What happened in Kingsbane by Claire Legrand - Recaptains

The basics

Title: Kingsbane

Author: Claire Legrand

Series: Empirium #2

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

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

Rielle Dardenne has been anointed Sun Queen, but her trials are far from over. The Gate keeping the angels at bay is falling. To repair it, Rielle must collect the seven hidden castings of the saints. Meanwhile, to help her prince and love Audric protect Celdaria, Rielle must spy on the angel Corien—but his promises of freedom and power may prove too tempting to resist.

Centuries later, Eliana Ferracora grapples with her new reality: She is the Sun Queen, humanity's long-awaited savior. But fear of corruption—fear of becoming another Rielle—keeps Eliana's power dangerous and unpredictable. Hunted by all, racing against time to save her dying friend Navi, Eliana must decide how to wear a crown she never wanted—by embracing her mother's power, or rejecting it forever.

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

What happened in Kingsbane?

• Rielle is currently touring her queendom and is finding it all a bit repetitive. Some people aren’t very happy with their new queen.
• Corien finds her and calls to her from the crowd. Rielle leaves the area under the control of Ludivine.
• Navi attacks Eliana and Simon.
• Rielle is angry with Ludivine, who promises not to use mind control on her again.
• Prince Illmyr and Princess Ingrid are angry with Rielle because their sister died. There’s an argument, and the main group fly away.
• Ther’es a council meeting and Simon suggests leaving. Eliana won’t leave without Navi, who is still very sick.
• Zahra suggests that they procure a tonic from the black market.
• Ludivine wants to go off to the Gate to check up on it, and wonders if that’s the reason for these freak events. Ilmaire offers up one of his ships for the journey, since Rielle did just save his kingdom from a tidal wave.
• Zahra helps Eliana get used to her powers. Eliana starts seeing different saints in her head. Zahra tells Eliana that she thinks Eliana now has Rielle’s magic.
• On the ship, Rielle seeks out Corien in a vision. She gets a bit excited about it.
• Ludivine is shot by one of Ilmaire’s men. He shoots her with an arrow that traps her soul. Rielle is able to heal Ludivine with some difficulty.
• Harkan shows up and Eliana fills him in on what’s been going on. Remy overhears and learns that Eliana killed their mother. Eliana heads to the library.
• Rielle reaches the Gate and tries to repair it, but she’s unable to do so. Jodoc suggests that Rielle could draw power from the saints, but first she’ll have to find their castings.
• Eliana uses metal and her necklace to create her castings.
• Ilmaire’s father dies, but before he does he comes out with some prophecies about angels.
• Rielle receives her first casting, which is a hammer.
• Eliana trains with Zahra and Harkan. She starves herself to try to draw her power out. This seems to work and she sets the ceiling on fire.
• Corien reflects on how bored and angry and jealous he is.
• Rielle is reunited with Tal. He’s very proud of her. Rielle is summoned by the queen almost immediately, and Rielle asks her for information on the castings. The queen refuses to give them to her.
• Zahra, Eliana, and Harkan go to get the tonic. While at the market, Zahra gets put into a copper box by a wraith named Sarash. There’s a fight and Eliana burns down Sarash’s house. The group escapes.
• Rielle starts visiting the city’s churches in order to win over the citizens. Corien keeps trying to contact her.
• Simon is annoyed that Eliana put herself at risk. They kiss.
• Navi is given the antidote and recovers.
• Rielle meets with Queen Obritsa. There’s a feast and Rielle is supposed to do a speech but Audric does it instead.
• There’s an attack on the base and Eliana rushes off to find her brother. Harkan stops her and knocks her out.
• Simon wonders where Eliana has gone, and he notices Harkan has disappeared too.
• Harkan takes Eliana to a ship. Eliana is angry with him.
• A boy leaves Eliana some food and a note, which requests her prescence. It’s from a man called Patrick, who works for the Red Crown.
• Rielle is summoned to the temple. Rielle speaks to Corien in her head, and they kiss. Rielle makes him promise to leave her and Audric alone when they’re together. Corien gives Rielle the casting, this time a shield.
• Eliana asks for Patrik’s help to free Zahra from the box. Patrik shows Eliana that they have captured a cruciata that came through the Gate. Its blood should be able to open the box, and Simon apparently knew this all alopng.
• Audric gets angry with Rielle for going after the shield without him. She says Corien gave it to her. Rielle sulks a bit and asks Ludivine if she’ll ever betray her.
• Eliana helps Patrik help some refugees when they reach the outpost. Eliana accidentally blows shit up and discovers that the Emperor is there. The whole thing is a mess.
• Obritsa, who is a marque, talks to Ludivine about fights that are happening in the north.
• Eliana’s people start dying and Eliana has to try to save them. Remy and Simon arrive.
• Rielle stops a village from burning down but isn’t able to save a particular man. The villagers aren’t pleased. Obritsa helps Rielle escape.
• Remy is injured and Eliana has to save him. Her powers kill everything around her, and also opens up time travel again.
• Audric implies that Rielle can’t stand up to Corien. Lol. The team flies back on Atheria.
• Zahra and Eliana discuss Simon. Eliana goes to see him and they have a chat and fall asleep next to one another.
• Rielle and Tal head to Mazabat. They’re greeted by Princess Kamayin, who has castings. She also later tries to kill Rielle, even though Lu said she was harmless. Oops. Kamayin was trying to kill Rielle in return for her friend’s life.
• Astavar is taken over.
• Simon starts training Eliana to time travel so she can confront Rielle and stop this horrible timeline from happening. Threads appear when Eliana heals Simon.
• Rielle and Tal go to rescue Zuka. Rielle kills a bunch of people and no one is happy about it.
• Harkan leads a group of scouts to the city, as they want to storm the army as they arrive.
• Rielle heals Lu a little bit but it’s not really helping the illness or the scarring.
• Merovec, Lu’s brother, arrives in town and he really doesn’t like Audric or Rielle. During an argument, Queen Genoveve jumps from a balcony. Corien was behind this. Rielle, thankfully, is able to bring her back to life.
• Corien tries to turn Rielle against Ludivine.
• The citizens are angry and demand Rielle’s presence. Lu suggests brainwashing them to make them go away. Audric gets angry because he finds out about Rielle spending time with Corien.
• Simon manages to travel using the threads. Harkan heads off to the city.
• Rielle flees on Atheria because she thinks someone is watching her. Corien talks to her and Rielle finds out that the angels were jealous of humans, which is why they were banished.
• Eliana arrives in the past and greets Rielle. Rielle thinks this is a trick and so the two girls fight. Corien gets into Eliana’s mind, so Eliana is forced to leave again.
• Rielle accuses Corien of tricking her. But then she finds out she’s pregnant.
• Audric becomes king.
• One of Eliana’s people, Jessamyn, is a spy for the Emperor. She wants to bring Eliana to the Emperor.
• Audric and Rielle get married. During the reception, Lu runs in and seems to put Rielle into a trance. Everyone at the party is shown the same scene – a flashback to when Rielle killed both her and Audric’s fathers. Audric is upset because Rielle never told him this.
• Eliana and Simon get ready for the Jubilee. Thei ship gets delayed, which isn’t good because they need the people.
• Lu asks Rielle to tell Audric about her pregnancy, but Rielle doesn’t want to. Audric says Rielle is a monster. Corien disagrees and so Rielle becomes angry with Audric and leans on Corien.

How did Kingsbane end?

• At the Jubilee ball, there’s a massive explosion of angel fire. This means they’ve breached Harkan’s team. The ship arrives, and Simon and Eliana head there. They also need to find Remy.
• Jessamyn shows up and fights Eliana. It’s not a difficult fight for Eliana to win. Simon saves Eliana, but seems to be attacking his own people. Harkan is dying, having been stabbed by Simon.
• Rielle flees the city and heads to Corien.
• Bastien and Nigel fight. Nigel wins and escapes.
• Eliana wakes up on the ship, and is greeted by Simon dressed in a soldier uniform. Remy is bound. Simon won’t tell Eliana why he’s doing this. The Admiral comes in and says they’ve got Remy as insurance so Eliana had better not do anything.
• Lu tells Audric that Corien has blocked Rielle’s mind from them. Audric wants to go after Rielle but Lu puts him off. During all of this, Merovec takes the castle along with the help of the city guard. Audric has to flee through the mountains. The team heads to Mazabat.

This is a full plot summary of what happened in Kingsbane 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:

• Furyborn (Empirium #1)