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T his is book two in the Veridian Empire series.

While it can be read as a standalone, I’m including this recap in case you need a refresher of what happened in book one, In the Wake of the Wicked .

If you haven’t read book one yet, you can either skip this (spoilers for book one!) or read at your own discretion.

In the Wake of the Wicked follows Rose Wolff, a twenty-five-year-old Alchemist and outcast in her province of Feywood. Six provinces exist in the Veridian Empire, each with their own unique strand of magic.

Feywood : home to Alchemists, people with the power to cast spells and enchantments using the nature around them.

Celestria: home to Striders, who can transport themselves from one place to another in the blink of an eye.

Iluze : home to Illusionists, who can create illusions in the minds of others.

Emberfell: home to Lightbenders, people who create and bend light to their will.

Drakorum: home to Shifters, who can shift into a given animal form.

Tenebra: home to Shadow Wielders, those who manipulate shadows .

Veridians came to possess this magic three hundred years ago when the Fates, the deities of this world, issued a prophecy to both the Veridian Empire and the Kingdom of Mysthelm.

The prophecy stated that whoever could conquer the uninhabited island that held the magic of the Fates would be given their power.

The War of Beginnings ensued, and the Veridians won, causing a rift between them and Mysthelm. ( Remember this for book two. ) Veridians were granted magic, but it came with a catch: over time, its power wanes.

Rose’s story picks up three hundred years later, right before the start of the thirty-second Decemvirate, a magical tournament held every ten years in order to replenish their fading magic.

One challenger from each of the six provinces is chosen to compete in three dangerous trials.

The winner’s province is given the most magic, and so on, down to the sixth and last challenger, who receives barely a fraction of it.

Rose’s uncle is this year’s challenger for Feywood. As they travel to the capital, Veridia City, Rose’s eyes are opened to the dangers of the empire.

Over the past two decades since the current emperor, Theodore Gayl, took power, Veridians have become divided.

Those with the most magic and wealth are elevated above the weaker.

Gayl made it illegal to travel between provinces except for some exceptions, so animosity among provinces is at an all-time high.

People are scared to live in their own homes, but they can’t afford to leave.

Attacks and violence run rampant. The empire is crumbling.

On the way to the capital, Rose’s family is attacked by a group of Shifters who are trying to sabotage Decemvirate challengers.

Rose and her uncle defeat them, but another threat rises—Rose’s uncle unexpectedly falls to the Somnivae curse.

This sleeping curse has been ravaging the empire for twenty-seven years, ever since the former emperor Branock Aris’s twin children were born.

Everyone believes Branock and his cursed twins are the reason for the curse.

Their hatred and fear drove him from his throne and allowed Theodore Gayl to swoop in and take over .

Now, Rose’s uncle is frozen in a magical sleep, unable to participate in the Decemvirate and represent their province. Who could ever replace him?

Enter our brave heroine .

Rose is convinced to volunteer for the Decemvirate in her uncle’s place by a new friend, the head architect of the tournament.

Only, this architect isn’t what she seems. Lark Everest is part of a secret rebellion set on bringing down Emperor Gayl, breaking the Somnivae curse, and restoring the empire to its former glory.

She tells Rose her rebellion wants to use Rose as their undercover spy to dig up information on Theodore Gayl.

As Rose undergoes the deadly trials of the Decemvirate, she gets pulled into this rebellion and meets our found family of Sentinels: Clarissa Aris, leader and firstborn of the former Branock Aris ( hmm…

could she be our new main character? ); her twin brother, Leo; the head architect, Lark; and two other rebels, Chaz and Horace, Rose’s trusted guard.

Leo Aris is on a mission of personal revenge against Theodore Gayl.

He wants retribution for what the man did to his father: chasing him from his throne and blaming him for the Somnivae curse.

But Leo didn’t expect a certain beautiful, stubborn, morally grey Alchemist to step into his life and distract him.

While Rose is committed to her new friends and the rebellion, she uncovers a life-changing secret from her past. Emperor Theodore Gayl is her uncle—her dead father’s brother. The same man she’s supposed to be working against.

But that’s not all.

Gayl is an accomplished Alchemist—the most powerful the empire has ever seen.

His secret? Blood magic . A type of dangerous Alchemy forbidden in Veridia because of how volatile and fatal it can be.

But he convinces Rose of its uses and teaches her how to wield it.

In time, she begins to believe he’s not the evil, corrupt ruler everyone thinks he is.

Rose grapples with so many secrets and challenges thrown at her, all while keeping the truth of her blood magic from Leo and the other Sentinels. She’s found the first group of people who have ever accepted her and is even falling in love—she doesn’t want to risk losing it.

Eventually, the truth comes out, and she learns the danger of blood magic when its consequences continue to pile high, putting those she cares about in harm’s way. She realizes Gayl is manipulating her and devises a plan to use Alchemy to try and incapacitate him, if she can get close enough.

Everything culminates in the final trial of the Decemvirate, where Gayl reveals that he’s known about the secret rebellion all along and lays his final trap to kill them.

He and Rose face off in an epic battle of wills and Alchemy.

He confesses that he’s the reason her father (his own brother) is dead, and that he’s the one behind the Somnivae curse.

Every time someone fell to the sleeping curse in the last twenty-seven years, he absorbed their power, turning him into the strongest Veridian to ever live.

At the last second, Rose performs a charm that siphons the magic from him and funnels into her, leaving him dead. In the aftermath, she discovers that she now holds the power to wake those who were under the Somnivae curse.

While she and Leo embark on a happily-ever-after adventure to rouse the sleeping victims across the entire empire, our new main character, Clarissa Aris, rises into her power as heir to the Veridian Empire. And so, her story begins…