A Tongue So Sweet and Deadly by Sophia St. Germain

Lessia has been living in Ellow for quite some time. As a half-fae, she hasn’t been treated the best, but she rules her part of town by running a few gambling dens and other bars. But she has several secrets. The first is revealed when a stubborn guard named Merrick comes into her life. He is delivering a message from King Rioner. The king wants to cash in on the debt that Lessia owes him. She was once put in prison, and to get out, King Rioner offered her a blood oath, thinking her magic of compelling would one day come in handy. She accepted, and Lessia has been living in fear of cashing in that debt ever since.

While waiting for King Rioner, Lessia spends her time with her friends, Ardow and Amalise, who know some things, but not everything. The two of her friends are also helping her cover her second secret: she is hiding children who have been abandoned or are being hunted.

King Rioner and Merrick come back for Lessia. The king needs Lessia to run for regent of Ellow. She needs to get close to the current regent, Loche, because the king believes he is working with spies. Lessia also can’t tell anyone about her plan, thanks to the blood oath and the words the king used. He also offers her her freedom if she can complete her task. Merrick is to be her guard for the time of the elections, and the king won’t allow him to look at her.

Later that day, Lessia nominates herself, and the people aren’t happy, as she is half-fae. But she goes with the rest of the nominees. There are to be two months before the elections, and during that time, the nominees are to endure some trials: hunger, torture, etc., to prove that they are worthy to serve their people.

She meets the other nominees and likes Stellia, although the friendship is short-lived when Stellia sends her people to try and kill one of the contestants. She is disqualified. But the next day, the first trial starts. All the contestants are to live together in a cabin during winter. This will test their hunger, as they will be there for a few weeks with no fire or food. Her time here reminds her of her time in prison, and she has to get over that mental barrier.

She has one of her first big conversations with Loche, who thinks that she is a spy. She also has a conversation with Venko, whom Lessia believes is a spy. The other contestant is Craven, who ends up attacking her, but Lessia fights back. After two weeks, all the contestants make it, and Merrick is there waiting to bring her back to heal. Merrick, even though he is being standoffish, still helps Lessia heal.

After healing, she is sent back to the castle, where all the contestants are being summoned, but the castle is attacked, and she is sent to the cellars to hide from them. But Lessia has a panic attack thanks to her time in prison. After Merrick helps her calm down, she reveals that she wasn’t allowed to see the daylight for a long time. She also reveals that she killed a fae man, and that is why she was put in prison.

Merrick decides that she needs to be taught to fight and protect herself, so they start training sessions.

The next part of their trials are debates. The people eat her alive for being half-fae and call her all sorts of names. By the end, she is exhausted and hates that she has to do this and retreats to her room. Merrick convinces her to go back out to the dance that is happening, so the people can see that she is unbothered by it. She does, and Loche finds her immediately and asks for a couple of dances with her. Merrick tells her that he believes Loche is attracted to her. Lessia realizes she also might be falling for him as well.

The next night, while Merrick is out, there is another attack, and Lessia gets hurt. Loche is there to comfort her and offers her more protection.

Lessia doesn’t have any time to recover because Merrick arrives to take her to her next trial, where he has been forced to help. This trial is torture. There is a committee member there to tell each guard what pain to inflict on the contestant. Merrick apologizes for what he is about to do, but he beats the crap out of her. At one point, he is supposed to drown her, but he refuses.

Between Lessia’s screams and Merrick’s outrage, Loche and some others come in to see what is going on. Loche is furious the committee member let that much pain go because it is not supposed to be like that. The pain is too much for Lessia, and she blacks out. Merrick takes her back to her room to recover, and he also apologizes for so much.

Lessia then opens up about what put her in prison. She tells him about her magic with words and persuasion. She found out when she accidentally told her sister to jump off a roof when her sister was bugging her. But she could see something in her sister’s eyes—she was going to do it—and she did. Her parents were so upset, so she used her powers again to tell her parents to forget about her and move on. She then lived on the streets for years, suppressing her magic, thinking she is a monster.

But the next time she used her magic was when a fae was attacking women; she told him to slit his throat. He did, and Lessia got caught. Merrick and Lessia become a little bit closer after this revelation.

Lessia finally has some free time to go see the children and her friends. But on her way out, Loche finds her and knows what she is doing. He promises that even if she doesn’t win, he will help make the city a better place for those children. Loche tries to turn the moment into something more, which Lessia wants. But her blood bargain tattoo summons her. King Rioner is close and calling to her.

She finds him and Merrick, and he is displeased she doesn’t have more info. He asks Merrick if Lessia is trying her hardest. Merrick has to say no. So the king lets loose a new bargain: she must use her magic on Loche to find out the information the king wants. She is to use any means to get this information.

On their way out of the forest, they run into Ardow, but before they can learn why he is in the forest, they hear screaming from the castle—there has been another attack. Because of the attack, the committee members decide to move the elections up and to tell the people of Ellow.

The next trial is another debate for the people to hear. It goes well for Lessia, but Loche still shines out. That night, there is another dance, and she is riding on a high. That is, until she follows Loche out into the hall. She overhears him talk to his guard that he was just using Lessia as a means to get what he wants.

Loche then realizes she is listening and grabs her and tries to cover for himself. But Merrick comes in, having heard it all, and tells Lessia now is her chance—use the magic on Loche. It breaks her, but she does. She manages to get information out of him and wipe his memory of the encounter. The information: he’s been paid by others to blackmail the council so that way he will win. He gets instructions via letters on what to do and how to oppose the king.

But before she can be sad about it, more assassins come into the castle, and they stab Merrick. Loche, having forgotten what he revealed, helps Lessia get Merrick to his rooms, where Lessia can take care of him. Merrick doesn’t want a healer because, as Lessia learns, he also has a bargain tattoo from the king.

Loche then comes to check on Lessia and kisses her, then tells her he wants to take her away for the weekend. She tells Merrick she is leaving and goes. Loche takes her outside of town to a place where his true friends are. They have all been banished and are living together happily in a new community. Lessia loves what Loche has created, and their night together turns intimate.

The next morning, the magic is gone because the traitor has been found—it is Venko—although Lessia feels like Loche is still not telling her something. They go back to the castle, where they are ready for the last trial.

Loche takes her to the prison. The committee is there waiting for her, as is Ardow, who has also been found as a traitor along with Venko. Lessia’s trial: kill Ardow or send her friend Amalise to exile. After some thought, she chooses to send Amalise away. But she talks to Amalise right after, tells her to gather the children, and they can all go away to Loche’s secret city.

The final vote happens, and Loche is elected again as regent. To celebrate, the king’s brother, Alarin, comes to celebrate. Lessia reveals that Alarin is her father, but because of her magic, he does not remember her. It seems as if Merrick also knows her father very well, and he quickly makes the distinction that the two are related.

When Lessia goes to tell congratulations to Loche, she finds King Rioner there as well. The king tells Loche that the spy all along has been Lessia. He also reveals that the spy against him, the king, was Merrick, and now he is in custody. Loche feels betrayed, even more so when her father reveals that Lessia used magic on him.

He then brings in Alarin, whose magic is to redo magic, and so Alarin does, and Loche remembers the night that Lessia betrayed him, and now he hates Lessia. Loche, in anger, asks the king to make Lessia use her magic so he forgets his feelings for her—that he will only remember he hated her. The king orders it, and Lessia completes it, and thus her bond with the king is completed. She is free.

But King Rioner then exiles her, and Loche agrees. She starts to run away, but Loche’s guard, Zaddock, is there, who heard everything and offers to help. He takes her to the prison, where Lessia compels Merrick to break the bond he has with the king. After a lot of pain, he does.

Zaddock helps them all break out, and Ardow, Merrick, Venko, and Lessia all escape to a boat, where Merrick says he knows a place, and its name is Raine.