The Folk of the Air (series)

Jude, her identical twin, Taryn, and their older half-sister, Vivienne, are living in the human world when Madoc, Vivienne’s biological father, murders their human parents. Madoc takes them all to Faerie to live with him, his wife Oriana, and son Oak. The twins love Faerie and abide by the rules but Vivi, who ‘truly’ belongs there wishes she did not and disobeys. The family attends a faerie ball at which Jude is assaulted by Valerian, who is a good friend of the "cruel prince", Cardan. Cardan and his friends, Valerian, Nicasia, and Locke, come to repeatedly torment Jude and Taryn. Cardan's father, Eldred, the High King of Elfhame, must soon choose a successor, most likely to be Prince Dain, his third oldest. Jude plans to compete to become a knight in the Summer Tournament. Cardan attempts to drown Jude after she refuses to withdraw from the Tournament. To save her, Taryn is forced to kiss his cheeks.

Vivi takes her sister to a mall in the mortal world to meet with Vivi's girlfriend, Heather, and asks them move to the mortal world with her. Jude and Taryn wish to return to Faerie. At school, Jude pushes Cardan after seeing him speaking to her crying sister. Taryn will not tell her what happened and begs her to make amends with Cardan. At the Tournament, Jude fights well against Cardan and his friends. In front of everyone, he asks her to beg for forgiveness, and she makes him furious by refusing. While she is lying wounded, Locke comes and tends to her wounds and starts displaying affection towards her. That night, Jude is told that there is a prince waiting for her in the parlor. She assumes it is Cardan and storms into the room. To her surprise, it is Prince Dain, who asks her to become his spy. In exchange for her service, he gives her a geas, which gives her the ability to resist enchantments, with the exception that he will be the only person who can "enchant," or control her.

The next day, Cardan and his friends, Nicasia and Valerian, assault Jude and shove faerie fruit into her mouth, which has the power to make humans delirious with "stupid joy". The students take advantage of her state by telling her to take off her dress and toss out the salt that would have cured her of the effects of faerie fruit. Locke rescues her and takes her home. Before they leave, Cardan stabs Jude's finger with a pin, making it bleed. Tasting the salt in her blood, she is cured of the effects of the faerie fruit. At home, Locke says he wishes to see her again and kisses her fingers before leaving.

Madoc demands to know who did this to her but she refuses out of fear he will kill them, which would likely result in the High King killing Madoc for killing Prince Cardan. Instead, Jude tells Madoc she wants to train even harder so she can defeat anyone who attacks her. Back in her room, she receives her first mission from Prince Dain; to go to Prince Balekin’s home and find a treasonous secret. She goes there and investigates Prince Cardan's room, stealing what looks to be her childhood book, Alice in Wonderland. She also finds a letter in Balekin's office, which she copies to bring to Dain. While hiding under a table in his office, she witnesses Cardan being whipped and abused by Balekin. Dain receives the copied letter and believes that it pertains to the issue of Locke’s mother having been poisoned to death in the past. Jude goes to the Court of Shadows to meet the other spies who she will train with; The Roach, the Bomb, and the Ghost. At home, Taryn tells Jude that she will be getting engaged the night of Dain’s but keeps her suitor secret. Jude shows Taryn a copy of Alice in Wonderland that she found in Cardan's room. A note slips out, on which is written "Jude" over and over again in Cardan’s angry scrawl.

The next day at school, Locke smiles at Jude. On her way home, she picks poisonous faerie mushrooms and begins a practice of mithridatism – taking small doses of poison to become immune to its effects. She falls sick, and when she wakes up the Roach takes her for stealth training. Exhausted at school the next day, Jude falls asleep during lunch. She awakes to Valerian with her rowan necklace in his hand. Thinking that he can control her since she is without its protection, he commands her to jump from the tower to her death. He is unaware that she has no need for the rowan necklace because of Dain's gaes. She is able to resist him and stabs him with a knife. Jude goes home with Locke and he invites her to stay for a party with his friends that night. While at his house, she wears the dress of his deceased mother and finds a special acorn in the pocket. Locke tells Jude she looks beautiful, and the two spend the night kissing and dancing. Cardan, even as he is being kissed by other girls at the party, keeps his eyes fixed on Jude.

Back at home, Jude opens the acorn she found in Locke's mother's dress with a message from Locke's mother. It shows her predicting her own death and asking her best friend to take care of her baby. Jude questions its connection to the letter she found at Balekin’s house. Jude returns to Balekin's house to find more evidence but finds nothing. While leaving, she encounters an ensorcelled human servant, Sophie, and smuggles her out of the house to return her to the human world with Vivi's help. They ride magic horses over the border to the human world, but Sophie throws herself off the horse into the ocean, not being able to cope with living with what she experienced in Faerie. Jude feels overwhelmed with guilt. The next morning, she is summoned to see Dain in the parlor. She thinks he wants to talk to her about Sophie, but instead, he scolds her for stabbing Valerian. To prove her loyalty to him, Dain compels Jude to stab her own hand.

In preparation for Dain's coronation, dresses arrive for Jude's family. Jude’s dress is different than what she ordered but finds it to be the most beautiful dress she’s ever seen. Oriana thinks she is romantically involved with Dain and warns her not to rise above her station. Jude learns Oriana was a consort to High King Eldred before marrying Madoc. She warns Jude of the Court and tells her of the murder of a pregnant consort, Liriope, who was Locke's mother. Madoc and Balekin have a long meeting, which leaves Jude curious.

The night before the coronation, a drunk Valerian sneaks into Jude’s room and tries to kill her. In defense, she stabs him fatally and eventually buries his body. The Ghost continues Jude's spy training making her kill one of Balekin's messengers, though after she does, she recognizes that it is one of Madoc's spies. The Ghost thinks it means Balekin set them up, but Jude continues to wonder what Liriope’s murder has to do with the coronation.

At the coronation, Jude dances with Locke who speaks in riddles asking if she loves him enough to give him up. Cardan cuts and says it is time for them to switch partners. As the coronation begins she sees Taryn and Locke share an intimate moment. The crowning ceremony begins as planned until Balekin and his followers – including Madoc – kill Dain. Balekin wants the throne, but the crown cannot be placed on his head unless it is done so by someone of Eldred's blood. He kills his father and all of his siblings who refuse to crown him. Prince Cardan is nowhere to be found. In the chaos afterward, Jude hides under a table, finds a drunk Cardan, and they escape the hall. Once out, Jude holds a knife to Cardan's throat and brings him to the Court of Shadows. The Ghost and the Roach show up and tell Jude that Dain poisoned Liriope because she was carrying his child, and he did not want Eldred to find out for fear that he would not inherit the throne. They hold Cardan prisoner for Jude and give her 24 hours to come up with a plan before he becomes theirs.

Jude comes home and finds that Locke is Taryn’s fiancé. She realizes that Locke has played her. She challenges Taryn to a duel for her honor. Vivi comes to Jude’s room and reveals that she knows she cannot be enchanted. She asks her to flee to the human world with her tonight. The next morning, Jude goes to reconcile with Taryn but finds her room empty. She searches in Oriana’s room but finds an identical acorn to the one in Liriope’s dress. Jude realizes that Oak is actually the son of Liriope and Dain. Oriana found Liriope as she was dying and cut the baby out. She married Madoc for safety and raised Oak as their own. Madoc intends to use Oak’s royal blood to get to the throne so he can serve as regent until Oak is of age.

In the Court of Shadows, Jude is horrified to find Cardan playing cards with those she trusted to guard him. She takes him to be questioned and he vows to answer anything she asks. Jude asks him why he hates her so much. Cardan reveals that he hates Jude because he is obsessed with her and cannot stop thinking about her. With her knife to his throat, they kiss. Jude hates that she likes it, and tells herself that she must kill him before he makes her like him.

Jude comes to the conclusion that the Oak must be the next High King, crowned by Cardan, and then Jude can act as regent until he is grown. However, she wants Oak to stay in the mortal world for a while so he can have a normal childhood. She tells Cardan about the plan and he agrees to go into her service for a year and a day of service in exchange for wealth and comfort. Jude gets support from other Fae courts for Oak’s coronation. Balekin holds a banquet to make himself High King by the support of the Fae courts. Everyone is shocked when Cardan shows up to the banquet with Jude. Balekin and Madoc assume Jude has found him so he can crown Balekin.

Madoc tells Jude that she should have brought Cardan to him first. Jude reveals she knows about his plans with Oak and asks him to promise to give up regency when he comes of age. He does not, so they have a duel during which Madoc becomes paralyzed from drinking the poisoned wine that Jude offered him earlier. Jude was able to resist the poison because of her mithridatism practices.

When Jude returns to the banquet, a bomb goes off and the crown is stolen by the Ghost who accidentally tosses the crown to Taryn rather than Jude. Reluctantly, Taryn gives it to Jude. The plan is for Cardan to crown Oak, but when Cardan kneels down Jude commands him to be still and Oak places the crown on Cardan's head, having been trained to do this beforehand. Cardan is furious as everyone kneels before him.

The epilogue follows Jude bringing Oak to the mortal world to live with Vivi and Heather. As Jude leaves, Oak asks how he will know when he is ready to return, to which Jude replied that he will be ready to return when leaving seems harder than staying. Jude returns to Faerie and meets with Cardan, who is still angry at her for making him king. He allows her to rule with him being her puppet, but he gives her veiled threats that he will create difficulty for her because of it.

Five months have elapsed since the events of The Cruel Prince – Cardan is king and five months into his one year plus one day submission to Jude. No one knows that Jude, acting as his seneschal, has control over him. Their hatred towards each other continues with Cardan angry that Jude betrayed him and made him king and Jude angry at Cardan for his continued awful behavior. Jude hopes she can extend her power over Cardan beyond the next seven months until her brother, Oak, is old enough to rule. Oak is being kept safe in the mortal world by Vivi to have a semblance of a normal childhood before he returns to rule.

Someone from the Court of Shadows tells Jude that they have intercepted a note from Balekin asking Cardan to visit him in prison. Jude goes to visit Balekin instead, but he does not tell her anything about his plans. Jude learns from a prison guard named Vulciber that messages are being exchanged by Balekin and Orlagh, queen of the Undersea, to undermine Cardan's rule. Jude is surprised since Orlagh's daughter, Nicasia, is one of Cardan's friends. While at the prison, Jude encounters Cardan's mother, Asha.

Jude's twin sister, Taryn, calls on her to make amends asks Jude to attend her wedding to Locke. Later, the Ghost brings Jude to Cardan's room, which has been largely destroyed – Cardan, Locke, and two other faeries lie drunk and half undressed. Cardan, partially wounded, shows her that two arrows were shot at him while he was in bed. He did not see who tried to assassinate him, but they find a secret passageway. Jude enters and finds Nicasia, who admits that she was furious to see Cardan in bed with another girl. She aimed to kill the girl and accidentally wounded Cardan instead. Jude asks Nicasia what Orlagh's intentions are with Balekin and Cardan. Orlagh wants Nicasia to marry Cardan and rule as queen.

Jude brings Cardan to her rooms, the only place she is confident he will be safe. He asks her to kiss him. She hates that she wants to. Jude goes to the council meeting in Cardan's place. She tries to convince the council that Orlagh is planning to move against their kingdom. Madoc pulls Jude aside after the meeting and says he still cares about her despite the fact that she poisoned him.

During a party, Nicasia catches Jude staring at Cardan. Nicasia still wants Cardan and wants to know what Jude has over him. Jude sees Cardan with a familiar ring on his finger and realizes he stole it from her hand. He tells Jude he made sure Taryn is not here for the spectacle Locke created for tonight and advises Jude to leave. Locke, who Cardan made to be is Master of Revels, begins a game, Queen of Mirth, in which a mortal girl is ensorcelled to think that she is being honored as the new queen but is instead grievously humiliated. Locke selects Jude to be ensorcelled since she is the only mortal girl at the ball. Though Jude has a gaes to protect against this, she endures the humiliation to avoid revealing her power.

After the game ends, Undersea creatures sent by Orlagh announce a message to the crowd: Orlagh wants her daughter to marry Cardan and there will be punishment if he disobeys. Cardan welcomes the creatures to stay at the revel then calls Jude to pull his council together. Before the council gathers, Madoc calls Jude and asks her to work towards a mutual goal. He wants her to ensure that Cardan does not marry Nicasia fearing that the Undersea queen slowly conquered all the kingdoms until she is the ultimate ruler. Madoc wants to use Oak as bait to draw Orlagh out, which Jude forbids.

Jude and Cardan meet with Nicasia. Cardan tells Nicasia to tell her mother that the next time she threatens him, her daughter will become his prisoner. He asks her whether she would want to be bound to him forever in an unhappy union, and Nicasia says there is more to ruling than happiness, and she thinks her mother's idea is a good one.

Cardan summons Jude and pulls her into a small room. He shows her a message Balekin sent him asking to meet. Cardan is concerned that Jude is hiding things from him, and she admits to intercepting messages from Balekin. Jude asks Cardan to seduce Nicasia to get information from her. Cardan mislikes this idea and instead practices his wiles on Jude. Jude is effectively seduced by Cardan. As they kiss, Jude thinks about how, out of all the mean things he has done to her over the years, making her like him more is the worst one.

Jude visits Grimsen to buy a gift for Taryn's wedding. Grimsen tells her he knows of her mortal father's metalworking and suggests that he once taught him. He offers Jude a pair of earrings to give Taryn in exchange for one of Jude‘s tears. The earrings are enchanted to magnify the wearer's beauty. Grimsen asks Jude to take a message to the king: if they go to war, he will fashion armor that cannot be penetrated and swords so strong Cardan will easily win.

Jude goes to the Court of Shadows to work on her safety plans for Oak. Cardan arrives to bring her news of what he discovered from Nicasia after a few kisses. Her mother plans to act during Taryn's wedding. Before he leaves, he mentions the intimacy that happened between them the other night. Jude cuts him off and says she is sure it served the same purpose for both of them: to get it out of their system.

Jude goes to Madoc with information about Orlagh's plan to attack during the wedding, and they work together to ensure Oak's safety. The night before the wedding, Taryn asks Jude and Vivi to spend the night. On her way to Madoc's house, Jude is attacked by men on horseback. She is injured though fights back and escapes. In the process, she loses the earrings she bought for Taryn.

At the wedding, Jude sees Cardan finding a look of hatred in his eyes similar to the last time she was here at Locke's house when he was watching her and Locke kiss. He merely compliments her dress. Jude is worried that she is falling in love with him. Jude orders Cardan to never be alone tonight even though the implications of the statement bother her. Madoc heard their exchange and now knows about Jude's control over Cardan. He says they will work together to defeat Orlagh, but after that, they will be enemies.

Taryn arrives at her wedding party wearing the earrings that Jude intended to give her that she lost when she was attacked. Jude notices Locke's limp, and she realizes that it was he and his friends who attacked her.

Jude learns that Orlagh has made an attack on the prison, and she leaves the wedding to investigate. Jude goes to Asha's cell to set her free before going to Balekin's cell, finding it empty. Orlagh has rescued him in hopes of marrying her daughter to him and making him king someday. The Ghost joins Orlagh's forces revealing to Jude that he has betrayed her.

Jude is held captive in a cell in the Undersea where Nicasia comes to assault and berate her. Jude is brought to eat dinner with Orlagh, and since she is not wearing any charms, Orlagh believes Jude can be ensorcelled to do whatever they command. Even though Jude is protected by Dain's gaes, she acts like she is under their spell. Jude is questioned by Orlagh though is also able to learn some of their schemes. She learns that Grimsen is making a new crown to make Balekin king.

After countless days in prison, Jude learns that Cardan has offered to pay a ransom to get Jude back. Balekin glamours Jude to make her loyal to them and commands her to kill Cardan, giving her poison to do so. Upon returning to land, Jude learns that in exchange for her freedom, Cardan has made concessions, including allowing Balekin to be free and live as the ambassador to Elfhame from the Undersea.

Jude is taken to Madoc's house despite her request to return to the palace. There, Taryn tells Jude she has been gone about a month and that Cardan and their father formed a truce to try to get her back. Jude is called on by Dulcamara from the Court of Termites. Dulcamara tells Jude that Cardan gave the Undersea permission to attack her court and many of her people died. Jude learns that this was part of the price of her ransom. Dulcamara says they pledged to King Cardan because he was supposed to protect them. She reminds Jude that she still owes their court a favor, and she asks for Jude to kill Prince Balekin. Jude says if she kills him, then they will be at war with the Undersea, which Dulcamara accepts.

Jude goes to the palace to reach Cardan, but the guards have been ordered by Madoc not to let her in. Jude decided to go to Hallow Hall to reach Balekin, as he would expect her to do, and he gives her poison to kill Cardan. Jude returns to the palace and sneaks into Cardan's room. When she wakes him, he pulls her into bed with him. She tells him that Orlagh and Balekin are planning his murder. Cardan confesses to Jude why he betrayed others to get her back. He says that it took her being kidnapped to figure out his true feelings for her. The Roach and the Bomb appear and tell Cardan that Jude is working under orders from Balekin to kill him. They search Jude and find the poison that Balekin gave her. She explains that Balekin thought he had ensorcelled her to kill Cardan, but that she is immune to such spells because of the gaes she received from Dain.

At a masquerade ball, Jude tells Locke she knows he tried to kill her before his wedding, and she plans to retaliate. Lord Roiben from the Court of Termites arrives and says he expects Jude to make good on her promise. Jude sees Asha at the ball and wonders whether Cardan reconciled with his mother. Cardan arrives at the ball appearing to be extremely drunk and making a fool of himself. He pulls Jude onto the dance floor and kisses her very publicly, at which point Jude tastes wraithberry on his lips and recognizes that Cardan has been poisoned. Jude escorts him away and finds the Bomb to work to cure him. Balekin sends a note that he has the antidote and that he will give it to Cardan in exchange for the crown. Jude duels against Balekin for the antidote and ultimately kills Balekin. When Jude returns to Cardan, she discovers Madoc had Taryn pose as Jude to fool Cardan into giving Madoc half of the army. Cardan agreed because he trusts Jude.

Later that night, Cardan calls Jude back to his room and asks her to give him his free will back. He asks her to marry him, which will allow her to give him any royal orders she wants and bypass her needing to order him around to get things done. He suggests they only need to stay married until Oak is ready to rule. They perform the ceremony themselves with Cardan returning to Jude the ring he had previously given her. Jude follows through and releases him from his service to her.

The next morning, Cardan learns that his brother was killed by Jude in a duel. Orlagh arrives to have Cardan account for why her Ambassador was killed. Cardan accepts no blame because it was not his wish for his brother to die. Orlagh knows it was Jude and demands justice. She threatens war, and he threatens to use his powers over nature that being the High King of Elfhame grants him. He can control the land under all of the water, and to prove this, he creates a new island to emerge from the water. As he does this, Cardan traps Nicasia in a tree, and Orlagh relents in exchange for Cardan releasing her daughter. Cardan requests Nicasia stay behind on the land to serve as an ambassador. To further appease Orlagh and maintain peace with the Undersea, Cardan exiles Jude to the mortal world. She protests that he cannot do this because she is the Queen of Elfhame, but she is laughed at and dismissed. Ultimately, Jude goes to live with Vivi and Oak in the mortal world.

The Prologue recounts the birth of Cardan Greenbriar, and a prophecy made at his birth that he will be the last of Eldred's offspring and will be the destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne. The Royal Astrologer who makes this prediction also says that out of the boy's spilled blood can a great ruler rise, but only after the aforementioned prophecy comes to pass. As a result of this prophecy, Cardan is poorly treated and raised in squalor despite the fact that he is a Prince of Faerie.

Returning to the present-day story, Jude is living in the human world with Vivi and Oak. Not having any human documents to get a real job, she works odd jobs for a creature of Faerie known as Bryern in exchange for money to pay rent. He tells her that Grima Mog, former general to the Court of Teeth, has been exiled to the human world, and she has been eating the local Folk that live in the mortal world. Bryern gives her money in exchange for getting Grima Mog to stop her practice in this. Jude does so by fighting Grima Mog and making her promise to stop eating the Folk.

Jude returns home to find that Taryn has come from the Faerie realm. Taryn tells Jude that she is pregnant, her husband Locke had been abusive towards her, and she ultimately ended up killing him. She says that there is going to be an inquest into Locke's murder, and Taryn asks Jude to return to Faerie, pretending to be Taryn, so that she will be able to lie that she did not murder Locke, and thus will not be punished for Locke's death. Jude agrees to this even though it puts Jude at risk since Cardan had banished Jude from Faerie under penalty of death until or unless she is pardoned by the crown. Jude returns to meet with Cardan and the court pretending to be Taryn, but after the inquest has concluded, Cardan takes her aside and tells her that he knows that she is Jude and not Taryn. He asks why Jude has not responded to any of his letters, and Jude replies that she never received any letters from him. An attack is made in the palace, and Jude is kidnapped by Madoc's army, believing that they are rescuing Taryn from Cardan.

Jude, while continuing to be believed to be Taryn, is taken under Madoc's protection. He has taken half of Cardan's army and conspired with the Court of Teeth to take over Cardan's reign of Faerie. He has employed Grimsen to forge a new sword for him that will effectively overrule the power of the Blood Crown that Cardan wears. While in the camp of the Court of Teeth, Oriana discovers Jude and agrees to send a message to her sisters to help Jude escape the camp. While awaiting her escape, she finds the Ghost chained up, prisoner to Madoc. She learns that Locke knew the Ghost's true name and that Locke gave Madoc this information as part of the dowry for his marriage to Taryn. This is the reason why the Ghost was compelled to kidnap Jude and bring her to the undersea.

The Roach and Cardan come to the camp to help Jude escape, though she tells Cardan to leave since it is too dangerous for him to be here. She tells them that she already has a plan to escape with her sisters. In her escape, she is caught by Madoc, with whom she duels. Madoc gives her a deathly wound and expects that Jude will die from this. Jude asks for dirt to be packed into her wound, which saves her since she is the ruler of the land, and the land has the power to cure her.

Jude returns to the palace as they make preparations against the expected assault from Madoc's army. Jude has chosen Grima Mog as Grand General against the assault. Madoc and his army come to the palace with Madoc bringing the weapon that Grimsen has forged for him – a sword that can harness the power of the earth, rivaling the power that lies in the Blood Crown that Grimsen had previously forged. Madoc challenges Cardan to a duel in order to determine who will rule Faerie. He offers the sword to Cardan and thrusts the sword into the ground, which causes the ground to crack and split the throne causing the ruination of the throne. Madoc questions if Cardan has the loyalty of the people. Cardan recounts the prophecy that was made at his birth that he would be the destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne. He says that he believes the people should choose of their own free will to follow a ruler and not be bound to a crown. He breaks the crown in half not knowing that when Grimsen forged the crown, he cursed it, which transforms Cardan into a snake. Grimsen tells that as a snake, he will poison the land, and that true love's kiss cannot stop it, only death. Cardan, in snake form, then kills Grimsen before burrowing into the ground.

Jude, acting as Queen, tries to formulate how to maintain her rule against Madoc's threat and solve Cardan's curse. Madoc and the Court of Teeth offer Jude the gift of a golden bridle that would be able to control Cardan. She later learns that they gave her incorrect instructions on how to use it, which would have tied her to the snake and left Madoc in control. A plan is made for Jude to capture the snake, but instead of putting the bridle on him, she cuts the snake's head off. The second part of the prophecy – only out of his spilled blood can a great ruler rise – is fulfilled when Cardan, in his original form, emerges from the pool of the snake's blood. In the Epilogue, Cardan and Jude are crowned and they banish Madoc to live in the human world.