Accomplice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Tensions are high after the return of Nura Sage, Evie, Gideon, and Lyssa’s long-lost mother. Evie has been struggling with feelings of abandonment toward her, and Lyssa, so young when it all happened, doesn’t want to acknowledge Nura as her mother. Not only that, but Trystan has decided that he needs to keep away from Evie, as part of the prophecy is that Evie will be his downfall. Even with all of that, Prince Andrew, better known as Kingsley the frog, is watching his best friend Trystan fall hard for his assistant—and loves how much the Villain’s life has changed since she came into it.

After weeks of the Villain and his Assistant keeping their distance, they are brought together once again, thanks to the continuing traitor in their midst that they can’t find. The same spy who sent mysterious letters to Lyssa, and a few others in the household. As the two are discussing the traitor, they easily fall back into their flirting and banter. That is, until King Benedict brings an army to his door. He wants a trade; he will give the whole prophecy if they give him Nura. Evie decides to play dumb, as it should not be public knowledge that her mother is alive. However, after some back and forth, which ends with Evie threatening him, Evie’s mother shows up and reveals herself. With her anger out, Nura turns into her starlight and streaks toward the castle, right toward her youngest daughter Lyssa.

Inside the castle, Gideon sees his mother’s light go right toward Lyssa and can do nothing about it. But the captain of the guard, Keeley, jumps in front of the light, taking the attack and saving Lyssa. Gideon takes Keeley to get healed and realizes he might have some feelings toward the guard.

The castle needs to be repaired yet again, and Evie lets in some window repair guys—only later to find out that the window repair guys are already inside. Evie rushes back to the ones she left in, and he starts to attack Evie. During the attack, she realizes she knows the man—it’s her old employer’s son. Trystan comes in and saves Evie and takes the attacker to prison. Later that day, the two go down and interrogate the prisoner to try and get the spy out of him; he doesn’t budge.

Trystan starts to notice that things are off with Kingsley. He has started holding up blank signs and even spacing out, not reacting when he calls his name. It has him more worried. In a Kingsley chapter, he reveals that he is having episodes where he blanks out; he worries that with every day he is turning more and more into a frog.

Evie decides to have a tough conversation with her mom, still feeling betrayed. She even tells her mom some of the rough things that happened when she was a child; her mother apologizes, but Evie feels the need to go deal with her emotions. As she is running away, she runs right into Trystan, who decides to try and cheer her up—but it turns into talking about the prophecy, which is why he is staying away. But it doesn’t stop Trystan from kissing Evie. They are interrupted before anything more can happen.

As Trystan notices more episodes from Kingsley, he decides to have Tatianna, the healer and also his sister’s lover, look at him. During the examination, Kingsley jumps out the window, but luckily Evie is there to catch him. They decide it’s time to tell the essential group who Kingsley is. They tell everyone about the curse and that it needs to be broken. The only way they know of is to have the witch who put the spell on him reverse it. But the witch who did it is currently in prison for the death of the prince. They decide to visit a cursebreaker, Lionel, to see if they can get answers. When they get there, Lionel notices that there are two curses in the room—the frog’s and Trystan’s. Evie can’t handle that news and leaves, trying to figure out her emotions and feelings toward Trystan. As she is trying to breathe, she sees that King Benedict is once again coming for them.

On their way back, the group thinks about their two ticking time bombs: Kingsley’s curse and the traitor in the house. Gideon, back at the castle, believes he knows who the traitor is—Keeley—as he found some evidence that alludes to this. But he is also slowly falling for her. The pair decide to work together to find the traitor; Gideon believes he was only brought in by her to keep him from thinking it is her.

Tatianna, Clare, Evie, and Trystan decide to go talk to a powerful Lord, as that is who the cursebreaker told them to see. This Lord is supposed to have a magic wand that will allow them to walk into Kingsley’s old castle (with his parents still ruling). On their way, they are attacked by said Lord Fowler. When they wake, Fowler wants Evie and Trystan to go to his party; then he will give them the wand. That night at the ball, Kingsley goes missing, and in a frenzy, Evie offers something crazy: whoever finds the frog will be able to have a night with the “wicked woman”—a name she gave herself in the moment. The room clears out, and Trystan hates that; so he grabs Evie and goes searching for Kingsley as well.

Gideon takes a closer look at the letters he found of Keeley’s; he finds it concerning that they call her princess and are signed from the king. Gideon can’t take it anymore and confronts her. She promises it’s not from Benedict, but rather her real father—or someone who claims he is her father. She gives enough evidence that Gideon no longer believes she is the spy. They continue their mission to find the spy.

Evie finds Kingsley, falls from a tree, and some random man gets the frog. Trystan, not wanting anyone else to have a night with Evie, knocks the man out and takes Kingsley back. He and Evie are thrown into a room together courtesy of Fowler. Evie tells Trystan how she feels, kisses him, but when he doesn’t reciprocate, she tells him to grow up and figure out what he wants. The two sleep in separate areas.

Becky, back at the castle, meanwhile has been struggling with her ongoing feelings for Blade. She decides to finally tell him that she likes him—only for there to be an attack on the castle. Blade gets hit, and while he is bleeding out, tells Becky he feels the same. Becky gets him to a healer quickly.

The next morning, Tatianna and Clare have a conversation about their relationship, but then decide to go find Trystan and Evie in their room. Fowler is there as well, gives them the wand, but then they hear screams. A Phoenix bird is attacking the city. Evie goes straight for some children, gets hurt, but then realizes that the bird just needs a hug. Despite Trystan telling her no, Evie does so, and the bird heals her and leaves. The two have saved the city—but with a twist: they all celebrate Trystan and what he has done.

The four decide that their next step is to go to Trystan’s and Clare’s childhood home to talk to their parents, which will be on the way to Kingsley’s parents. Kingsley, who is still feeling more and more like a frog, feels a tug and hops away. The group finds him at Trystan’s parents’ house: Arthur and Amara.

Becky and Lyssa meanwhile are finding out the traitor is sending more notes, this time to Becky. Before they can speculate, there is an attack and they run away on a beast, only to be later saved by a now-healed Blade.

News has gotten around to Amara: her son is now a hero and he is traveling with the Wicked Woman. Amara gets so angry about everything that Trystan has done to affect her life; Evie can’t stand the words and ends up slapping her. During that time, Trystan also declares his love for Evie, surprising everyone in the room. And Evie tells her they are only there for the glass slippers, the object they need to get into Kingsley’s castle. Amara has a cost—she wants the witch who cast the spell on Kingsley. And to make sure it happens, she’ll take the enchantress’s daughter, Winifred, to make sure it does. That night, Trystan and Evie finally share that they are both in love with each other and end up sharing a passionate night together.

Back at the castle, they figure out the traitor is Marv, the castle greeter, the first person everyone sees. Gideon and Keeley also find out. But as he figures it out, Nura knocks Gideon out. When he wakes up, his father, Griffen, is there, along with a now tied-up Nura. After a little fight, Nura is exposed to a plant, and Gideon blacks out.

Arthur, Trystan’s father, guides the four (and Kingsley) out to the castle, where they officially meet Kingsley’s parents. They start to tell them the story of Kingsley, but the frog is in one of his fits, so they can’t prove he is actually the prince. Since they hate that they gave them hope, they bring out the enchantress and turn her to stone, giving her the punishment for what she did to their son. The king and queen then summon their guards to fight the group, and one of the soldiers goes straight for Evie. Arthur ends up taking the blade in the stomach for her, making it so the group has to run away and take him. Tatianna is not able to heal him, and his dying words are to Trystan, telling him that he is not actually his father.

When Gideon wakes up, his father is gone, and his mother is unconscious. He goes straight for the spy, Marv, and tries to get all the info out of him. He reveals the plan to Gideon, but not to the reader, and says that the worst is yet to come.

On their way back from Kingsley’s home, they run into Benedict yet again. Benedict confirms that Marv is the spy. But then says he still needs the prophecy to come true, and for that he needs the true prince’s heart. Evie decides to let Kingsley go, and he hops away. Only for Benedict to laugh and say that the frog is not the true prince’s heart—it is Trystan. As he, King Benedict, is Trystan’s true father. When Evie was born, her parents brought her to the king and said to take her magic. Benedict did and gave that power right to his son Trystan. Which is why Trystan’s powers have been slowly going away—they have been going back to Evie. Trystan was always supposed to be the true prince, and Evie was always supposed to be the true villain.

Evie struggles with knowing all of this and even wants her and Trystan to stay separated. Trystan is not having that, even though Evie says, according to the prophecy, his one true love is out there waiting for him. Trystan refuses and says she needs to put herself together, because they need to start working on finding a lost Kingsley.

Clare, meanwhile, is struggling with her father Arthur’s sudden death. When all of a sudden, a naked man shows up and holds up a sign saying “It’s me.” Clare only gets one word out: “Kingsley?”