68 pages • 2 hours read
Dance of Thieves
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Chapters 55-62Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 55 Summary: “Kazi”
The Rahtan lead their prisoners to Sentinel Valley, the site of the Great Battle. Synové makes them walk the whole length to torture Bahr. Jase takes in the destruction and points out the bones of a brezalot, a horse the Komizar turned into a weapon. Kazi tells him 20,000 people died and Jase glares at Sarva. Morrighese troops meet them on the other side. Phineas begins talking to Kazi about the stars. Illarion orders him to stop, but Phineas tells Jase there was no fever cure, they just knew that’s what would make Jase listen. Sarva lunges toward Phineas as a warning arrow flies. Bahr punches Phineas and the Rahtan subdue the prisoners, but not before Illarion stabs Phineas with a giant brezalot rib. Apologizing, Phineas tells Kazi to destroy the papers and olives they found in the room where they captured him and dies.
The King of Morrighan, the Queen of Venda’s brother, limps because he lost his right leg in the attempt on his life years before. Kazi bows, but he stops and thanks her. He walks down the line of prisoners and stops at Torback, his tutor as a child. The King looks Captain Illarion in the eye and tells him he will face judgment. Jase demands to be released as Patrei of Hell’s Mouth. Griz tells the king Jase gave the fugitives sanctuary and supplies to build weapons, so the king declares Jase will hang.
Chapter 56 Summary: “Jase”
Jase walks through the valley. He never intended the weapons for war. Jase wonders if Illarion was conspiring with an outside force against him, but the captain's only outside contact was Zane. Jase and his father knew Illarion couldn’t be trusted, yet still let him into Tor’s Watch. Jase wonders how Illarion knew the fever cure would make them listen, how he knew about Sylvey and Micah (his siblings who died of fever). Jase was one of the first to side with Illarion because of guilt. After Sylvey died, Jase moved her body from the tomb and buried her in the most beautiful place in the Moro mountains. Jase wonders what Phineas was trying to say before he was murdered. Sarva smirks at him and Jase attacks him until Eben interferes. Jase glares at Illarion as the guards drag him away.
Jase is chained away from the other prisoners. Kazi asks about the fight and Jase tells her to go. She asks about the fever cure Phineas mentioned and Jase tells her about his brother and sister. Kazi couldn’t risk losing Illarion by telling Jase about the captain's treachery. Jase promises he never intended to use the weapons for war, but Kazi says it’s up to the queen now. Jase watches Kazi pace as the others sleep and thinks of the riddle he can’t tell her.
Chapter 57 Summary: “Kazi”
Synové describes yet another torturous punishment to Bahr as they take a break at a creek. Jase rinses his shirt having gotten into another fight with Sarva and Bahr. Kazi thinks of how much she still wants to know about him. Wren tells her not to beat herself up, but Kazi knew he wouldn’t back down because of the Ballenger pride. They cool their feet in the creek and worry about what Phineas said. When the Morrighese troops were spotted, Illarion’s face brightened like he thought it was someone else which means he wasn’t working alone. Kazi thinks about Phineas asking her to destroy papers and olives and wonders what he meant. Kazi asks Jase if his family will retaliate against the Vendan settlement. Jase made a blood vow to protect them, and they don’t go back on their word. Suddenly Jase pulls Kazi into his chest to protect her from a venomous scorpion. He smashes it with his boot before letting her go.
The wagon broke so the prisoners ride on horses tethered to a guard. Bahr got on his horse before he was tethered and Synové tells the others to stand down. She promises Bahr she won’t kill him and tosses him a water skin. Bahr gallops out of the camp and Griz is nervous, but Synové calmly selects a blunt arrow and shoots when he’s almost out of range. His water skin explodes with antelope’s blood, attracting a Racaa that picks him up and carries him away.
Chapter 58 Summary: “Jase”
Jase wonders why the Queen of Venda cannot leave her bed, having heard she’s a strong warrior. Griz lectured Synové about Bahr, but the other prisoners still avoid her. They are close to Marabella, a former Dalbreck outpost that was expanded as a ruling center for the two kingdoms after the Dalbreck king and Vendan queen married. Kazi rides ahead with the Rahtan guarding the other prisoners; Jase is left with Griz at the back. When Marabella is spotted, Jase asks to speak with Kazi. Jase asks if he’ll get a chance to make his case. Kazi promises he’ll be heard by the queen; Queen Lia is pregnant and on bedrest because of a previous miscarriage.
Chapter 59 Summary: “Kazi”
A crowd has gathered to watch the prisoners enter Marabella. When Illarion realizes a rescue isn’t coming, he looks terrified. Kazi tells him it’s the end, but he says more men like him will come. Kazi is hopeful people like her will always be there to stop them.
As the lead on the mission, Kazi presents the jail log to the queen. She waits nervously outside Queen Lia's chamber before being called in. The queen hugs Kazi and shows her the baby, a girl named Aster. Kazi tells Lia about the mission and that Captain Illarion thinks he’s going to get away. The queen assures her that the prisoners will be held under heavy guard and Kazi tells her about Jase.
Chapter 60 Summary: “Jase”
Jase is angry when he’s lead to the receiving hall having been held for hours. He’s worried the queen won’t listen to him. He waits impatiently for 40 minutes before demanding to see the queen. A baby cries before Jaxon, the King of Dalbreck, bursts through the door and tells Jase to shut up. Griz and four Vendan soldiers file in before the queen and her baby. She kisses the king and passes him the baby. The queen calls Kazi to identify Jase and tells him to listen because her Rahtan are never wrong. The queen lists the charges against him, but realizes Jase never signed a treaty with the Alliance of Kingdoms, and the King of Eislandia may not have acted in good faith with the settlement. The queen commends him for how he treated her citizens. Kazi told her Jase’s family’s history, and how Illarion deceived them. She promises to propose Tor’s Watch to the Alliance of Kingdoms as a legitimate kingdom if Jase’s family will stop the black-market trade and agree to clear borders. Jase agrees to borders of 50 miles in all directions of Tor’s Watch, including Hell’s Mouth, and insists the Ballenger Empire be recognized as the first kingdom on the continent. The queen agrees; Jase will sign papers in the morning and be free to go. Although he has everything his family dreamed of, Jase looks at Kazi, unable to leave. The queen notices and decides to send a trusted ambassador with him.
Chapter 61 Summary: “Kazi”
Kazi explained Jase’s family and kingdom to the queen, but left out their personal relationship. In the receiving hall, Kazi was right behind the queen but unable to face Jase. When the queen called her in, Kazi forced herself to go. She stared at the wall until she heard the queen’s voice change and knew she was going to help the Ballengers. Kazi's relief unravels when the queen says she can’t trust Jase. The queen wants to send Kazi to Tor’s Watch to report back to her. Kazi tells the queen Jase despises her so someone else should be sent. Jase pulls her into his arms, tells her he loves her and wants her to come back with him. Kazi tells him she loves him. They kiss and Kazi promises him her tomorrows.
Jase signs the papers to start the process of Tor’s Watch becoming an official kingdom. Before they leave, Wren and Synové say their goodbyes and make Jase promise to watch Kazi’s back.
Later, Kazi and Jase stop to rest. Jase plans to put Jalaine back in charge of the arena because she loves it. He tells Kazi not to wear her ring since she stole it from a king, but Kazi tells him about the note with the name Devereux. Jase tells her what he learned from Zane and apologizes for lying. Kazi promises they will figure out Devereux because there’s no more secrets between them. Jase tells her the riddle he promised and they kiss.
Chapter 62 Summary
A Valsprey, a kind of bird, falls dead into Death’s hand, wounded by an arrow. Death watched Jalaine write the note tied to its leg that asks Kazi and Jase to come because Samuel is dead, and someone is banging at the door. Death pulls the arrow out of the bird because he promised Jalaine he'd help and throws the revived bird into the air. He watches it fly away from Tor’s Watch to find Kazi and Jae.
Chapters 55-62 Analysis
Love and Betrayal are reconciled at last as Jase and Kazi complete their enemies-to-lovers arc. In the falling action of the novel, Pearson simultaneously brings the Rahtan mission to its conclusion and sets up the next novel in the series. The Rahtan have done their duty and captured the prisoners, but Phineas's talk about papers and olives leads to his murder, introducing a new mystery. Kazi and the Rahtan are confused and suspect a bigger plot may be afoot. Illarion is relieved when he first sees the Morrighese soldiers like he’s expecting a rescue, so Kazi thinks he must be working with someone else, suggesting a much larger conspiracy than they imagined. Although this particular mission is over, the trouble is far from over, and Pearson suggests that Political Unrest will continue to drive the plot in later novels in the series.
Pearson ends the novel with a cliffhanger in her final chapter, told from Death's perspective. The specter of Death has ever-present throughout the story to Kazi, and his observation of Jalaine implies that he has more agency as a character than first suggested. Death directly interferes in the lives of the living, reviving the dead bird so it can deliver Jalaine’s note about the trouble in Tor’s. This help, and the fact that Death uses the same "not today" phrasing that Kazi says to him when she's not ready to die, imply that Kazi has powerful supernatural forces on her side.
Jase and Kazi still struggle to trust each other after the betrayals, but their love wins out in the end. Kazi's personal relationship with Jase allows her to see his good intentions, so she pleads Jase’s case to the queen. The queen agrees to recognize Tor’s Watch as the first kingdom solving one of the major conflicts in the novel and supporting Jase's claim as Ballenger Patrei. Jase has everything his family ever wanted, but he can’t leave Kazi, so the queen intervenes again, giving the lovers an excuse to be together. Kazi finally admits to Jase that she loves him, and they head back to Tor’s Watch thinking they are going to live happily ever after. However, the shadow of Political Unrest follows them. The captain was working with someone, and they must find out who, and the Ballengers are still under assault from an unknown force. The mysterious Devereux also must be found and stopped. All these new plotlines set up the sequel.
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By Mary E. Pearson
