Jude meets the other members of the Court of Shadows: the Bomb, the Roach, and the Ghost.

She also sees Balekin beat Cardan in a swordfight and lash him with his belt for not killing a human servant. She discovers a letter from Orlagh, the Queen of the Undersea and Nicasia’s mother, implying that Balekin will poison Dain with blusher mushroom. On her first mission to Prince Balekin’s home Hollow Hall, Jude steals a copy of Alice in Wonderland. Vivi wants Jude and Taryn to live in the human world with her girlfriend Heather, but Jude has grown too used to Faerie.Ĭardan’s older brother Dain offers Jude the chance to be his spy in exchange for immunity to any glamour except his. Cardan Greenbriar, the youngest son of King Eldred, despises Jude and often bullies her at school along with his friends Nicasia, Locke, and Valerian. Jude aspires to be a knight in order to become a permanent member of the Court, but Madoc forbids her. In Elfhame, they are raised among the gentry by him and his wife Oriana alongside Oriana's son Oak.

Madoc takes Jude, her twin sister Taryn Duarte, and her older half-sister Vivienne to Elfhame. When Jude Duarte was seven, her parents were murdered by Madoc. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself. In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences. But many of the Fae despise humans especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe. They will live forever.Īnd Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. They're beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire.

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black