Kingdom of Claw by Demi Winters

Here is a summary with spoilers for Kingdom of Claw by Demi Winters

Silla Nordvig and Reynir Galtung are on a tentative truce. Yes, he helped save her when she was betrayed by one of his own, but Silla doesn’t trust him, and neither does Reynir trust her. But Silla has no choice but to continue with Reynir, even though she does her best to run away. Reynir, meanwhile, finally realizes who Silla really is—the princess who is supposed to be dead. When the two confront each other about it, Silla is worried that Reynir just wants the bounty money from her, but he tells her he is going to take her to Kalisgarde (sorry, audiobook), where she can live. But Silla’s trust in Reynir shatters even more when she finds a bounty is also on his head; he is the brutal murderer who killed many while they were on the Road of Bones. The two are now stuck together.

Meanwhile, Saga Volsik has nothing left to lose; she is already broken and being forced to do whatever Queen Signe wants her to do, including marrying her young son. Saga starts to lose even more hope when they use her for bloodletting, saying she is surrounded by bad spirits. While she is faint with a loss of blood, she meets a Zagadkian dignitary, Kassandr Rurik, who happens to want to know about Saga. When he finally finds out that she is Saga, he tells her that she is in a prison and needs to learn how to escape the chains.

Silla settles into the new town and finds a new teacher to help her with her magic, Harper, who also happens to be Reynir’s grandmother. While Silla realizes she is safe, she is still worried that Reynir will decide to leave her behind.

Saga decides that she has some new purposes in life: continue her facade so she can be queen and help her people, and also start tearing down the royals from the inside. She starts by stealing correspondence letters from the queen and sending them outside the walls. It works well until the queen slips something into Saga’s meals and it makes her a little loopy, causing her to spill some of her secrets to Rurik. While upset, she is willing to sacrifice her life and safety. Rurik offers a trade: he will help her if she, in turn, helps him find the secret tunnels in the castle. Saga agrees but finds it hard to help him because the queen has started using as much time as possible to prepare Saga to become queen.

Reynir has been informed that there is a monster in the area. It’s been attacking someone every week, and the town has no idea what it is. He decides to help them and goes out every day to see if he can track it. Meanwhile, Silla has decided to not only train in magic but also learn how to fight. Reynir helps her in the evenings, and both of them are drawn to each other more and more each day. Neither of them act on their attraction for different reasons—Silla doesn’t want to get in another situation like her last one, and Reynir thinks it’s too soon to make a move on her since she was recently betrayed.

Rurik and Saga make good on their deal (which was sealed by a kiss). He teaches her how to pick a lock, and she teaches him about the tunnels. Rurik is also there for another reason: to broker a food trade between his kingdom and Saga’s. While working together, the trade is officially made, meaning Rurik can leave. The night before he leaves, he comes to visit Saga in her rooms. He smells of smoke and seems to be happy; Saga realizes that he burned down his own ship so he can’t go home. He claims he wants to work with her more and try to make a plan to get her out as well. Saga is hesitant, though, because breaking out means that she will leave her people behind.

Reynir is falling hard for Silla. Every day he spends with her, the more he realizes he wants her and wants to make her happy. He also has a love-hate relationship with a deal the two of them made, where he is to stay in the same room as her because she wants to feel safe while sleeping. He loves being with her but struggles with not being able to touch her. One night, the two are woken up, told there was another attack and a child is missing. Reynir is hesitant to leave, wanting to make sure Silla feels safe, but she urges him to go look. A few minutes after he leaves, five men enter the home and start to fight her. She is able to kill one of them and holds the rest off until Reynir finds out it was all a trick. He comes in, takes care of the men, and comforts Silla, while also revealing that he is falling for her. The next night, their town is attacked again, and Silla goes all out with her magic, fully revealing herself, making it so Reynir has to tell some of the men that she is the lost princess. While she released her magic, she killed twelve men on the spot. That night, despite being angry that she put herself at risk, Reynir kisses her, and it turns into a night of being together. After a blissful night, Reynir is told that he needs to report to a council meeting to discuss the bodies that were found. When he tells Silla she should come and stop running from her past, it turns into a bit of a fight, as Silla is not ready. She walks away, but oddly enough, in her thoughts, starts to feel another presence in her mind—Saga. While Silla fully believes she is talking to her sister via her mind, Saga, on the other hand, doesn’t trust it, believing that the queen may have slipped something in once again. Silla eventually decides to go with Reynir to the council meeting, where they tell everyone she has magic. They all have many questions, though, mostly as to why she is much older and just now realizing she has magic. While there, she demonstrates her magic and, in the process, gets taken by a sea monster. Reynir believes her to be dead and is devastated that she might be. When she gets brought back up from the water, Reynir is able to save her and takes her back home, where he tells her he is sorry and will do anything to keep her in his life. When Silla is healed, the two spend a night together and realize what they have might be more than just attraction.

Saga and Rurik keep spending time together, although often they have to stay hidden. However, the king and queen have an appetite for violence. One night it is executions that Saga is forced to attend; another night is the fighting ring, where Rurik offers to fight for Saga. He wins again and again until he finally is crowned victor. He doesn’t want the prize, though, which is to drink out of the skull of Saga’s father. The two end up escaping to the courtyard, where they share a kiss, and Rurik tells her that they need to escape soon. The plan is shattered, though, when the next day Saga is brought in before the king and queen. She was spotted with Rurik, and now there are consequences. Everything in her room is taken away, she has nothing, the betrothal is off, and she will be forced to marry her abuser, Magnus. Saga feels nothing, even more so when she finds that Rurik and his men have already left. She then returns to her room and decides there is only one thing left—she walks to her window, preparing to jump.

Silla hears her sister and is panicked to hear that she is preparing to end her life. Silla frantically talks to her sister, saying that the two need to work together and meet up; they can be together again. Saga eventually gets out and wants to meet with the queen. Meanwhile, Silla and Reynir create a group of soldiers to go meet up with Saga.

Saga has no hope of changing the royals’ minds about her new betrothal, and the engagement party continues in full force. However, Magnus never shows up. In the night, the two sisters meet up in their heads again. They have a lot to discuss about the Galdra, as Saga has been gaining information about the queen’s plan with it, and Silla and Reynir have been rescuing captured Galdra. But something happens: their minds are overtaken by Myrkur, the god of chaos. It results in Saga bringing down part of the walls she is in, and Silla ends up with him in her head and makes a bargain with him. Reynir is forced to knock her out in order to protect her.

Silla wakes up, and Reynir is pleased to find out she doesn’t have him in her head anymore. She is told that she has been knocked out for a week and that her sister is missing. Not only that, Reynir has had to feed her stuff that makes her Galdra nonexistent; she can’t speak to Saga to know where she is or if she is alive.

Saga, meanwhile, wakes up on a ship. She was saved by Rurik, who tells her she has been asleep for a week and they are going to his homeland. She is furious that he isn’t taking her to the Midlands, but he claims she never held up her end of the bargain, so he doesn’t have to take her anywhere. To try and cheer her up, he takes her to another part of the ship, where he has Magnus strung up, beaten. Magnus gets in a shot at Rurik and tells Saga that Rurik is a prince and a monster; Rurik ends up shifting, and Magnus is proven right. Furious once again, Rurik takes Saga to her room, locking her in. Saga is furious that she just traded one prison for another.