The Cruel Prince

The Ghost fetches Jude for her nighttime training, and the two are tasked with killing one of Balekin’s spies in the palace’s Great Hall as everything is prepared for the coronation. They hide in the tangled mass of roots that make up the hall’s ceiling, and Jude shoots the spy, who she quickly realizes is a creature that she thought was one of Madoc’s spies. Believing this to mean that Balekin and Madoc are conspiring together, and confused by the tangled web of loyalties and alliances, she is horrified by the note that the spy was carrying, which instructed the reader to kill the spy. Jude believes Balekin has betrayed Madoc in some way, and that the death of Locke’s mother is connected to all of these events.

Exhausted, Jude buries Valerian’s body and prepares for the coronation. Madoc gifts her a beautiful sword to wear to the ceremony, making her feel as though she is truly part of his family. Madoc tells her that her biological father, who was a blacksmith, made the sword and that she, and not Oak, should have it. Jude learns that her father, as well as her mother spent time in Faerie.