What happened in The Young Elites by Marie Lu - Recaptains

Read a full summary of The Young Elites by Marie Lu below. If you can’t remember what happened in The Young Elites and you need a refresher, then you’re in the right place.

In short

Adelina kills her father and is to be executed but the Young Elites rescue her. She’s trained vigorously and her powers seem to make the Daggers wary of her. Teren demands information on the Daggers from Adelina and threatens to kill Violetta. Adelina plays a very dangerous game as she thinks that everyone is only ever capable of using her for their selfish gains. This gives her the clarity she needs to rescue Violetta from the clutches of Teren on the same night Teren kills the king with the help of Guilietta the queen. Teren and Violetta are also Elites. WHAT. Teren has Raffaele and Enzo challenges him to a duel in exchange for Raffaele’s life. On king’s funeral, Teren and Enzo duel and Adelina accidentally ends up hurting Enzo who is then killed by Teren. UM WHAT. Raffaele is able to escape, though. The rest of the Daggers throw her out which turns Adelina into a destroyer of worlds. HELL YES. She intends to find more Young Elites (along with Violetta, meh) to form a society of her own. Meanwhile, the Crown Princess of Beldain, Maeve, plans to visit Kenettra.

What happened in The Young Elites?

• On a stormy night, Adelina witnesses a man offering her father money to buy her as his mistress since she’s a malfetto and her father could finally be rid of her and the bad reputation. Adelina decides to run away asking her younger sister, Violetta, to not say a word.
• It all goes horribly wrong when her father comes after her and Adelina unknowingly uses her power to make illusions, killing him in the process. She runs away. However, she’s eventually caught by the king’s peacekeepers and arrested.
• On the day of her execution, just as she’s to be burnt on a stake, the Young Elites come to rescue her in the raging chaos.
• Adelina wakes in Estenzia and meets the leader of The Dagger Society, Enzo, who plans to claim the throne as he’s the rightful prince.
• Meanwhile, the Lead Inquisitor, Teren Santoro, is creepy af and is having an affair with the queen and Enzo’s sister, Guilietta.
• Raffaele discovers that gemstones call to the energy flowing inside Adelina are aligned with Fear and Fury and asks Enzo to dispose of her. Enzo wants her to be trained.
• And oh, Enzo plans to kill the king and queen on the eve of The Tournament of Storms.
• In order for Adelina to master her ability, she has to embrace the darkness to connect with her fear and fury.
• It is revealed that Teren is also an Elite and have the power to be healed but he think he’s an abomination and is tasked with ridding the world of all the Malfettos.
• Since Adelina is living in the Fortunata Court, she’s to play the part. Thus, Adelina learns to carry herself as she masters her powers of illusions.
• A tip leads Teren to the Fortunata Court where he corners Adelina and tells her that he has Violetta and will gladly kill her if Adelina refuses to share information about the Young Elites.
• Uh oh.
• Since Adelina is sure the Daggers will kill her as she’s turning out to be more trouble than it’s worth, she decides to brace Teren alone.
• When the Daggers go off to a mission, Adelina skips away to the Inquisition Tower.
• She tells Teren about their planning for the Tournament of Storms.
• The Daggers are actually out to make sure that Gemma AKA Star Thief is able to win in the qualifying races for the tournament.
• She does but because Adelina alerted Teren to the plan of the Daggers, she’s disqualified on the basis of being a malfetto.
• As protests rise, one of the Inquisitors intends to kill Gemma which Adelina cannot take and creates the illusion of Daggers on the roof. Chaos ensues, Gemma goes free and Adelina runs away.
• In light of Gemma’s disqualification, Enzo decides to have Adelina disguise Gemma so that she can kill the king and queen.
• The king threatens Teren since Gemma is the daughter of a nobleman who’s furious at her mistreatment.
• Enzo starts training Adelina himself at a rapid speed.
• The Daggers plan to set fire to the ships laden with fireworks on the eve of celebration of the Spring Moons ad it’s Adelina’s first mission.
• As the mission comes to a close and Adelina is looking for Raffaele, Teren corners her and gives her three days to get more information. Thankfully, the Daggers only know about the part where Teren attacked Adelina.
• Adelina is recruited as part of the Dagger Society.
• That evening, Adelina meets the noble patrons who support Enzo claim to the throne. Racked with guilt over her betrayel, Adelina leaves early but Enzo comes after her and they end up kissing.
• Enzo escorts her to her chamber and Adelina decides to tell the Daggers how Teren’s been threatening her but stops once she encounters Dante and Enzo whispering about her in the cavern.
• Dante tells Enzo that Teren and Adelina exchanged words and that she’s betraying them to him.
• Adelina comes to the conclusion that the Daggers are only good to her because they need her.
• She decides to go and meet Teren.
• Meanwhile, Teren kills the king with Giulietta’s help and plans to purge the city of all malfettos.
• Adelina demands to see Violetta but is still hesitant to give up the names of the Daggers to Teren.
• Adelina masks Violetta and herself and tries to hurt Teren but can’t.
• And that is when Violetta takes away Teren’s powers and that’s when it’s revealed that she’s also an Elite.
• EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE.
• Adelina and Violetta run away in the chaos that occurs in the wake of the king’s death and run into Dante in an alley.
• They have a face-off and Adelina ends up killing Dante.
• They arrive at the Fortunata Court under an invisibility illusion only to see that it’s been destroyed.
• They escape to the catacombs where Violetta finally confesses that she’s been pushing on Adelina’s power since childhood in order to protect her.
• In the square, Teren readies to execute Raffaele announcing that all malfettos are banned from the city and will be executed if found.
• Enzo challenges Teren to a duel on the king’s funeral in exchange for Raffaele’s life to which Teren delightfully agrees. What a creep, right.
• Adelina asks Violette to sense where the Daggers are headed in order to go to them.
• Adelina doesn’t tell them the whole truth but they decide to include her in the plans anyway.
• Teren and Enzo faces off in a duel the next day.
• Adelina is to make illusions while Violetta is to take Teren’s healing powers away but it all goes horribly wrong when Teren strikes Adelina flickering her attention and Adelina ends up hurting Enzo instead of Teren. As a result, Teren buries his sword into Enzo’s chest, killing him.
• WHAT JUST HAPPENED.
• The Daggers demand the whole truth from Adelina and she gives it to them. In the end, Raffaele asks her to leave with her sister.
• SOBS.
• ADELINA JUST CAN’T SEEM TO CATCH A BREAK, YOU GUYS.
• Adelina feels truly alone and hurt but now it’s her turn to use and to hurt.
• HELLO, YES.
• She plans to leave Estenzia with her sister to find other Young Elites and come back for Teren.
• My little destroyer of worlds is ready for blood, bitches.

How did it end?

The Crown Princess of Beldain, Maeve, receives word of the deaths of the king at the hands of the Lead Inquisitor and the prince. This changes her plan BUT HOW. Five years ago, Tristan’s death made the queen banish Lucent which saddened Maeve. However, it seems that Maeve brought his brother back to life and now she plans to pay Kenettra a visit. CAN I HAS THE ROSE SOCIETY NOW?

Anything else?

Malfetto – A child who gains a visible marking when taken ill by the blood fever.
The Dagger Society – A hidden society of the Young Elites who seek out and save other young elites from the king and the Inquisition Axis. Enzo Valenciano is their leader.
The Inquisition Axis – A cabal of inquisitors working for the king. They find and kill the Young Elites off.
Young Elites – Survivors of the blood fever who end up gaining mysterious abilities.