Fallen Stars by Imani Erriu

Here is a summary with spoilers for Fallen Stars by Imani Erriu

Enzo is lost in the dreamscapes. He is trapped and cannot use his magic. Only Elara’s magic works there.

Elara is in Castor with Leo and Merissa, trying to find Eli. He is not answering her calls, which leaves her desperate and feeling completely alone. She does not trust either of them, especially since Merissa literally stabbed her in the back.

Elara prays to Eli, but nothing happens. Eventually she finds him drunk in his church. Eli tells her he does not trust anything right now and that something has awakened inside her. The only way to wake Enzo is to retrieve his tether from Ariete, who hid it inside his dreamscape.

At the docks, Elara runs into Adrian, the pirate from the masquerade ball. He does not recognize her because of her glamor. They visit Belladonna’s Apothecary, where they are given a hypnom that can put a god to sleep. They also need a snake stone, which can only be won through a brutal fighting challenge.

Leo fights in the pit while Merissa prepares to steal the stone if he fails. Adrian appears during the fight and nearly drowns Leo from the inside. Leo loses. Elara snaps and jumps into the pit. She is recognized, and the mob turns on her. She blacks out and kills everyone who tries to harm her or Adrian. Distraught, she wanders the streets until Eli finds her. He reveals that in her past life they were friends, but now he cannot truly see who she is anymore. He takes her back to Viperveil Manor and offers to teach her how to dreamwalk so she can reach Enzo herself.

Elara enters Ariete’s dream, which appears as a circus. Ariete disguises himself as Isra. Inside the dream, Elara sees her past, present, and future. She learns that the Moon asked Ariete to bind her through lifetimes so she could always be with the Sun. She sees her many deaths. When she touches a mirror, she is pulled inside. Ariete reveals he knew she was there all along. He tests her and taunts her about her shadows growing more independent. She falls into an abyss and grabs the circus master’s whip as a tether, but she still falls.

Ariete bargains for Elara’s blood. She accepts. She wakes and escapes. Eli checks her mind, sees the blood oath, and is furious. She insists she had no choice.

Elara dreamwalks again and finds Enzo in a noncorporeal form hovering above the water. He tells her he loves her, then dissipates. Elara realizes she loves him too. When she wakes, the Sun returns to the sky. She believes what she did should have awakened her Enzo.

They return to Helios. Eli tells Elara he would serve her as his queen. Elara and Enzo reunite in the throne room, and she is ecstatic that her dreamwalking worked. The reunion shatters when shadows pour out of her. Enzo screams, “What did you do to my Elara?” and she gives in to the darkness.

Meanwhile, Adrian has arrived back at the docks. He is still upset that he failed to win the snake stone, as he is trying to find a cure for his sister. While wandering the city, he meets a woman who tells him he needs to return to his ship because he must take stowaways across the sea.

Elara wakes bound in a carriage because Leo believes she is possessed. Her shadows are out of control. They decide to travel to Altalune to find a healer.

Isra lures Adrian and tells him he must help them. On the ship, Elara and Enzo reunite, but touching her causes pain, and avoiding touch hurts just as much. They share quiet moments, like Elara combing his hair while he sits in the bath.

The crew fears Elara. Adrian goes for a swim and meets a mermaid who warns him that something worse than the Moon is coming. Adrian traps everyone when he believes Elara harmed his sister, but later the mermaid reveals that Elara is not the Dark. Adrian frees them.

At Altalune, a mermaid healer tells Elara that her shadows are being consumed by the Dark and must be destroyed. Adrian learns that Annabel is sick with water and dark magic and needs someone with fire and light, which means Enzo. Elara decides to destroy her shadows so the Dark cannot feed on her. They perform an exorcism-like ritual. A silver dragon rises within her. Enzo and Adrian help force out the Dark. Elara destroys it and wakes as herself, but without her shadows.

Enzo leaves because he feels Adrian helped more than he did and believes he is useless. Elara finds him at a waterfall. They argue, then sleep together. Afterward, Enzo loses control and becomes fully the Sun before shifting back.

Adrian is tested by a giant crab who hints that he is one of the Celestes. Enzo tries to heal Adrian’s sister and discovers she was dead all along. Adrian is devastated. Enzo cannot let him grieve for long because he feels a sudden panic connected to Elara. Something is wrong on the ship.

Adrian’s crew tries to drown Elara. Her dragon awakens, and she rises on a ghost ship. Scorpius appears with a scorpion hydra. Adrian is revealed to be the Water Celeste. He is stabbed and sinks, but Oceanne the mermaid saves him. The crab saves Elara but dies, telling her to remind Adrian never to let the pearl go.

They regroup at a lighthouse with Eli, Merissa, Isra, Adrian, Elara, Enzo, and Leo. Isra’s visions are blocked by fog. She senses deception everywhere. They examine Piscea’s card and realize she is tied to the Dark.

Adrian feels broken and sleeps with O’Sian, who reveals she is Kiania the Star. Elara asks if he is a traitor. He insists he did not know. Eli explains the true origin of the Dark, the Moon, and the creation of the Stars. Elara feels guilty. Enzo’s tether reacts strangely, and they discover that Elara’s tether replaced his. They decide to confront Ariete.

On Hall’s Eve, Merissa is warned by a stranger. Adrian confirms that O’Sian’s heart is the pearl and that she is being held by Scorpius. Elara enters the graveyard and meets Lucas, who asks her to free him. Shadow madness was never corruption but shadows protecting mortals from the Dark. She frees him with her moonlight.

Ariete arrives asking for a truce, claiming Piscea must never enter the realm. Shadows gather as Piscea arrives. Sofia has been the Dark’s vessel all along. When Ariete killed her, her mortal body fell away and she became the Lost.

Sofia needed Elara and Enzo to create the dustglass so she could awaken. She has been weaving fate to make it happen. When she fails to get what she wants, she kidnaps Isra and disappears. Enzo, Elara, and Ariete go to Piscea to regroup. Leo and Adrian leave to wake the other Celestes. Merissa goes to Eli to help locate Piscea and find where Isra has been taken.

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