What happened in The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L Jensen - Recaptains

The basics

Title: The Bridge Kingdom

Author: Danielle L Jensen

Series: The Bridge Kingdom #1

1. The Bridge Kingdom (2019)
2. The Traitor Queen (2020)
3. The Inadequate Heir (2022)
4. The Endless War (2023)
5. The Twisted Throne (2024)
6. Book 6 (2026)

Add it: Goodreads

Goodreads Summary:

Lara has only one thought for her husband on their wedding day: I will bring your kingdom to its knees. A princess trained from childhood to be a lethal spy, Lara knows that the Bridge Kingdom represents both legendary evil - and legendary promise. The only route through a storm-ravaged world, the Bridge Kingdom controls all trade and travel between lands, allowing its ruler to enrich himself and deprive his enemies, including Lara's homeland. So when she is sent as a bride under the guise of fulfilling a treaty of peace, Lara is prepared to do whatever it takes to fracture the defenses of the impenetrable Bridge Kingdom.

But as she infiltrates her new home - a lush paradise surrounded by tempest seas - and comes to know her new husband, Aren, Lara begins to question where the true evil resides. Around her, she sees a kingdom fighting for survival, and in Aren, a man fiercely protective of his people. As her mission drives her to deeper understanding of the fight to possess the bridge, Lara finds the simmering attraction between her and Aren impossible to ignore. Her goal nearly within reach, Lara will have to decide her own fate: Will she be the destroyer of a king or the savior of her people?

Here is a spoiler summary of what happened in The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L Jensen to help refresh your memory before you read the sequel. If you need help remembering what happened in The Bridge Kingdom then you’re in the right place.

What happened in The Bridge Kingdom?

• Lara has been raised in a compound in the Red Desert alongside her many sisters and trained to be an assassin.
• Lara’s father is King Silas of Maridrina. His kingdom has been at war with various kingdoms for decades There is currently peace with the kingdom of Ithicana because the previous monarchs made a deal that their son, King Aren, is still honouring.
• Part of this deal was Aren would marry one of Silas’ daughters in order to strengthen the alliance.
• Ithicana and King Aren control the bridge which connects the north and south of the continent and therefore controls the trade. Silas wants the bridge because his people are starving.
• And so, Silas had many daughters and had them trained as assassins so he could marry one of them off to King Aren, and they would kill him and give Silas information for him to take the bridge.
• Lara realises that if she isn’t the one to be married off, she will be killed to protect her father’s secrets. So she poisons her sisters and leaves her father with no choice but to choose her.
• Erik, the Master of Arms, takes his own life.
• Silas was originally going to choose Marylynn to go to Ithicana, but Lara obviously left him with no choice.
• Lara travels across the Red Desert to the coast with her father and his creepy assistant, the Magpie.
• Along the way, they discuss Ithicana. We learn that King Aren is the only Ithicanian to correspond with the outside world. Therefore, once married, Lara will have to communicate with Silas and the Magpie using the King’s letters that he sends out.
• King Aren is rumoured to be super ruthless, which is why he’s allowing the Maridrinians to starve and suffer.
• As the caravan reaches the coast, Lara catches glimpses of her impoverished people.
• They board a ship to Southwatch where the short wedding ceremony is held.
• Lara meets Aren, kind of, since he is still masked. Aren amends the vows to promise to fight alongside Lara’s side and cherish her. Yessss.
• Lara is blindfolded and given a sleep serum.
• Aren and his sister, Ahnna, discuss Lara while she sleeps. Ahnna is suspicious of this whole plot, and Aren agrees with her but he wants to give this alliance a chance.
• Lara wakes up on Midwatch island. She meets Ahnna, then secretly follows her when Aren arrives back at the house. She hears them talking about the deal with Maridrina and she hears Aren talk of Maridrina starving, which angers her.
• Lara bumps into Vitex, the giant cat who is Aren’s pet. Vitex doesn’t show up enough in my opinion.
• Lara tries asking Ahnna some questions but it’s all very secretive in this kingdom.
• Ahnna does reveal that she’s the commander of Southwatch, which surprises Lara because in her kingdom women aren’t allowed to be in charge.
• At dinner, Lara puts a sleeping serum in Aren and Ahnna’s wine so she can explore freely.
• Lara searches Aren’s room while he’s sleeping and finds a note saying “Provisions for Eranahl” but she doesn’t know what this means.
• Aren wakes up but is drowsy. They kiss.
• Jor tells Aren that Aster, the commander of Kestark, wants a word. Aster does not support this marriage. Aren tries to explain but Aster is having none of it, he says Aren is a dreamer like his mother was.
• Lara explores the jungle and nearly dies from booby traps and snakes. Luckily Aren is there to help.
• Aren shows Lara the sights. They’re having an alright time when Aren’s men call for help. There’s a raid on the beach. Aren’s men fight off the raiders and Lara is upset to see Aren let them die. She cheers up when she realises there’s an opening to the bridge in a nearby cove.
• Gorrick and Aren examine the corpses of the dead raisers. They’re from Amarid and seem to be convicts who sailed into the cove. They’re confused about the point of it.
• Lara writes her father a letter, which Aren has inspected for codes. Aren has it forged onto fresh paper and then sent to Maridrina.
• The codebreakers do find a simple code when Aren receives a reply.
• Aren and Lara play a drinking game and get to know each other. Lara tells him she was born in her father’s harem and she was taken. She never saw her mother again.
• Lara finds another code in the letter telling her that Maridrina is receiving rotten food and diseased cattle.
• Lara has a nightmare and Aren comes running. He asks who gave her the scars. Aren promises no one will hurt her in Ithicana.
• Aren’s grandmother asks to meet Lara. She’s a very grumpy woman and she gets what she wants. Lara has to travel by boat which she hates because she can’t swim. She’s having such a bad time that Aren agrees to take her inside the bridge.
• It’s all very secretive and Lara is blindfolded for a lot of it but she learns some things, including that Aren’s parents died in a storm at sea. His father was trying to take his mother to a healer and they both died.
• Eventually they reach Nana’s place. Nana asks if Harendell has asked for Ahnna yet. She is meant to marry the heir of the northern kingdom.
• Serrith calls for aid. Aren and his crew are closest so must respond. They take Lara.
• There’s a battle against raiders. Lara kills some in secret.
• Jor is worried about the amount of info Lara now has.
• Aren wonders who killed the raiders and figures it must have been his wife.
• Aren needs to leave for a bit (to go to Eranahl to meet with the council) and Lara has to stay with Nana. Nana puts Lara to work.
• Lara spends some time with Aren’s cousin, Taryn. Lara is able to find out some things about the ship breakers.
• Lara pretends to be scared of mice to get out of working, and she’s able to snatch one of Nana’s vials of venom. Lara poisons Nana to give her an upset stomach.
• While Nana is dealing with that, Lara sneaks off to the bridge to mark it.
• Lara overhears Aren, Jor and Lia talking and then has to run back to the house before they get there. Aren tells Lara there are thirty Amaridian ships off the coast and they need to get back to Midwatch to defend it.
• Aren receives a letter from Valcotta who are angry with the Ithicana and Maridrina alliance. They are going to block Maridrina from the Southwatch market.
• Lara starts to realise that her father and the Magpie have been feeding her lies.
• Lara practices being on the water.
• Kestark is under attack. Their shipbreaker jams. Lara demands to go with Aren to help. There’s a battle. Lara starts by helping the healers and then she helps Aren fight.
• Lara refuses to leave Kestark until more soldiers arrive.
• Aster finally arrives and lays into Aren about Lara. Aren calls Aster out for his affair and promotes a girl to commander of Kestark.
• Lara and the crew head back to Midwatch. The crew comes across a wine with gems inside. Someone has been smuggling rubies in the Maridrinian wine.
• Aren takes Lara to the east side of the bridge to show her the view of the sea of stars. Aren and Lara have a really nice conversation and Lara now knows that Ithicana spends its riches on its people. Aren admits that Ithicana wouldn’t survive without the bridge.
• Lara contemplates her mission. She doesn’t want to destroy the Ithicanians’ lives.
• Lara waits at the house while Aren goes to defend his islands.
• Lara receives a letter from her father saying her brother, Keris, is going to study in Harendell. The code states that Valcotta has blocked Maridrina from Southwatch and there’s famine on the rise.
• Lara waits at the barracks for Aren, who shows up injured.
• Lara comforts him while Jor removes the arrow from his shoulder.
• A young boy dies, and Lara gets very upset about her father’s plans.
• War Tides end. Refugees start to return to the islands.
• Aren takes Lara to Snake Island. Which is full of snakes. Obviously.
• The children used to run through it as a game or a test. Aren runs it to prove his bravery. Lara freaks out. Lara shoots a snake with an arrow to save him.
• Lara and Aren argue so Jor leaves them behind in the shallows to fight it out. Lara lashes out and suggests that Aren is starving her people. Aren is angry and confused.
• Aren tells Lara her father is the cause of the troubles. Silas asked for free steel in exchange for the marriage, rather than food.
• Jor returns and is confused about what is going on. Aren tells him to sail for Maridrina.
• They swap to a bigger ship and wear disguises. They head to a local tavern. Aren has clearly slept with the innkeeper, Marisol, before.
• Marisol gives some info about how people in Maridrina are feeling. The people are favouring war with Valcotta and they want the Fifteen Year Treaty to be broken.
• Lara fully accepts that King Silas is the oppressor of her people.
• Aren is trying to accept that his wife is a spy.
• Lara sneaks off to the palace gates. Aren and Jor follow and Aren gets ready to shoot her if she goes to speak to the guards. He wants to see if she betrays him and of course she doesn’t. Aren throws up.
• Lara gets trashed at the tavern. She argues with Marisol. It’s very entertaining.
• Lara had intended to enter the palace and kill her father but realised at the last minute that it was a bad idea.
• Aren returns. He tells her Marisol is a spy for Ithicana.
• The Magpie shows up the next morning. He knows who Aren is because of the scar on his hand, which the Magpie spotted at the wedding.
• The Magpie offers Aren another wife instead. Ew.
• The Magpie demands that Aren cut ties with Valcotta.
• The crew leaves in a hurry. Unfortunately the Magpie sees them leave and sees Aren and Lara together and he realises that Lara has been “compromised”. The Magpie knows that Lara knows the truth.
• The crew escape the harbour.
• Aren confronts Lara about being a spy. She confirms that she was.
• Lara recalls the letter that she wrote on Aren’s stationery which contained all the information that Maridrina would need to take the bridge. She needs to destroy all the pages.
• Ahnna shows up while Aren and Lara are talking. She’s angry with Aren for going to Maridrina. Lara tries to diffuse the situation and Ahnna accidentally shoves her off the bridge into the water.
• Aren dives in after her and saves her, of course.
• Aren sends Ahnna back to Southwatch and says he doesn’t want to see her before War Tides.
• Aren writes Silas a letter saying he won’t stop trading with Valcotta. He demands peace. The letter is written on top of the invisible ink page. This sucks.
• Lara destroys the stationery, not realising she’s too late.
• Lara and Aren sleep together. It’s really lovely but I feel sick.
• Lara promises to protect Ithicana.
• Aren takes Lara to Eranahl, which is a secret volcano island where his people can go to be safe. It accepts refugees every War Tides.
• Lara is able to relax and learn to swim and meet her people.
• Ahnna arrives. She’s angry that Aren has given Lara their mother’s jewellery.
• They enter the war room. Amarid is somehow replacing ships even though it has no money. They seem to have been financing things with rubies. Rubies are mined in Maridrina.
• Amarid has indeed been importing Maridrinian wine.
• Emra from Kestark tells of how she boarded an Amaridian ship and saw a beautiful woman with golden hair dressed in Maridrinian clothes. The same ship was spotted up the coast near Midwatch.
• Lara pretends to faint so she and Aren can talk. She tells him Silas has formed an alliance with Amarid.
• They’re not sure what to do. Aren doesn’t want to stop trade with Valcotta but Lara insists he must be careful with Maridrina or his people will die.
• Aren tells the counsel that Ithicana is going to demand that Valcotta drops the blockade and prove themselves allies of Maridrina.
• Back at Midwatch, Lara hears that her brother, Keris, is passing by Midwatch to head to Harendell to study.
• One of the guards thought he saw Lara head into the house already. *vomits*
• Lara and Aren head to his room. Someone has hurt Vitex.
• Lara finds a letter from her father but doesn’t know who delivered it. She turns to find Eli’s body and her sister Marylynn holding a knife to Aren’s throat.
• Marylynn is very angry at Lara for taking her place. She didn’t care that all the other sisters would have been killed. She wanted to be queen and to take over Ithicana.
• Marylynn brought Aren’s letter with her and Lara realises she didn’t destroy every page. Aren learns that Lara betrayed him.
• The other islands call for aid. All at the same time.
• Lara notices something shifting in the bed. She throws her knife past Marylynn, hitting the bed. Aren shoves Marylynn into it and the snake attacks her. Lara breaks Marylynn’s neck.
• Aren and Lara can hear the fighting. The Ithicanians are dying. Aren drags Lara with him.
• Taryn died trying to warn Southwatch. She was killed by a shipbreaker.
• Aren still can’t kill Lara. He tells her to run. He doesn’t want her to stay and help.
• Lara makes it to Harendell. She has been there for a few months. She’s in a bar when she overhears people talking about Aren. She learns that Aren has been taken prisoner by King Silas in Vencia.
• Lara heads to Eranahl to tell Ahnna. She intends to rescue her husband with the help of her sisters.

That’s what happened in The Bridge Kingdom 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 Traitor Queen (The Bridge Kingdom #2)