What happened in Furyborn by Claire Legrand - Recaptains

The basics

Title: Furyborn

Author: Claire Legrand

Series: Empirium #1

- Furyborn (2018)
- Kingsbane (2019)
- Lightbringer (2020)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

When assassins ambush her best friend, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing herself as one of a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light, and a queen of blood. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven elemental magic trials. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first.

One thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a fairy tale to Eliana Ferracora. A bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, Eliana believes herself untouchable--until her mother vanishes. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain and discovers that the evil at the empire's heart is more terrible than she ever imagined.

As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world--and of each other.

Read a full summary of Furyborn by Claire Legrand below. If you can’t remember what happened in Furyborn and you need a refresher, then you’re in the right place.

What happened in Furyborn?

• Furyborn starts with Queen Rielle giving birth to a baby. It’s a bit of a disasterous birth because Corien, the angel, is after the baby and Simon since they both have angel blood.
• Rielle asks Simon to take the baby to Borsvall. Simon gets away, but something goes wrong when he tries to use his magic. He ends up traveling through time and the baby falls from his arms.
• Corien arrives and asks Rielle where the baby is, but she won’t tell him.
  TWO YEARS EARLIER
• Rielle hears that the Princess of Borsvall is dead, and wonders if it’s an assassination. Audric reckons this means the prophesised queen is coming.
• Rielle confides in Tal, and tells him that her father drugs her when it storms so she will sleep through it and not get any ideas for using her elemental powers.
• Rielle sneaks off on Lady Ludivine’s horse after she faints. Rielle wants to participate in the Boon Chase to prove that she has control.
  ONE THOUSAND YEARS LATER
• Eliana, also known as the Dread of Orline, is worried because females have been vanishing from the slums. She’s also concerned about there being a hole in the sky, but that’s less important right now.
• Eliana hears a girl scream and tries to stop some men from abducting her. Harkan stops her and says they need to leave it and stay on task.
• Harkan and Eliana find a man called Quill, who murders a woman. Eliana captures him and he is executed for his crimes.
• Rielle preps for the Chase and thinks about how she fancies Audric even though he’s engaged to Lady Ludivine. Awkward.
• Back at Eliana’s house, her brother Remy is super angry with her for sending people to their execution. He says that Audric, the mythical king, would be unimpressed. Remy does later apologise for this.
• Eliana tries to track down the Wolf and also the Prophet, who is the leader of the Red Crown. She returns home to find her mother missing, and she realises that the Wolf is in her home.
• Rielle is taking part in the Chase when she spots a group of people trying to kill Audric. She saves him and reveals herself as an elemental. She also kills her horse and it’s horrific. Rielle passes out for a couple of days and Ludivine tells her what people are saying about her. She also brings up the prophecy about the two queens, and that they believe that Rielle is one of them.
• Rielle starts considering the voice that spoke to her. She’s not sure who or what it is.
• Back at Eliana’s place, Wolf ties Eliana up. They flirt and reach a deal. The Wolf, whose real name is Simon (THAT Simon, yes) will help Eliana find her mother in return for her help stealing something. Eliana wants Harkan and Remy to come with her.
• The king questions Rielle, and she is forced to tell him that she accidentally killed her own mother when she burnt her childhood home to the ground. The king doesn’t think she can control her powers and wishes to test her to figure out if she’s the good queen or not.
• Eliana and Simon head to a ball at the castle and they find Navi, the princess of Astavar, there.
• Ludivine tells Rielle that she’ll have to face seven trials to prove that she can control her powers and that she is loyal to the king.
• Eliana is attacked by Rahzavel and he realises she has healing powers. Simon fights him off and the group leaves the castle. Harkan stays behind to fight off the enemy soldiers. Their escape if helped by members of the Red Crown rebellion.
• Simon’s plan is to take Navi home to Astavar.
• Rielle wakes up after she has been taken to a mountain for her first trial. She will need to stop an avalanche. She does so, and thus passes the trial. She then gets an unbearable pain in her head and hears the voice again before she passes out.
• Eliana goes to check on Simon and then someone hits her on the back of the head.
• Rielle speaks to the mysterious voice, which apparantely belongs to a… person? called Corien. Except it’s obviously the angel from the beginning. Anyway, she wakes up after they do a bit of flirting.
• Rielle speaks to the king again and Audric suggests that they allow spectators at the next trials. This is in order for the people to come around to Rielle and realise that she’s a good person.
• When Eliana wakes up, Simon reveals that they’re now at a Red Crown encampment. There are hundreds of displaced people there. Simon introduces her to a few of them.
• Rielle trains a bit and then it’s time for her next trial. She has to find pieces of a trident underwater.
• Eliana argues with Navi about Remy’s bedtime. She then sits with some of the Red Crown people and listens to a girl tell a story about what happened to her family.
• Rielle’s trial is now underway. Corien eggs her on and she ends up passing the test. Audric kisses her temple.
• Eliana plans to trade information on the Red Crown for information on where their mother is. Remy doesn’t like this plan and runs away. Eliana is captured by Lord Morbrae as she’s searching for her brother. Morbrae invites Eliana to dinner.
• Eliana trades some small pieces of information in the hope that Morbrae will be able to find her mother. As she is looking him in the eyes, she is transported to Celdaria and sees a man there. It’s the Emperor.
• Rielle has to do some metalwork for her next test. Rielle has to choose whether to save herself or to save some orphans in cages.
• The Emperor, in the vision, asks Eliana where he can find her. Eliana returns to Morbrae. Simon helps Eliana escape and plans to blow up the castle. They don’t, unfortunately, kill morbrae. They head back to the Red Crown encampment and Navi tells them its now under attack. Morbrae sent people after them.
• Eliana fights off some soldiers and gets knocked out… again.
• Rielle saves the orphans and passes the test.
• Eliana wakes up three days later. Some of the refugees survived, but a lot were killed. Eliana tells Navi about her experience with the Emperor. Simon overhears and freaks out. He wants to know if Eliana spoke to the Emperor or told him where she is. Eliana reassures him that she didn’t.
• Rielle speaks to Corien some more and is able to almost see him if she concentrates. She asks if he is an angel and he confirms that he is. Rielle tells him that the saints should have closed the gate to the Deep, and Corien points out that no gate closes forever. Corien leaves.
• Eliana heads to the Sanctuary, which is an underground city in Rinthos.
• Eliana shows Navi her healing powers. Navi promises to keep it a secret.
• Remy realises that Morbrae and co. are angels and tells Eliana.
• Rielle bumps into Audric in the garden. They kiss. Ludivine’s father spots them and is understandably quite annoyed.
• Ludivine promises Rielle that she’s not angry, and that she isn’t in love with Audric anyway.
• Eliana has more nightmares. She bumps into Navi and she tells her about her dreams. They talk about Harken too and it’s all very sad.
• Camille tells Eliana that she has heard that she’s invincible. Camille offers to help Eliana find her mother if Eliana does a job for her. Camille wants her to find Laenys for her.
• Rielle passes her shadow trial with the help of Corien. Corien prompts Rielle to send the compiled shadows into the crowd, but she won’t do it. They argue.
• Eliana leaves the Sanctuary and finds a bar. She’s watching out for the men who take the women from Santuary. She spots three women vanish into thin air. She starts to look into it, but Simon and Navi show up. Rahzavel shows up and tries to kill her.
• The king tells Rielle off for her shadow stunt. A messenger shows up and says that some of the northern outposts have been attacked during the night. Audric believes this is part of the prophecy. He speaks to Rielle and Ludivine, who suggests that they still get married but she’ll allow an affair with Rielle. Audric and Rielle like this idea.
• Eliana blacks out after a voice whispers something about the new world in her ear.
• Rielle believes she has been poisoned, and quickly realises that Ludivine’s father has kidnapped her. He throws her off a cliff (!) and she’s saved by a chavaile, which takes her home. Rielle fights Lord Dervin but doesn’t kill him.
• Eliana is in a cell. Zahra shows up and says she used to be an angel, but is now a wraith. Zahra wants to take Eliana to Celdaria. Zahra shows Eliana visions from when she was a baby. Eliana sees her mother kissing the Emperor after she raises someone from the dead.
• Zahra reveals that the Emperor is called Corien and that he has been bringing angels back from the dead.
• Rielle is made Sun Queen without finishing her trials, which is probably for the best. Rielle still wants to complete the fire trial because of what happened to her mother.
• Rielle apologises to Ludivine for attacking Lord Dervin. It’s all good.
• Rielle heads to Healer Garver, and meets his son Simon.
• Eliana escapes. Semyaza shows up and Zahra distracts them while Eliana runs. Simon arrives and helps Eliana and Navi escape.
• Rielle and Audric get it on because he’s emotional about sending her off to war. It’s rather explosive for Rielle.
• Zahra tells Eliana that Navi could have been experimented on. The Fidela have been turning people into crawlers (think Gears of War). Eliana asks Simon if he knew this was a thing.
• Apparently the Prophet sent Simon to look into the healing girl in Orline. Simon admits to knowing Eliana’s parents.
• Rahzavel sets everything on fire. Eliana wants to rescue REmy from the building but Simon doesn’t let her at first. Eliana breaks free and saves her brother and Navi. Simon fights Rahzavel and is losing.
• Rielle has to save Tal from a burning house for her final trial. She does so. Corien shows up when the crowd starts screaming. Lord Dervin’s men are attacking people. Corien refuses to help. Rielle saves Audric and Simon. Ludivine falls off a cliff.
• A scout tells Eliana that Simon is being held captive by Rahzavel so obviously she and Zahra have to rescue him.
• Rielle finds Corien holding the king captive. He releases them when she asks. Corien says he’ll only leave people be if Rielle goes with him and chooses him. Rielle attacks him and he flees. Rielle has accidentally frozen her father and the king using her power and so they die.
• Zahra plans to possess Rahzavel so Eliana can kill him. Simon refuses to leave until he finds a piece of Eliana’s blanket. He tells her about how they used to live in Celdaria and had to flee because of Corien.
• Rielle is crowned. Ludivine returns from the dead (??) and tells everyone that it’s because of Rielle. This is when Rielle fully realises that Ludivine is an angel. Ludivine explains that she’s a good angel and wants to help. The real Ludivine died years ago, and so the angel possessed her.
• Ludivine warns that the angel gate will fall soon. Rielle admits that she has been speaking to Corien. Audric is angry.
• Eliana kills Rozen, her mother, as they’re escaping.
• The funeral for the king happens and Audric wants to work with Rielle and Ludivine against whatever is coming.
• Eliana wakes up… again… and Simon tells her everyone is fine. Eliana realises that she’s the daughter of Rielle and that somehow Simon made them time travel 1000 years.

This is a full plot summary of what happened in Furyborn by Claire Legrand. Check out our recap list for more recaps. If you can’t find what you need, you can request a recap from us!

Other recaps for this series:

• Kingsbane (Empirium #2)