Cursebound by Saara El-Arifi

After feeling betrayed, Yeeran goes off to her old Elven land and to her former lover, Chieftain Salawa. She has learned so much about the fae, and she believes that by showing Salawa her obeah, Pila, she may be allowed back into her homeland. On her way there, she travels with some nomads and pathfinders. In charge of them is an elf named Alder. That night, Alder scares Yeeran, and she and Pila run away from the safety of the nomads. When Alder wakes up, he doesn’t realize why Yeeran has left but continues with his people.

Meanwhile, Lettle and Rayan are settling into their positions of power. The fae still don’t accept Lettle as Rayan’s chosen consort, and it has created some issues within the court. One night, someone even tries to poison Lettle, but Rayan ends up drinking it instead, causing him to almost die. With an assassination attempt on her, Lettle is forced to have taste testers and guards with her at all times, at least until the killer is found. Rayan finds a way to get Lettle out of the court for a bit, though; as he is fae and can’t leave the underworld, he asks Lettle to go out and find the information his father hid—the information and research on how to break the curse of the fae.

Yeeran manages to get back to the Elven lands and finds Chieftain Salawa. Yeeran is excited to meet her past lover, thinking maybe they could restart their relationship—even though Yeeran continues to dream about Furi. But when the two ex-lovers are reunited, Salawa shows no mercy. She separates Yeeran from Pila and insists that they will not be reunited until Yeeran shows the way to the fae lands. For days, Salawa treats Yeeran terribly, and with each day, Yeeran realizes that Salawa was never a good ruler for the people—she was greedy and power-hungry. The two have a chat, and Yeeran says all of that to Salawa. Salawa feels a bit of remorse and releases Pila, who goes directly to Rayan and Furi to tell them about Yeeran. Meanwhile, Yeeran manages to escape and runs right into Furi, where they return together to the fae world. They also run right into Alder, whom they take back with them as well.

After being reunited, everyone’s focus turns to the assassin targeting Lettle. They have tried missions, setups, and spies, but they can’t figure out who wants Lettle dead. During this time, relationships continue to blossom. Rayan and Lettle are still going strong, and Furi and Yeeran pick up where they left off. Rayan, though, wants Lettle’s safety, so without telling her, they set a trap—using her as bait for the assassin. Alder, who has fallen in love with the fae land, decides to go to his pathfinder people to let them know that war is coming and that he is staying with the fae. Having recently found out he is part human, he wants to learn more about his past.

During the party, Sahar (Furi’s father and the current seer, including being the teacher to Lettle), asks to speak with her alone. Sahar then tries to kill Lettle. Recently, his one true love was killed by Yeeran, and it broke him. The night before the party, he switched sides—just like his lover did. He offers to kill Lettle, as he has gotten quite close to her. Furi won’t sentence him; he is to wait in prison until Furi can process everything that happened. Before he goes to prison, he reveals a prophecy—one that says Lettle will be the one to kill Rayan. Lettle has known the prophecy for some time now and hasn’t shared it with anyone.

Rayan is furious that Lettle wouldn’t tell him, and they have a massive fight that Rayan leaves in the middle of, saying he can’t trust her. Although, she is thinking the same thing about him, as he used her to set up the plan for the assassination. Lettle, sad with how things ended, goes to Sahar’s shop. There, she discovers that he has put a block on her mage-sight, which is why she hasn’t been able to see any prophecies in some time. She also learns that he believes obeah were once humans. This gives Lettle a lot to think about—especially regarding Alder, who they recently found out is human and speaks in a human language at night.

Meanwhile, Furi chooses a second-in-command, a taste tester who has proven her knowledge and power by saving the royals on numerous occasions. The two go to the upperlands, and they see the first signs of soldiers—war is coming.