Adversary to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Here is a summary with spoilers for Adversary to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

Trystan Maverine, known throughout Rennedawn as the Villain, has become increasingly attached to his assistant, Evie Sage. He is jealous when he learns that another employee has asked her on a date, and he responds by establishing an office romance policy and arranging additional protection for her. After the previous book’s revelations, Evie is struggling with the knowledge that her parents and King Benedict stole her intended role in the kingdom’s prophecy and transferred it to Trystan. She now carries his dark magic inside her body, while Trystan is beginning to question the identity and destiny that have defined his life. Evie blames herself for the deaths and suffering surrounding them, particularly the death of Trystan’s father, Arthur Maverine.

Trystan and Evie investigate Marv, the manor’s gate guard, who has been passing information connected to Evie’s family. Marv explains that the Valiant Guards coerced him using gambling debts and a magical poison mark on his arm. When Trystan prepares to execute him, Evie’s dark magic erupts and bends his sword. The magic sparkles like black diamonds in sunlight, unlike Trystan’s shadowy power. Trystan recognizes that Evie’s magic responds to her desire to protect someone and formally treats her as his equal rather than merely his assistant. He takes her to an enchanted wishing well in Hickory Forest, where the two finally act on their feelings and kiss. Their intimacy becomes physical, but afterward Evie discovers that her uncontrolled magic has killed the well’s flowers. This reinforces her fear that her powers will destroy the people and things she loves.

Soon afterward, someone breaks into Trystan’s study, burns pieces of Rennedawn’s storybook, and steals Kingsley’s crown. Kingsley, Trystan’s frog companion, is missing, and the incidents suggest that the conspiracy extends beyond Marv. A thunderstorm causes the enchanted dungeon locks at Massacre Manor to fail. A shapeshifting creature known as a Silk escapes, and imprisoned criminals and Valiant Guards spill into the manor. During the chaos, Evie fears for her younger sister, Lyssa, and uses her magic to break through the dungeon doors, only to discover that Lyssa is safe. The crisis also exposes Kingsley’s secret: he can intermittently transform from a frog into a human and back again, although he struggles to speak during these changes.

Meanwhile, the Destiny Monster, a supernatural being connected to the kingdom’s prophecy, announces that a curse will reset Rennedawn to its original timeline in three sunsets before Hallows’ Eve. In that version of events, Trystan never became the Villain and Evie never inherited the role that was meant for her.

The Destiny Monster traps Evie in an illusion of her family, attempting to exploit her desire to reunite with her parents and restore the life she once had. Evie recognizes that the family before her is not real and attacks the imitation of her father, Griffin Sage, breaking the illusion. Her mother, Nura, then admits that she helped transfer Evie’s magic and role to Trystan. Evie refuses to keep waiting for Nura to become the mother she needs. Before leaving Massacre Manor, Nura reveals that another copy of Rennedawn’s storybook may exist, written in magical blue ink. Evie asks Trystan to teach her to control her newly inherited dark magic. He trains her to identify weaknesses in objects and bodies, but she still cannot bring herself to strike him because she believes her power is intended to kill him.

While Trystan and Evie investigate the curse, their friends pursue other parts of the prophecy. Blade Gushiken, Becky Erring, and Tatianna secretly take Lyssa to an abandoned guvre nest. Lyssa uses her rare starlight magic to revive two dormant eggs, and two dangerous young guvres hatch. At the same time, Trystan travels east with Evie, his brother Malcolm, and Kingsley to retrieve an ancient anchor key held by a giant named Fee. Fee challenges them to take a white key decorated with flowers from her hand. Kingsley briefly returns to frog form, steals the key, and escapes. Back at the manor, the guvres’ venom and Lyssa’s starlight magic reveal a second storybook hidden within a stained-glass window. When Evie opens the book, it identifies her as the sickness that a Core Healer must destroy. The revelation makes her believe that her existence is the threat to Rennedawn and that Trystan is destined to eliminate her.

King Benedict’s forces arrive at Massacre Manor under the pretense of holding Malcolm hostage. Evie discovers that the supposed hostage is actually a shapeshifting Silk, and she uses her magic to injure the attacking guards without killing them. Benedict then uses an enchanted dagger to turn Evie’s power against Trystan, forcing her to stab him in the shoulder. Trystan survives, but Evie interprets the incident as proof that the prophecy is coming true. Her magic spirals out of control, draining color from the surrounding forest and destroying trees. Convinced that staying near Trystan will eventually kill him, she leaves the manor.

Evie takes refuge at an opposition theater belonging to her cousin Helena. A loyalist of Benedict named Douglas attacks the theater, kills and mutilates Fritz, and sets the building on fire with Evie trapped inside. Evie carries Fritz through the smoke and fights Douglas with a piece of wood before Trystan arrives. Trystan shields Evie and Fritz from the flames with his own magic, and the pair survive the theater’s collapse. Evie apologizes for stabbing Trystan, but he reveals that the dagger contained a portion of the Core Healer magic stolen from him years earlier. That magic has protected Evie since Otto Warsen injured her, and Trystan’s own healing power restored his shoulder after she stabbed him. He explains that he is the Core Healer named in the prophecy, not simply the destructive Villain everyone believes him to be.

Back at Massacre Manor, the librarian Moira opens the storybook and subjects several of Trystan’s allies to magical trials based on their memories and desires. Clare is offered a chance to erase Trystan’s suffering but refuses because doing so would erase the brother she knows. Blade rejects an illusion that would give him the approval of his father, choosing instead the family that has accepted him. Tatianna refuses a perfect alternate life with Clare because it would erase the relationship they have rebuilt. Kingsley admits that he deliberately arranged the enchantment that turned him into a frog, believing that his sacrifice would protect his friends. Becky fails her first trial and dies, but Blade uses the available favor to bring her back. Moira then reveals that she is Fate, an ancient storyteller who opposes Destiny’s attempts to dictate every outcome. The group survives the trials by rejecting the supposedly perfect lives offered to them.

The adult guvres eventually return to Massacre Manor and reunite with their young. Their venom combines with Lyssa’s starlight magic to restore color to the manor’s kitchen and cure Joseph the Scholar of the Mystic Illness. Joseph identifies Trystan as a Core Healer and explains the connection between the different magical forces involved in the kingdom’s decline. Meanwhile, Gideon Sage and Keeley investigate magical ink found in the Sage family home. The ink reveals copied messages connected to the conspiracy, including evidence that someone infiltrated Trystan’s office and planted the bomb that nearly killed him and Evie. One message states that true love was never part of the plan, suggesting that whoever engineered the prophecy intended to prevent Evie and Trystan from forming a relationship.

Trystan, Evie, Clare, Tatianna, and Kingsley travel by ship to bury Arthur Maverine. King Benedict and Trystan’s mother, Amara Maverine, seize the vessel and use a magical shield that redirects attacks against anyone who attempts violence. Winnifred Erodina, an enchantress held in Amara’s service, is also aboard. During the voyage, Lord Charles reveals that he previously helped Benedict diagnose Trystan’s magic and establish the public story that Trystan was the Villain. Benedict offers Trystan the crown and promises Evie’s safety if they surrender the anchor key and the second storybook. They refuse. Benedict then reveals that Evie’s father, Griffin Sage, has joined him and become his chancellor.

Evie and Trystan escape the ship by swimming to shore. Trystan nearly drowns while recovering the anchor key from the water, but they eventually reach the Garden of Rennedawn. Near Arthur’s grave, beside a tree planted over Trystan’s supposed burial place, they uncover the original stained-glass window that Arthur had preserved in a black box. Meanwhile, Gideon and Keeley uncover more of Griffin’s correspondence, including evidence of a man being held captive and further references to the plan to prevent true love from developing between Evie and Trystan. Before the group can fully reunite, Clare produces evidence that Kingsley wrote the mysterious notes sent to Lyssa. Kingsley takes Evie hostage, exposing his role in the conspiracy and destroying the group’s trust in him.

The conflict escalates when the group attempts to reunite the adult guvres with their young. A spear bearing Benedict’s emblem strikes Fergus from the sky. Gideon pursues the Valiant Guards responsible and kills his former captain, fully reclaiming his identity as one of Trystan’s Malevolent Guards. Kingsley explains that Benedict recruited him months earlier to stop the prophecy. He believes Rennedawn must first be destroyed before it can be healed, and he has decided that betraying his closest friends is justified if it prevents a worse outcome. Trystan refuses to kill Kingsley despite his betrayal. After the others leave, however, Kingsley gives Benedict the anchor key.

Benedict and Destiny then confront Evie and Trystan in a dandelion field, bringing Gideon before them with poison spreading toward his heart. Destiny demands the magical abilities of the Sage siblings to rewrite the story, while Benedict promises that Gideon will receive a cure in the new timeline. Trystan is offered the chance to become a beloved prince instead of the feared Villain, but he rejects the offer because it would mean losing Evie. He declares that he wants to remain with her as her husband, regardless of the role the prophecy assigns him.

Benedict stabs Gideon through the stomach, making it clear that Gideon will die unless Evie agrees to the reset. Evie chooses to save her brother. She and Gideon provide the words and magic required to activate the curse, even though she understands that it will destroy the life she and Trystan have built together. Trystan warns that the curse cannot erase what they have already experienced, but the magic spreads across Rennedawn and separates them just as they reach for each other.

Two weeks after the reset, Trystan exists as Prince Trystan Benedict Martin, heir to Rennedawn’s throne and commander of the Valiant Guards. He has no accessible memories of Evie, Massacre Manor, or their relationship. Instead, he is hunting the woman known as the Wicked Woman, who is now the kingdom’s wanted villainess. Trystan corners a runaway carriage in Hickory Forest and encounters Evie, who points a dagger at him. She has become a wanted criminal and uses her magic and cunning to overpower guards and evade capture.

When one of the guards, Sir Meenka, roughs Evie up, Trystan attacks him and removes the magic-blocking shackles restraining her. Although he cannot remember their relationship, he is immediately drawn to her and helps her escape. Fergus, scarred but alive, carries Evie away. Before she disappears, Trystan slips the white flowered anchor key into her hand. Evie leaves him behind, and he remains captivated by her despite having no conscious memory of their shared history. The kingdom has returned to a version of its original arrangement, with Trystan in the royal role and Evie cast as the Villainess, but their encounter shows that their attraction and instinct to protect one another have survived the rewrite.

The epilogue takes place two weeks before the curse. Winnifred returns to Amara Maverine’s home and attempts to resign from her service, but Amara beats her and insists that Winnifred owes her a lifelong debt. Alexander Kingsley arrives and kills Amara by stabbing her through the heart. He then frees Winnifred from her service and offers her a position working for him. Winnifred accepts the offer, leaving Amara’s control behind.