one of two point-of-view characters and the duology’s primary protagonist. She is half-human, half-vampire with long black hair, a red House of Night Heir Mark down her throat and across her chest, and eyes “silver as steel. Just as sharp. Just as deadly” (83). Oraya has previously always believed herself the human child her adoptive father, Vincent, found in the ruins of Salinae and raised as his own.

Oraya has recently learned that she’s Vincent’s biological daughter. When she is able to wield his Taker of Hearts sword and open his magically sealed items with her blood, she thinks that this “meant I no longer knew anything about myself. My magic. My lifespan. My blood. The limits of my own flesh. It meant that my entire life had been a lie” (130). A major aspect of Oraya’s character arc throughout the novel is discovering her identity—not the weak human Vincent claimed her to be, but the half-vampire Heir to the House of Night who can be powerful enough to enact change.