To Kill a Kingdom

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2018

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Chapters 14-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 14 Summary

Elian and a smaller crew sail the Saad away from Midas, ready for their mission to find the Crystal of Keto. He is sailing the ship to Eidýllio to meet with their Queen. Torik, Kye, and Madrid play cards as they sail, but Elian worries about how they will convince the Págese king to allow them to climb Cloud Mountain. The crew decides to fish for dinner, but just before they can lay their nets, they see something in the water. Elian gets his binoculars from Kye and looks out over the water. They recognize that it’s a body but are surprised to see that it’s a girl. Elian wakes the rest of the crew in case it’s a trap but jumps in to save her. He swims out to her, realizing that she’s completely naked, and catches her just as she’s about to sink. The crew tosses a buoy into the water, and they pull Elian and the girl onto the ship. Elian drapes his wet shirt over the girl’s naked body, and suddenly she wakes up and coughs up ocean water. She curses at him in Psáriin and slaps him, looking as though she wants to kill him. Elian asks Kye to get the rope, and they tie her to the railing.

Chapter 15 Summary

Lira wakes up tied to the railing of an unfamiliar ship with golden rope. She is surprised by her human skin and legs and by how cold she feels in her new body. She sees Prince Elian, recognizing him as the prince she wants to kill. The prince interrogates her, asking her who she is. She eventually reveals that her name is Lira, noting that it sounds more lyrical on his tongue than the sharp way she’s used to hearing it. He has taken her seashell necklace, recognizing it as a siren necklace. He asks her where she got it, and she says her mother gave it to her. He refuses to return it to her, so she pounces at him, and Elian puts his knife to her throat. Just then, a man comes to tell Elian that the radar has spotted a siren, and he sheathes his knife and prepares for the siren encounter.

Chapter 16 Summary

Lira watches as Elian and the crew prepare to catch the siren. There’s a loud ringing sound that seems to not bother the humans but is shrill and unbearable to Lira, though she tries not to react to it. Elian decides to act as bait, which surprises Lira because she knows he’s a prince. Elian uses a device from Efévresi, a land known for their technological advancements, which will allow him to breathe underwater for five minutes. Then he dives in. Madrid explains to Lira that the sonar disturbs the sirens and disables them. Soon, Elian emerges from the ocean, tangled in the net with the siren. The crew pulls it aboard at Torik’s instruction, and Kye scolds Elian for getting into the net with the siren. Elian explains that it was the only way to get her to swim inside the net.

Lira realizes that she knows the captured siren, whose name is Maeve. She tries to calm Maeve, but the siren curses at her in Psáriin. Lira lunges forward to attack, Elian holding her back just in time. When Maeve draws a circle on her hand, a rude gesture in their culture, Lira tells the prince to kill her. Elian and the crew realize that Lira can speak Psáriin. Elian warns her that she had better be able to explain why she can speak the language of the sea, but when he uses her name, Maeve recognizes her as her princess and begins to beg for her life. Elian asks what Maeve is saying and Lira explains that she’s begging for her life.

Chapters 14-16 Analysis

Though the crew of the Saad and Elian don’t trust Lira, they are her first taste of human compassion. When Elian spots a drowning girl in the middle of the ocean, he doesn’t hesitate to save her life. At the same time, they are rightfully suspicious of her, especially because Lira regards them with hostility and inexplicably speaks the language of the sirens. Chapter 15 is the first time the book acknowledges Lira’s name, previously only referring to her as the siren princess or the Princes’ Bane. This device denies humanity to Lira while she’s in siren form not because the sirens are inherently animalistic, but because they do not regard themselves as human and suppress any traits—like empathy—that suggest a kinship with humanity. The first time Lira is actually named is while she’s in human form, and the first characters to acknowledge that she has a name are the humans. Lira clings to her viciousness in her human form, especially in response to Maeve’s disrespect. However, her support of the humans killing Maeve is also the first sign that her attitudes are shifting.

One notable and perhaps unexpected development in these chapters is Christo’s inclusion of sonar technology. To Kill a Kingdom generally adheres to the conventions of high fantasy—that is, it takes place in a world distinct from our own that operates according to its own magical laws. The reference to sonar, however, establishes a link to life on Earth, where sonar does in fact seem to distress marine life (particularly mammals like whales and seals).