Light Wielder by Rachel Schneider

Here is a summary with spoilers for Light Wielder by Rachel Schneider

In a prologue, two years have passed, and Jovie is advocating for her people by writing a letter to Acker, who she hasn’t seen during that time and is still at war with. Though she writes the letter, she decides not to send it.

Almost five years have passed since Acker was betrayed by his match Jovie, as well as his sister Beau. His kingdom is in full war with Jovie’s people, and Acker is in charge of it all. During this time, Acker has been trying to find a cure to break the match bond he has with Jovie, though it has been unsuccessful. Acker decides to visit an old friend, Wells, the head blacksmith for his men. Wells tells Acker that his father is sending in shipments for a very rare metal and is ordering a lot of it, which confuses Acker. Wells lets slip that he is unhappy with Acker, his father, and with the war in general. His wife Olivia is pregnant, and it seems that she has had communication with Jovie, but Wells won’t say anything else. Acker then reveals that during the past five years, he has been married to his old betrothed, Irina.

Jovie is at the head of the war on her side as well. With her is Messer, her loyal best friend and shapeshifter, and Fredrich, someone her mother has sent to watch and keep an eye on her.

Acker’s father is still highly paranoid ever since Jovie’s stunt with trying to poison him. This has left Acker to be the head of a lot of meetings. Though his father still wants Acker to look his best at all times, including in his marriage with Irina, a woman he has no interest in anymore. During a party, Acker escorts Irina out, and Irina lets loose that she wants out of the marriage and that she knows Acker is having his father trailed. Acker acts out in violence, pinning Irina to the wall, and threatens her to never talk about that again. He doesn’t feel bad, but he holds Irina that night as she falls asleep in her tears, realizing she can’t get out of their marriage. Acker patiently waits for Irina to fall asleep so he can slip out and go to Jovie’s old room and connect with her. During his studies of trying to break the bond, he found out that using the mangi stones can actually increase their bond, and he can visit her without her knowing. Acker has been doing this many times in the past years without Jovie knowing. He realizes he is addicted to his match and wants to see her, hear her, and it drives him crazy that he can’t feel her.

Jovie, still on the front lines, is eager to get the battle over with. She decides that since she has Fredrich, someone who has shield magic, she should come up with a plan to infiltrate some nearby caves with him, caves that are full of Straus soldiers. Fredrich shields the two of them, and while Jovie fights and kills the men, she is sheltered. That is until she uses her light wielder power and she is transported into Acker’s mind. When Jovie is transported like that, it leaves her completely vulnerable, making it so Fredrich has to run and try to snap her out of it.

Acker, meanwhile, is in his room with Irina when he feels Jovie. He thinks she is absolutely crazy for entering the tunnels like that with just one other man, and knowing she might need some help, he decides to help her as much as he can.

That night, exhausted, Jovie goes to sleep happy to not have any nightmares. But she wakes, believing it to be a dream, to see a figure. A soldier comes in and tries to kill her. Because it is a dream, she lets it happen. Another figure stops the soldier and kills him. It is Acker. Jovie knew he would show up in her dream. She asks him to stay. He does and holds her. She lets loose some tears and falls asleep, thinking that this Acker doesn’t quite feel like her dream.

Acker wanted to check in on Jovie after the battle, only to have her almost killed by one of his own. It makes him realize how little sleep Jovie is getting. Though he still feels very betrayed by her, he cares for her, and it broke him to see her cry. Later that day, Acker meets with his dad only to have Wren show up to announce a new alliance. Wren is Kai’s father (Jovie’s old betrothed and old best friend). Acker finds this to be an odd alliance and also doesn’t like how Wren treated Jovie. Acker’s father also reveals that he has found a way to steal people’s powers by killing them in a particular way, but won’t divulge more. Acker decides to visit the family oracle, someone he was told growing up was one they shouldn’t believe. While visiting, the oracle says that the King will win within the next six months.

Jovie is summoned home to be with her mom, the queen. Fredrich and Messer come home with her as well. She is reunited with Beau, who has found her new place in a new home. Jovie continues to find more mangi pieces, believing she needs more to protect herself from Acker.

Acker, meanwhile, has decided that he needs to go ask Queen Evelyn, Jovie’s mom, for help to overthrow his dad. He enlists Wells and Olivia’s help. He also takes Irina with him.

Jovie continues to strategize with some council members. She and Messer talk about Kai, a childhood friend to both of them who has been mysteriously missing throughout this book. Messer mentions that his one love, Aurora, is now married to Kai. Jovie says she doesn’t know what to think about Kai. He has been an outlier ever since she failed to kill the king. She never knows if she can trust Kai to be on her side or not. Jovie also has time to think about the bond she and Acker have. She remembers one of the first times she found out about it. She was accidentally transported one night. She saw Irina on top of Acker, and to her horror, she realized it was their wedding night. Later, Acker reveals his side of the story. He knew that Jovie was there and continued to have sex with Irina, knowing it would make his match jealous and wanting his revenge. He didn’t care in his anger. Even after Jovie left, he continued. Though he suddenly stopped when he felt a sudden change of emotion, realizing it was Jovie who was feeling immense sadness. He promised to never touch his wife again.

Irina, Wells, Olivia, and Acker have a brutal journey and are very quickly caught. Jovie is told that four people were caught and requested to speak to the queen. Jovie can feel that it is Acker and goes for them. Though when she gets there, she makes sure to humiliate Acker by making him kneel and not addressing him, amongst other things. Wells and Olivia ask for refuge. Acker asks for help to overthrow his father. Jovie says no, and Acker says it’s not her place to say. Which is when Jovie reveals it is her place because she has been queen for over a year now, as her mother gave her the crown. Jovie says Acker and Irina can stay for a couple of days to recoup, but then they need to leave.

Beau and Acker get to spend time together. Acker gets to see his sister in a new light, where she has become a teacher. Though the betrayal of her is still strong, he is grateful that he got to see her again.

Jovie has been struggling knowing that Acker is on the island with her and that he brought his wife. She has a lot of strong emotions, and she wants nothing more than to feel nothing. So when the opportunity for Fredrich to come in and distract her by kissing and doing more comes, she readily says yes. This is the first time that Jovie has let another man touch her since Acker, and while she just wants it over with, she does admit it gives the desired effect of distracting her. As Fredrich is focused on things down below, Acker shows up via mind. He is furious by what he sees and wants to know if this is revenge from the wedding. While he tries to stop it, it just eggs Fredrich on, knowing that Acker is there, or at least suspecting he is there. He then tells Jovie to tell Fredrich to continue. In the end, Jovie gets her distraction, and Acker tells her that no one else is allowed to touch her.

With hours left until Acker is to leave, Jovie decides to visit him via mind. She has more to tell him, but he needs to follow her. He does and follows her to Grenadine, Jovie’s old neighbor’s home, who also happens to be Acker’s mother. Jovie and Grenadine have a whole conversation about Acker, and she has no idea that her son is there. She reveals that the king used her as a siphon and that she had to run away, and she felt terrible that she had to leave her son behind. Grenadine soon takes a guess that Acker is in the room with them, and she gets to apologize to her son in person. Though Grenadine also reveals that Jovie only became queen because she made a deal with the kingdom of Rioson just to save Acker’s life.

Jovie lets Acker and his mom catch up, knowing that Acker will have to leave soon after. She goes to her room, and Fredrich comes in soon after. He offers another distraction, only to instead drug her and kidnap her.

Acker, Irina, and Wells have left via boat, but Acker sailed just far enough away so the city can’t see the boat. He patiently waits, knowing that his friend Fredrich will come with a passed-out Jovie. He does, though Jovie isn’t passed out. Fredrich and Acker are officially reconnected after years, and it seems that Fredrich has gained feelings for his match, and Acker doesn’t like that one bit and is willing to fight about it.

Kidnapped and stuck on a ship, Jovie is upset, but Acker doesn’t care at all. But he also won’t look Jovie in the eye, knowing he is somewhat hurting his match. He, Irina, Wells, and Jovie need to make for land. They find an abandoned city and make camp there. That night, Jovie is able to break free, though she breaks her father’s dagger in the process, the last piece of him she had. Rather than leaving, she decides to tie Acker up and interrogate him. Their fighting turns into a heated kiss, where Acker lets loose all of his emotions, showing Jovie how he truly feels about her. She also realizes that because of the tether between them, he has been able to feel all of her emotions. With the two having aired out a bit of their problems, they meet up with Wells, Fredrich, and Irina. Acker tells Jovie he knows that Messer is with them, that it is not really Wells, but it is Messer. Messer transforms back into himself, stunning everyone that he can transform into another person. Acker then reveals his big plan. Not only does his father need to die, but all people in power, and they need to be replaced. They then decide that their next move is to go find Kai and get him on their side. Messer goes to communicate with him.

While Messer is gone, everyone else starts forging letters to blackmail Wren, in hopes that his alliance with Acker’s dad Edmond will end. It also gives Jovie and Acker time to talk. Irina mentions that Acker never touched her during their marriage and, in fact, found someone else to please her. This then leads to the two of them officially kissing. They are interrupted when Messer comes to tell them that Kai is already on his way and will be there in hours. Messer and Jovie think back on their childhood with Kai and how they believe they were influenced by him and his magic. They want to take precautions before the meeting to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Kai arrives with his wife Aurora, and Jovie and Acker put up a united front. Kai negotiates, and Jovie basically says that his people will be saved, but she wants him to step down if he gets the crown. He refuses unless Acker also steps down, which he won’t. Kai starts to leave but also tells Jovie that her treaty with her uncle Chryse has also failed.

The next day, Acker and Jovie have another talk. Acker reveals he sent Messer to talk to Kai. He decided to give up his crown in order to get Kai on their side. They need his men to win the war. Jovie is furious with him, but Acker sees it as a sign of love. The group then makes a plan to get back into Edmond’s kingdom. They are going back on the pretense that his mission was to get his sister Beau. Irina uses her illusions to look just like Beau, and Jovie has to pretend to be a prisoner.

Acker is taken to his dad, who is proud of him for getting his traitor sister back, but surprised that he brought Jovie back, even though it is his match. Edmond interrogates Irina a bit, then sends her to the prisons. Acker gives instructions to make it easier on her. Then Edmond says Jovie can stay for his son’s sake, but she must be chained and collared at all times.

While Acker was gone, Edmond had been making plans. Thanks to a scandal, he had to retreat on his alliance with Wren and now has a new alliance with Chryse. Acker is introduced to Chryse, who apparently has brought back a gift for Acker to prove his loyalty. A soldier is brought out for him. A soldier that once betrayed him years ago, and now his father wants him to kill on a slab in order to steal his magic. Acker doesn’t want to, but doesn’t see a way out of it. As the soldier is dying, Acker allows him into his mind, and he sees that the man never betrayed him. It was all a mistake. Acker promises to avenge him as he dies. Acker drinks his blood, and everyone in the room believes he now has the power of prophecy. Acker is sick to his stomach and doesn’t tell anyone else about what he did.

Days go by for Jovie. She is catching up on her rest and hardly sees Acker. One day she wakes to have him and Messer there. They have found a way to sneak her out. The plan is to get her out that night with Messer. Fredrich and Acker will stay back and attempt to assassinate Edmond and Chryse during a meeting. Jovie and Messer sneak out, and Messer is shot down. Wren and his men are responsible. He tells Jovie he is upset by the treaty and alliances. He then tells Jovie to fall asleep.

Acker arrives at the small party of his father’s. Wren shows up, saying he is ready to fully pledge himself. Edmond brings out his daughter Beau, which is really Irina from the prison. He plans on sacrificing his own daughter so Wren can have her powers. When she is released from her bonds, the illusion fades and everyone realizes Acker lied and he did not bring his sister back. As Edmond is yelling at him, Fredrich comes from behind and puts a sword through him and then chops his head off for good measure. Everyone is in shock. Acker is now king. Though according to Wren, there are still dues to be paid. He lets loose that he has Jovie nearby, and if Acker doesn’t listen, he will have his guards kill her. To prove that Wren is serious and that he has power, he uses his magic to make Chryse kill himself by stabbing himself in the eye. Jovie is brought out, still sleeping, and Wren and Acker start a fight.

Meanwhile, Jovie is having a dream, more of a memory of meeting Acker when they were children. They talk about their future marriage and how Jovie doesn’t want to, but she could maybe be persuaded to. The happy memory turns frantic when Acker tells her to wake up. She does, only to remember that Messer is most likely dead and to have Acker tell her that his father is dead and that Kai betrayed them, and Wren has his army coming for them. War is coming.

The next day, the battle is in full force. Jovie’s mom and her forces have come to help as well. Though her mom has some words for Acker since he kidnapped her daughter. The war looks bad, and Acker gets put in a position where Wren almost kills him. But Kai comes in clutch and kills his own father. Before news can spread that the king is dead, Jovie uses her light wielder power to its full force. She decimates the enemy, and hardly anyone is left. Just like that, they win, though one person still lives: Kai. Jovie goes after him, angry about Messer and the backstabbing. Acker has to stop her, telling her that he saved his life and killed his dad. Jovie is forced to let him go.

The next days go by in a blur as they try to recover and rebuild the kingdom. Jovie agrees to get married to Acker. They never find Messer’s body, which breaks Jovie’s heart. But they decide to go to her kingdom and build it up.

In an epilogue from Messer’s point of view, he reveals that a young boy found him in the streets and healed him. Though not fully healed, he has heard that the new king and queen are headed out in carriages today. He doesn’t want to miss his chance. He flies to them and runs right to Jovie. They have a reunion soon as he shifts to his human form. Messer reveals that Wren left him for dead, Kai supported the decision, but Aurora, Kai’s wife and Messer’s love, is being influenced by Kai and he wants to stop it.