Book 7: Summary
After deserting from the Tenth Legion, Martel and Eleanor find themselves in desperate straits. West of the Savena River, every soldier of the legions will hunt them; east are the Khivan armies, who kill Asterian mages on sight.
As the noose tightens around them, left with no other choice, they seek out the Khivans and negotiate an armistice between the easterners and the Tenth Legion, which they subsequently convince to commit mutiny rather than continue fighting a pointless, gruesome war. Eleanor is named the new legate of the Tenth, and Martel is made captain prefect, supreme commander of the mutiny.
The other eastern legions join under his banner, and as their terms are rejected by the emperor and the High Council in Morcaster, Martel sees no solution except open rebellion. To force through their demands of a lasting peace with Khiva and amnesty for every soldier in the mutiny, Martel marches his five legions to Morcaster.
A bloody battle ensues at the crossing of the Alonde River. Martel’s powers as a fire-touched battlemage have continued to grow, and he incinerates several ranks of legionaries, turning the tide in their favour. While celebrated by his soldiers, Martel is increasingly aware of the blood on his hands.
This comes to a head during the assault itself upon Morcaster. To take the city by surprise with fewest casualties, Martel devises a plan to dig down into the catacombs that extend far north, beyond the city walls. He and Eleanor can use the tunnels to get inside the city and open a gate for his legions to seize Morcaster.
The plan works, with one difference; they end up in the Undercroft instead. The abandoned city holds ill memories for Martel concerning Ruby, the friend he failed to save, and Flora, the friend he killed; the first time he watched someone die from his magic. Many months of bloody fighting, endless killing, and suffering trauma overwhelms Martel in that dark, subterranean place, and he has a breakdown.
Soothed by Eleanor, he eventually regains his composure, and they carry out the plan, seizing Morcaster in a single night. His legions take control of the entire city with ease, except for the Imperial palace and the emperor, protected by the Praetorian Guard. Martel and Eleanor lead an assault the following night, slaughtering the defenders. The exception is Maximilian, whom they disarm and take prisoner.
The emperor and his family have escaped, however, and Martel races to the docks to stop them. He sinks the boat they use to flee; while most of the passengers survive, the emperor’s sister drowns, adding an innocent life to Martel’s tally.
In the ensuing months, Martel prepares to negotiate an end to the civil war with the northern loyalist provinces outside his control. A surprise visit from Atreus, the legendary mage of Archen, convinces him to release Maximilian from imprisonment, though his friendship with the mageknight is broken.
Martel also handles affairs as temporary ruler of the city. He forces the Inquisition to release two prisoners, Alastair and Juliana, and uncovers a conspiracy to kill him, involving Kerra, criminal chief of the copper lanes. Granting her exile rather than death, she reveals the plot was instigated by the duke of Cheval. Martel does not punish the nobleman directly, though he does threaten to burn everything the duke owns, coercing Cheval to support his scheme of reviving the ancient Senate from when Morcaster was a city-state. It will assume all the powers held previously by the emperor and the High Council and consist of representatives from across the provinces and major cities of the Empire.
Negotiations with the loyalist regions are long and arduous, but they see the value in ending the civil war peacefully and gain representation for each province in the Senate, giving them a measure of influence. As negotiations successfully conclude, they prepare to convene the Senate for the first time to ratify Martel’s decisions and policies made as captain prefect before he will step down and let the Senate assume rule over the Empire.
Martel is approached by the duchess of Trior, leader of the other major political faction in Aster besides Cheval. She suggests Martel retain his title as imperator of Aster, effectively assuming the powers of the emperor while she ensures the Senate supports him.
Martel has the choice of a lifetime before him: stay true to his word and resign, or seize the opportunity to carry out all his ideas and ambitions for how the Empire should be governed. It bears a cost; he must marry the duchess’ daughter, sealing their political alliance with a marriage. Eleanor, whose father has disowned her, intends to leave Morcaster. Martel will have to bid his most trusted companion farewell, whom he has realised he is in love with.
Another conspiracy to kill him gives Martel further food for thought, this time led by the emperor’s nephew. Martel immolates the young man, along with half a score of inquisitors, giving him a glimpse of the opposition he would face as imperator.
On the day of the assembly, Martel decides to resign. He is still haunted by traumas from the war and deep-seated guilt over all the lives he has taken, nor does he trust himself with power; as a battlemage, killing comes easily to him and often feels like the obvious solution to any issue, rather than the patient, long debates and compromise-seeking that being ruler alongside a Senate entail.
In the end, he declares his feelings to Eleanor, who reciprocates; together, they leave Morcaster, free of all obligations for the first time in their lives.