What happened in The Serpent and the Wings of Night?

The basics

Title: The Serpent and the Wings of Night

Author: Carissa Broadbent

Series: Crowns of Nyaxia #1

- The Serpent and the Wings of Night (2022)
- The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King (2023)
- The Songbird and the Heart of Stone (2024)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya carved her place in a world designed to kill her. Her only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself. But winning won’t be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with a mysterious rival. Everything about Raihn is dangerous. He is a ruthless vampire, an efficient killer, an enemy to her father’s crown… and her greatest competition. Yet, what terrifies Oraya most of all is that she finds herself oddly drawn to him. But there’s no room for compassion in the Kejari. War for the House of Night brews, shattering everything that Oraya thought she knew about her home. And Raihn may understand her more than anyone – but their blossoming attraction could be her downfall, in a kingdom where nothing is more deadly than love.

Here is a spoiler summary of what happened in The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent to help refresh your memory before you read the sequel. If you need help remembering what happened in The Serpent and the Wings of Night then you’re in the right place.

What happened in The Serpent and the Wings of Night?

• Prologue: Vincent finds Oraya in Salinae. She bites him and he is impressed. He takes her back to his castle for her own protection. Her family are nowhere to be seen.
• Now, Oraya is grown up and has been raised as Vincent’s daughter. She has been trained in combat by Vincent, and he has always told her that vampires are super dangerous and will want to drink her blood at the mere sight of her.
• Oraya spends her nights protecting humans from the vampires who are hunting them in the human district. Vincent doesn’t know about any of this because he would not approve.
• Oraya knows that she has mild magical abilities, but she thinks they’re super mild because she’s human. Her father is super powerful and she wants to be like him.
• Oraya will be taking part in the goddess trials for Nyaxia. These are typically trials for vampires, and Oraya will be the only human. Oraya hopes to win and gain a wish from the goddess, and Oraya plans to ask for powers and bind herself to Vincent so that she will no longer have to worry about being a weak human. Vincent can’t just turn Oraya into a vampire because the Turning is super dangerous and often unsuccessful.
• The night before the trials start, the vampires eat her friend Ilana. Oraya kills a vampire in revenge. She also stabs a vampire in the thigh when he grabs her. She escapes and sets up camp in the greenhouse outside, as the vampires won’t be able to get to her there during the day.
• The dead vampire’s brother, Klyn, accuses the stabbed vampire, Raihn, of murdering his brother. Raihn doesn’t turn Oraya in, even though he saw the entire thing go down, and instead uses his strong magical powers to kill Klyn.
• The first trial goes ahead. the vampires and Oraya are divided into groups and required to fight off demons. Oraya is severely injured but Raihn helps her. Oraya figures out that they need to kill the lead demon to down the others. The group defeats the demons. Raihn tells his friend Mische, who is in another group, how to defeat the demons.
• Oraya has been meeting with Vincent during the nights at a secret location. He gives her healing potions every so often. He starts to look more and more distracted by something.
• Raihn asks Oraya to team up with him and Mische but Oraya refuses. This changes when she is attacked and injured by another vampire, and she realises that she isn’t safe at the greenhouse by herself. She needs allies. She does kill the other vampire though.
• Super injured, Oraya stumbles to the tower where Raihn and Mische have made their base and passes out.
• Mische gives Oraya her own room with lots of windows to make her feel more comfortable.
• Raihn protects Oraya from Angelika when she forces herself into the apartment. Angelika is furious that Oraya killed her companion, the dead greenhouse vampire.
• Raihn wants to practice fighting with Oraya so they can practice working as a team. It’s a struggle. They both become frustrated and Oraya pushes Raihn out of the window with a burst of magic. Raihn thinks Oraya has been keeping this magic a secret and leaves in a huff.
• Oraya heads into town for something to smoke. She acquires cigarillos from a man, who tells her he has been placing bets on whether she lives or dies. He has made a lot of money so far.
• Oraya returns to the tower and confides in Mische.
• Vincent is very annoyed that Oraya has allied up with a couple of vampires.
• The second trial begins. The contestants have to find their way through a maze. Oraya fights her friend, Ibrihim. She rescues a little human girl, who she is surprised to find in the maze. She runs into Raihn, and he helps her escape by fighting off Angelika.
• After the trial, Raihn follows Oraya into the human district and witnesses her killing vampires. He is impressed. He takes her to an orphanage and shows her that he left the human girl from the maze there. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to find her family, but she should be safe here. Oraya is very grateful.
• Raihn and Oraya work together to protect the humans from vampires. One night he takes her to a pub. Oraya is hesitant because she’s not used to being around humans, but they do have a good time. Oraya asks whether Raihn was the one to Turn Mische, and he insists that he wasn’t.
• Then there’s a massive explosion which shakes the ground. The Moon Palace has been attacked. Raihn and Oraya fly together to get back to Mische. They find her severely injured and being attacked by demons. Raihn and Oraya fight them off together.
• Raihn takes Mische to safety and comes back for Oraya afterwards, at her insistence.
• Vincent holds a speech where he blames Rishan rebels for the attack and promises vengeance. This basically starts a war.
• Jesmine, Vincent’s general, takes Raihn away for questioning. They think he had something to do with it because he is from Rishan. Oraya meets with her father and demands that they let Raihn go, but Vincent insists that they must find out the truth. Oraya points out that Raihn is her only ally now that Mische is so injured, so Vincent had better not let his soldiers break him.
• Oraya finds out that the goddess won’t release Mische from the trials even though she’s barely even awake. She goes to the Ministaer and offers the ancient creature her blood in exchange for Mische’s freedom. He drinks from her.
• Raihn is released and returns to their rooms (new rooms, since the old rooms in the tower were destroyed). Oraya helps him clean and stitch his wounds. He won’t be able to summon his wings for a little while because his back is destroyed.
• Raihn tells Oraya that Mische used to be a priestess, and that’s why she was able to use another god’s powers. Unfortunately this god abandoned her during the demon attack.
• The next trial begins. Raihn and Oraya’s minds are merged, which is really off putting at first. They’re able to figure it out and work together, each feeling and seeing what the other is. Oraya is able to use a massive burst of magic to fight off the demons, hellhounds, and other vampires.
• There’s a ball (because of course there is!) and everyone gets dressed up. Oraya dances with Vincent. she once again notices that he’s distant and distracted, and asks what he has done. He refuses to tell her.
• Septimus from the House of Blood introduces himself to Oraya. He’s the cigarillo guy. Raihn doesn’t like him.
• Raihn and Oraya head to the pub. Oraya tells Raihn about Ilana. Raihn asks Oraya what she would ask for if she were to win the trials. He understands that she will ask Nyaxia to Turn her.
• Raihn cooks for Oraya. This isn’t super important but I thought it was very sweet.
• Raihn takes Oraya to see Mische, who is recovering at a farmstead beyond the dunes. Oraya meets Cairis and Ketura, who are vaguely hostile. They mention that Vale is returning with his new wife. Oraya overhears them talking crap about her, and Raihn defending her. Oraya notices that Raihn seems very much in charge here.
• The vampires and Oraya are locked in the Moon Palace and starved. Raihn tries to hold out but Oraya doesn’t feel safe around him, so he leaves their rooms.
• The next trial begins. The vampires are going wild with bloodlust because they’re so hungry. Oraya realises that the animals have been poisoned and they’re not safe to drink from. She rushes to find Raihn and snaps him out of his bloodlust, and they find a cave to hide in.
• Raihn drinks Oraya’s blood, with her full permission.
• Oraya and Raihn see that Salinae has been destroyed, and that Vincent’s army has killed all the humans.
• Raihn and Oraya head off to the finish line. They have to get through deadly mist. They use a cloak for protection, and Raihn also wraps his wings around them and gets mildly injured. Angelika and Ivan show up, of course. Raihn throws Ivan into the deadly mist (“Fine. I’ll let him go.”) and protects Oraya from Angelika. They get to the end, along with Ibrihim. Angelika shows up later, making them the final four.
• Through flashbacks, we learn that Oraya lost her virginity to a vampire who thought it would be safe to have sex with her. Unfortunately, he lost control and bit her. Oraya ran to her father. Vincent had Oraya kill the vampire as a lesson.
• Oraya demands to speak to Vincent. She asks him why he destroyed Salinae, when her human family could still have been living there. She realises that Vincent doesn’t respect humans, and he even says that they’re livestock.
• Oraya lets out her rage by killing vampires in the human district again.
• Raihn and Oraya finally get it on. They figure they only have one night together because the trial has been brought forward to the following morning, so they should make the most of it.
• During the final trial, Oraya kills Ibrihim fairly quickly. It’s actually really sad. Angelika comes next. Angelika almost kills Oraya using blood magic, but Raihn seems to plead with someone in the crown and the magic vanishes. Oraya kills Angelika. Then she has to go for Raihn.
• The two of them battle it out. Oraya finally wins, and realises that Raihn taunted her so that she’d kill him and win the trials.
• Nyaxia appears. Oraya’s one wish is that Raihn should have won. Vincent goes super pale, and Nyaxia finds this amusing, and so she grants the wish.
• Raihn is revived, and he gets a wish too as he’s now the champion. He wishes that the power of the Rishan Nightborn King becomes unsealed and restored to the Rishan Heir, i.e. him.
• Oraya is somehow shocked by this turn of events.
• Raihn immediately gets his super powers and kills Vincent. Oraya watches her father die, and he finally tells her he loves her.
• Then Oraya is revealed to be Vincent’s Heir. The Rishan vampires immediately go on the attack, so Raihn tells them that he’ll make Oraya his slave-bride to get them to back off.
• Oraya is taken to the castle and locked away in her old home. She and Raihn talk. He admits that the man who turned him was the Rishan King, and the Heirdom must have passed to him after Vincent killed every other blood descendent. That’s why he joined the trials, so he could take back his powers and destroy Vincent.
• Raihn says that Oraya’s blood tasted different, and that she’s probably half-vampire half-human. Meaning she was Vincent’s biological daughter all along.
• Raihn and Oraya get married in a small ceremony, although Oraya refuses to complete the vow about giving him her heart because he has betrayed her.
• Raihn admits that he accepted a deal from Septimus to save Oraya’s life in the final trial.
• Jesmine shows up at the window and asks Oraya what to do, since Oraya now commands Vincent’s dwindling army. Oraya tells Jesmine to flee with the others, and gather strength while she figures out what to do.

That’s what happened in The Serpent and the Wings of Night! 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:

• The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King (Crowns of Nyaxia #2)