Court of Lies and Deceit by Marion Blackwood

Selena wakes up to pain and not being able to feel her legs, and Draven yelling to fix her. The Icehearts threw an ice dagger at her, and it’s freezing her from the inside out. The only way to save her life is to get to a healer. The only healer Draven can go to—now that he’s officially come out as the Red Hand and betrayed the Icehearts—is in the Unsilee Court. The hidden court that wants nothing to do with their battles. But Draven is desperate and decides to try.

He takes the other two fae they helped get out of the Icehearts' hands (Isera and Alistair), and two of Draven’s court (Lyra and Galen).

They get there, and the king, Orion, offers a bargain. He will allow them entrance and a healer if Draven goes and assassinates a pesky member of his court. Draven agrees, and Selena wakes up fully healed.

The six of them have dinner with Orion, where Isera and Orion have an interesting relationship. When they get back from the awkward dinner, Selena finally has some time to think about the mate bond that Draven threw at her before their last battle. She is struggling with her feelings of love towards him, wanting to know if they are true feelings or if it is just the bond being forced on her.

The group then plans the assassination. It doesn’t go according to plan, but they make it happen. They go back to Orion to say the job is done. Isera has some words for Orion again, as she wants him to join their fight against the Icehearts. He says no and even unleashes his nightmare power on them to make them suffer for even asking.

The night before they leave, Selena once again has time to think about the mate bond. She finds out that Draven trusts her fully, and now she wants to know if that is because the mate bond is forcing him to feel that way or not.

The next morning, the group plans to leave the borders to plan their next steps. On their way out, Orion is there to block their path with guards. He accuses them of assassinating a member of his court and takes them to prison. There, he tells them it was never part of the bargain that they be allowed to leave. He also shows a piece of dragon steel—the piece that was used on Draven by the Icehearts. The healer took it off Selena while healing her. Orion now has the perfect weapon to control Draven.

Orion strikes a new bargain: compete in his court’s Great Games and win, then he will allow them their freedom. If they don’t win, they will stay in his court until they do.

They are sent out to the choosing trials, where it turns out they must be selected to compete first. Selena tries to use her magic to convince one of the choosers that they would be a good choice. She is caught, though. But when the time comes to choose, the lady selects their team to compete. Jocasta is the fae who chose them, and she wants an underdog to win and make her rich.

That night, she gives them their freedom to rest before the games. The group sees this as a perfect opportunity to try and escape. They make it to the wards, where Orion is once again waiting for them. He casually mentions that the wards are locked from both the inside and outside—they can’t leave without his permission. They return after Orion mentally tortures them and start their training with Jocasta, who also happens to be an empath like Selena.

Jocasta teaches Selena a number of things, and Selena realizes that she may have accidentally forced her magic into her parents. There is a chance she never took it out, and that’s why her parents have hated her for her whole life. It makes her sad that her power has come to that—that it could make her a villain.

After a week of training (and no new magic for Selena), the first trial is ready. There are six groups competing; there are three black keys and three white keys. Each team has to hold on to one. But to get through the door, they need one of each color. After putting on a show for the people, they manage to get through, and Isera puts on a bigger show by throwing an ice dagger at Orion, then bowing to him and air-kissing him.

When they get back to their rooms, Draven comes into Selena’s room ready to fight, thanks to a stunt she pulled in the arena, where she saved his life but put her own at risk. Selena, in anger, admits she only did it because she loves Draven and couldn’t stand if he got hurt. She then goes on a rant about how she had loved him for months. After she gets it all out, she is hit with a ton of emotions—the bond is put in place for her.

Draven smiles and says the bond was never a factor in her love. She had to choose to love him before the bond could snap in place. She’s had the choice to love him all along. The two finally spend a moment together, happy that the bond is in place.

That night, they go to a winners’ ceremony with Orion. He pulls Selena and Draven aside and tells them to control Isera. But while they are talking about her, Isera shows up and starts to seduce Orion. As she puts her hands all over him, she finds the dragon steel, steals it, and carefully gives it to Selena.

Orion finds out what they did and decides to change the next trial’s date and event. It will take place that afternoon and will be a one-on-one hand combat game. Her team gets four wins, and during Selena’s fight, she realizes how dangerous her magic truly can be. But it’s overshadowed by the fact that they have won their freedom.

Only Isera and Selena go to the winning presentation in front of the crowd, as the rest are being healed. While there, Isera shows her hand. She wants a new bargain with the king—one more contest of his choosing against the other remaining players. If Isera and her group win, Orion will help them go to war against the Icehearts. If they lose, Isera will fully submit to Orion.

Orion claims that she can’t do that, that she can’t gamble the Iceheart throne away because it’s not even hers. Isera then reveals her true family heritage—she is the one and only legal heir to the Seelie throne. If the Icehearts are killed, it will be hers. The king ultimately says no, not wanting to put his court at risk.

But when they go to the winning ceremony in front of the crowd, Isera rallies the people and tells them there will be another event. Orion has to say yes to the bargain or look weak in front of his court. Orion accepts the bargain.

The new event starts. All remaining contestants will be transported to a pocket realm. Their task is to find the portal that takes them back to the Unsilee Court. Whichever groups don’t make it to the portal first will be left in the pocket realm until King Orion decides they can get out.

After a lot of fighting, tricks, and trials, the six of them find the portal. But King Orion points to a sign by the portal that says if you go through, the one you love most will die. He then disappears.

Draven and Selena think about what they can do to prevent it from happening. They don’t have time to think too much, as some of the other contestants come in to fight them to get to the portal. As Selena watches Draven get hurt, she throws her rage and hatred at him via her magic. It shatters their bond, but they get pulled through the portal.

As Selena is getting ready to be excited about their win, it hits her what she did to Draven. She looks at him, and he is full of hatred towards her, and she still can’t figure out how to take the hatred away. Everyone else figures out what she did—they could go through the portal because Draven didn’t have anyone he loved, because Selena made him hate her.

She puts on a brave face on the outside, but inside she is dying. She just admitted her love for Draven, and now he has been ripped away from her. The group goes to talk to Orion about their bargain. Isera is thrilled she beat him, and they start talking about battle plans—all while Draven looks at Selena with hatred.

She leaves the room, full of hatred herself, realizing that this is perfect. If she wants to defeat the Icehearts Dynasty, she needs to become the villain.