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If you’ve just read Book One, A Court Bright and Broken, you probably won’t need this refresher.

On the other hand, if you’ve read lots of books between the release of Book 1 on Feb 14, 2025 and now , I thought it might be helpful to offer you a recap to get you back up to speed on the Age of Fae series.

That way you’ll be ready to dive right into Book 2 without having to re-read the first book in the series. If that sounds good to you, enjoy the recap!

…

Bored and unhappy and feeling desperate for freedom, Prince Stellon Randalin slips out of Seaspire Castle dressed like a human peasant and goes to the loud, colorful, and rather dangerous Rough Market where the humans buy and sell and trade goods.

The Crown Prince talks to no one, only sits in an out of the way spot and people-watches, sketching the vendors and shoppers and other humans. He likes that the people are so interesting to look at, so varied in appearance.

Stellon’s father, King Pontus Randalin, would be so angry if he knew his son was “wasting his time” like this.

The Fae King has no respect for humans, always saying they are inferior and self-destructive.

And it seems to be true—in this market at least. There are countless muggings every time Stellon comes to this marketplace. He’s not afraid because of his size and naturally superior strength and agility.

Besides, he’s not bothering anyone and no one ever pays him any mind, including the band of thieves he often sees there.

Then Stellon spots a young woman he’s never seen at the market before. She looks frail, very out of place. She seems a little too clean and innocent to be in a place like this—she looks like an excellent victim.

The thieves notice her as well. For a moment, Stellon worries.

But why should he even care? She’s only human, and he’s been taught to look down on them, pity them if he must but care as little as possible.

It’s human nature to lie and cheat and steal and attack one another. She must know that. It was her choice to come here.

Still, when he spots the thugs following her, he obeys the insistent protective urge to get up and offer to escort the young woman.

After he removes her from the immediate danger, she rebuffs him, saying she doesn’t need any help.

Maybe it’s because he looks so disreputable? His disguise, which lives in the stable, must smell of must and horses. He’s a bit amused. He’s never rejected by the Fae women of his acquaintance.

Stellon doesn’t want to out himself as the Fae prince whose family rules this land (and is despised by the humans,) so he relents and allows her to walk away, but he follows at a distance, watching out for her.

While his attention is focused on her, the street gang ambushes him from behind, beating him senseless.

He laughs bitterly through the pain, thinking, this is what I deserve after all the dreadful things I’ve done in my father’s service. To die in the mud at the Rough Market, wearing rags like the peasants I’ve looked down on.

Then the attack stops suddenly, and Stellon opens his woozy eyes to see the young human woman holding a torch aloft.

She tossed a pan of oil over the thugs and threatened to light them all on fire. They believe her and run away.

Stellon’s ribs are broken, and so is his nose. Nothing an Elven healer can’t handle—if he can make it home, which is a big IF. The girl kneels over him and asks if he can stand.

She offers to help him home, which makes him feel ashamed for thinking ill of all humans. He has no choice but to accept. There’s no way he can get up on his horse that’s tied nearby. And he can’t walk the distance without support.

Stellon looks down at himself and realizes he looks like a beggar and smells horrendous. There’s mud caking his hair and face. His clothes are ripped and soiled.

The young woman doesn’t seem to notice or care. She certainly doesn’t recognize him as the prince. She asks which way toward his home, and he points toward the road that leads to the palace.

As they move in that direction, he can’t believe he’s in this situation, and it’s a human who’s helping him. She’s much stronger than he expected—in every way.

Raewyn reflects on the gang’s attack against the poor, dirty beggar and also on how large and heavy he is—that’s why she rebuffed him initially.

He is so physically powerful, and she is so weak from hunger she’d be a poor match against him should he have nefarious intent.

Based on how filled out he is, he must eat a little better than she would have expected, or at least he has heavy bones.

A man his size would run through her entire family’s food allotment for a week! Though admittedly, they don’t eat that much—they have no choice but subsistence.

That’s why she was at the Rough Market, a place everyone warned her not to go. She needed to sell a precious family heirloom, her mother’s locket, and use the proceeds to buy food for her family and medicine for her father who was injured in the rebellion against the evil Elven overlords and is now in constant pain.

She doesn’t hate all the Elves—only the royal family and the High Fae Court. They have taken everything from her family and neighbors in her village and driven her to this desperate point.

Their heavy tithe on all the human inhabitants of the land has left many of them starving, while the Fae have more than they could ever use or need.

She even feels a little bad for the market thieves because she’s almost been desperate enough to steal herself. She’s very glad she didn’t have to act on her threat to burn them.

Like them, she lives in survival mode. She’s not even trying to have a beau, though she is of age, because she has no dowry and therefore would be desirable to no one.

Besides, she is responsible for caring for her two young step-sisters and her disabled father.

During the slow trek toward the beaten man’s home, they cross a border that separates Fae lands from human ones, and Raewyn realizes her companion is not just a very tall human, but Fae, which surprises and alarms her.

As they near the castle gates she realizes he’s not just Fae but High Fae, maybe even a lord, one of the rich who take from the poor humans (like her family) and grow even richer.

She is now in a hurry to get away from him. She’s heard terrible stories about the High Fae all her life, especially the two wicked young princes, and has no wish to spend any more time in the Fae world than necessary.

Raewyn discovers she has lost the locket and is distraught—her family will be in dire straits without the proceeds it would have brought.

Stellon wants to repay her for her help, but she will take nothing from him, not even an invitation to the royal ball. She cannot let herself be in debt to a High Fae man.

As she turns to go, he slips the invitation into the hood of her cloak.

Later, after Stellon has been mended by the royal healer, his brother Pharis and sister Mareth come bounding into his chambers, wanting to know what happened to him.

He tells them about his altercation with the marketplace thieves and about how Raewyn helped him home. He will NOT be telling his father the King, who despises humans.

The three royal siblings get along famously, calling themselves the Three Pillars. They are all demeaned and used by their powerful father for their unique glamours.

They talk about the upcoming Assemblage and the Opening Night ball, where the two princes will be expected to begin evaluating bond-mate candidates now that they’re of bonding age.

Stellon thinks of the human girl who saved him—she is anything but an eligible bridal candidate.

Bonding with humans is strictly forbidden, and she clearly hates the Fae. There’s no place for her in his life. Still, for a few moments in her presence, he felt complete.

Meanwhile Raewyn returns to her village and her family. Her little sisters are eager to hear about her adventures at the market, but her father is devastated over the loss of the locket, the only thing they had left of value.

He assures her he will be okay without the medicine, but they both know it’s not true.

One of the girls discovers the invitation to the ball in her cloak, and Papa repeats what he’s said in the past about how dangerous the Fae are, warning his daughters not to be fooled by their beautiful facades because they hide treachery underneath.

Raewyn has no intention of attending. She’ll have to find another way to help her family.

The next day, she pays a visit to the village mother, an Earthwife, to beg for her papa’s pain cure on loan or in exchange for whatever work Raewyn might be able to do for her.

Earthwives have mysterious powers, but there’s always a price to pay for their help. Raewyn is desperate now though, so when Sorcha offers her a deal, she takes it.

She’ll attend the royal ball disguised as a High Fae woman, and at some point while she’s there, Sorcha will ask a favor of her. Beggars cannot be choosers, so Raewyn agrees.

The day of the Opening Night ball, Stellon asks his brother Pharis, who is a Gleaner, to borrow the matchmaker’s glamour and use it on the young women entering the ballroom and help him locate one who is a good match.

He can’t trust the matchmaker to do it herself because she’s loyal to his father and will only tell him to marry the daughter of a political ally. Pharis agrees.

Raewyn undergoes a magical transformation at the hands of the Earthwife and is taken by carriage to the palace. But at the ballroom door, she is almost turned away.

A dazzling Fae man appears and says, “Let her in. I invited her personally.” He kisses her cheek, shocking her.

Raewyn wonders why the handsome, exceedingly tall Elven man helped her (must be the witch’s spell) but thanks to him, she is allowed into the ball, and that’s all that really matters.

It’s wondrous inside, and the young man who helped her get in is charming and seems to be quite taken with her. He is a rogue to the fullest extent, and she’s not quite sure why she finds him so attractive—must be that Elven glamour she’s heard about.

Of course if he realized she was human, he’d spit on her and throw her out. She’s nervous and afraid of saying the wrong thing and being found out, so she tries to get away from him.

Another man approaches them. Handsome and dressed to perfection, he is glorious. And then she realizes he’s the same man she saved at the market, all cleaned up. He’s also the Crown Prince.

She’s in shock. How is this possible? What was Prince Stellon doing at the Rough Market dressed as a pauper? And he called her escort “brother.”

That’s when she realizes she’s been speaking with the Crown Prince’s brother all this time—Pharis Randalin.

Only a few minutes into the ball and she’s met the two people she wanted most to avoid—the wicked Fae princes.

Stellon doesn’t seem to recognize her, which is good. (She introduced herself as Wyn.)

Pharis seems to warn his brother off, saying “she’s not the one.” Stellon asks Raewyn to dance, and she has no choice but to accept. You don’t say no to the Crown Prince at his own ball.

Stellon is dazzled by the Fae woman. There’s something familiar about her, but he can’t place it. And he can’t get over how beautiful she is, seemingly made just for his eyes.

Well, his brother’s eyes too apparently, but Pharis looks at lots of women—he can live without this one. Stellon is not all that sure he can. There’s something about her.

They dance several dances while the jealous girls around them (and Pharis) glare at them.

Pharis speaks to him mind-to-mind, asking why Stellon isn’t listening to him, why he doesn’t trust him on this. He explains that the matchmaking glamour has told him this woman is the worst possible match for him out of the entire Assemblage.

Stellon says, “You’re wrong. I can feel it.” He invites his brother to take every other woman there—individually or all at once. He doesn’t care. This is the only one he wants.

Pharis seethes—he is second best once again, and his brother is the one who is chosen.

The King sends a messenger over to interrupt their dancing and summons his son. Stellon takes her to meet King Pontus, and he seems to approve of her.

He compels her to step forward and give him her hand, and he kisses it, lingering over it, grossing her out. Stellon seems bothered by it and objects, angering his father.

When the king orders Stellon to spread his attention around, he reluctantly leaves Raewyn to talk with and dance with some other women, including the one his father wants him to marry for political reasons.

Pharis, not so friendly now, takes Stellon ’s place with her on the dance floor, not asking but sweeping her into a dance she can barely keep up with. She’s confused about the change in him.

He was so charming before, but now he’s cruel, questioning her about herself in a hostile tone. Has he figured out she’s not who she’s pretending to be?

Does he have glamour that helps him see through her?

She’s never met anyone like him. Though he’s hostile, he stays with her, and she suspects he may have been assigned to watch her.

In truth, he’s assigned himself to the task. He intends to stay by her side the whole night and see how someone so lovely could possibly be so bad as a potential queen.

She’s from a noble house, she’s clever, and she’s stunning. He’s even more suspicious when she ignores the questions he sends her mind to mind, choosing to speak to him aloud.

That means it’s possible she’s lying about something, and he intends to find out what.

After a few dances, the dinner bells chime, and everyone makes their way into a different room to eat. Dinner gives Raewyn a break from both men because seating is arranged by rank, and she’s very far away from them.

She excuses herself from the table and makes her way to the restroom where the Earthwife confronts her and reveals the task she must complete to pay her debt—assassinate the Fae royal family.

Sorcha gives her four vials of poison, and Raewyn is horrified. She’s not an assassin. But the witch insists it’s the royals or her family.

Her father will be in more pain, and the Earthwife will claim one of her little sisters as payment for her end of the bargain if she refuses.

Raewyn reluctantly agrees, wondering if she can even pull it off—or live with herself if she manages it.

Stellon finds her and asks her to go for a walk outside. It’s a beautiful night, very romantic as they look at the ocean and the stars and talk.

Then he kisses her—it’s her first kiss ever, and incredibly, it’s happening with an Elven prince.

There’s a moment when she has the perfect opportunity to slip him the poison, but before she can decide, Pharis interrupts.

Stellon is angry, but Raewyn is relieved that the chance to kill him has slipped through her fingers.

Stellon and Raewyn go back inside, and he shocks her by proposing in front of the entire ballroom. The witch must have added a love spell along with her Fae disguise.

With everyone watching and knowing she has to keep up the ruse, “Lady Wyn” says yes.

Her intention is to slip out of the castle before her disguise dissolves at midnight and rush home to her family, getting them out of the village to try to escape Sorcha’s retribution.

But she has no chance to leave. She’s assigned two personal guards and informed she’ll be staying at the castle now for her own safety as a member of the royal family.

What will she do now? She needs to escape and get home to her family.

Once she’s locked in her guest suite, she looks around and realizes she can climb down from the balcony on a trellis.

It’s a race against time as she climbs down and then runs across the lawn, heading for the castle gates. Before she can reach them, she trips and sprains her ankle.

Then the clock strikes twelve, and her Fae appearance dissolves, along with her beautiful clothing. All that’s left is the single shoe that came off when she fell.

She’s very clearly human now and looks like the peasant nobody she is. Also, her purse spilled, and she’s lost the poison vials.

Palace guards capture her and take her to the dungeon, where she finds Sorcha in the cell next to hers.

The witch offers Raewyn a second chance. She has two weeks—until the end of the Assemblage—to assassinate the royal family or her own family will suffer endlessly.

She gives Raewyn money to bribe the jailer and convince him to send a message to Stellon.

When Stellon arrives and finds her in the cell, he’s delighted to see her again. He recognizes her immediately as the human girl who saved him and takes her to his suite to talk to take care of her ankle injury.

He’s planning to arrange transportation back to her village the next day.

But early the next morning, Lady Wyn’s disappearance is discovered, causing a frenzy in the palace. Stellon is distraught that his new fiancee fled or was kidnapped, and things are made worse when the vials of poison are discovered.

Now a search ensues for the assassin and for Lady Wynn—who may be one and the same.

Pharis seems especially determined to get to the bottom of things. He says, “I tried to warn you about her.”

Over the next week, the King’s troops search the region but find no sign of Lady Wyn. Meanwhile, Stellon takes care of Raewyn in his suite, spoiling her with care and flower baths and books and decadent food, insisting she is too thin and needs to gain weight.

She cannot leave on her own because of her ankle sprain, and Stellon says it’s not safe to try to transport her right now because of the zealous search for a would-be assassin.

Raewyn would be suspected simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

She gradually grows to trust and like Stellon and desperately does not want to harm him or his family, but she’s not sure what she is going to do to protect her family.