Prince of Swords by Elise Kova

Here is a summary with spoilers for Prince of Swords by Elise Kova

Prince of Swords begins immediately after the ending of Arcana Academy. Clara is still in the custody of the Oricalis crown after Ravin exposed her as the escaped prisoner from Halazar. She has been badly beaten, and Ravin tells the Stellis knights to put her with her sister. Clara is shocked by this because she had believed Arina was dead. Ravin confirms that Arina is alive and that Clara will see her again. Clara is barely able to process the revelation before she is taken away. She also now knows the truth about Ravin: he is the Major Arcana of Death, meaning that if he knows a person's true name and face, he can kill them.

Clara's immediate priority becomes finding Arina and getting away from Ravin. She has lost the protection of her false identity, and the people she trusted at Arcana Academy are no longer able to simply hide her. The situation forces her to rethink how she moves through the academy and how much of her real identity she can safely reveal. She eventually undergoes a drastic alteration to her appearance so that she can move through Oricalis without being immediately recognized as Clara Graysword. The disguise changes her face and makes her difficult for strangers to identify, but Clara continues to reveal her true identity to people she believes she can trust. This becomes a recurring problem because she is trying to disappear while simultaneously relying on an expanding circle of people who know exactly who she is. Contemporary reviews specifically note that the disguise ultimately does not prevent people close to Clara from recognizing or discovering her identity.

Arina is eventually recovered, but the rescue does not restore the sister Clara remembers. Arina has been severely damaged by her imprisonment and treatment. She is alive but largely unresponsive and requires constant care. Clara, Gregor, and the others establish a place where Arina can be kept safe, and Thal's power is used to help with her condition. Arina spends much of the book sedated or vacant, although there are indications that she is still present beneath the damage. Her condition creates a new problem for Clara because Arina is the Major Arcana known as the Star, and her golden Star card is necessary for Clara and the Worldkeepers to summon the World. Clara therefore has to balance her desire to save her sister with the knowledge that getting Arina's card may require asking her to perform magic before she has fully recovered.

While dealing with Arina, Clara becomes increasingly involved with the Worldkeepers. Her mother, Laylis, was connected to the Worldkeepers and had secretly passed their knowledge to Clara through the inking lessons Clara received as a child. What Clara had always understood as her mother's efforts to teach her an unusual form of tarot inking were actually preparation for a much larger purpose. Laylis had been protecting knowledge about the World, particularly the process required to create the vessel that allows the World card to be summoned. Clara eventually learns that the Worldkeepers exist to protect the World and prevent it from being misused. Their history is tied to previous versions of the world and to the destruction and rebuilding of civilizations that occurred when the World was used in the past.

The World itself is the twenty-first card, separate from the twenty Major Arcana. The twenty golden Major cards must be gathered and placed at the World's font beneath Arcana Academy. A special vessel must also be created. Once everything is assembled, the World can grant a single wish capable of changing reality. The result of that wish depends not only on what the person says but also on what they intend, what they envision, and how fate interprets the request. This means that even a carefully constructed wish cannot necessarily control every consequence.

Clara still has her own reasons for wanting the World. At first, Kaelis had convinced her that they should use it to destroy the oppressive system created by his father, King Naethor, and free the Arcanists. Clara's motivation changes as the story progresses. Because Arina is alive and her mother remains dead, Clara begins considering whether she can use the World to restore the people she has lost. Her goal therefore becomes increasingly separate from Kaelis's. She does not tell him everything she intends to do with the World.

Kaelis and Clara's relationship becomes much more complicated during this period. They are no longer simply using their fake engagement as a cover. Their attraction has become an actual relationship, but both continue to withhold information from the other. Kaelis remains secretive about his abilities and his history, while Clara keeps information from him about the World, the Death card, the Worldkeepers, and ultimately her intentions for the wish. Their relationship repeatedly swings between distrust and genuine intimacy. The publisher's description specifically frames the second book around the secrets both characters are keeping from one another and the way those secrets threaten their relationship.

One of the major revelations concerning Kaelis is his history with his father. Kaelis explains that Naethor deliberately used the Arcanum Chalice against him. The Chalice forces an Arcanist to sacrifice possible futures, and Naethor used it as a way of restricting Kaelis's potential. Kaelis believes his father wanted to remove the futures in which Kaelis could challenge him or restore his own bloodline to power. The revelation gives Clara a clearer understanding of why Kaelis hates his father and why his desire to obtain the World is tied to more than simply political ambition.

Kaelis also reveals more about his own mother and the history of the Revisan bloodline. His mother was killed by Naethor, and Kaelis has spent much of his life dealing with the consequences of his family's history. The Revisan bloodline is connected to the ancient history surrounding the Fool and the World. Clara gradually realizes that Kaelis is much more deeply connected to the magical history of Arcana Academy than she had understood.

Clara's relationships with the other students also change. Her connection with Alor Ventall becomes more complicated as Clara learns more about Alor's family. Alor is the daughter of High Lord Moreus Ventall and the younger sister of Emilia, and she has spent much of her life seeking her father's approval. Clara eventually discovers that Moreus is actually her biological father. This means that Clara is connected by blood to the Ventall family and that Alor and Emilia are her half-sisters. The revelation changes Clara's understanding of her own history and gives additional context to the circumstances surrounding her mother's life.

The book also revisits the death of Clara's mother. Clara eventually learns that the order connected to Laylis's death was associated with High Lady Helena Ventall, Alor and Emilia's mother. This makes Clara's connection to the Ventalls considerably more painful because the family is connected both to her biological father and to the circumstances surrounding her mother's death. The discovery contributes to the deterioration of Clara's relationship with parts of the Ventall family.

Clara continues working with the remaining Major Arcana and the people helping her gather the cards. She becomes increasingly capable of using Major Arcana powers herself, and the distinction between what she should theoretically be capable of as the Wheel of Fortune and what she can actually accomplish becomes less clear. Kaelis's own abilities are similarly unusual. He can manipulate and reverse cards in ways that ordinary Arcanists cannot, and Clara repeatedly sees evidence that his knowledge of the academy and its magical infrastructure goes far beyond what he has previously admitted.

The Starcrossed Club, which was central to Clara's life in the first book, is effectively replaced by the Worldkeepers as the primary group surrounding her. The surviving members remain important to Clara, but the story becomes increasingly focused on the World and the people connected to it. Gregor in particular remains close to Clara and helps with Arina's care. He also wants to become a Worldkeeper, partly because membership will allow him to retain his memories when the World is eventually remade. Clara worries about this because she realizes that using the World may alter the lives and memories of everyone around her.

Clara eventually travels with the Worldkeepers to the Stone Citadel, their hidden sanctuary inside a mountain. The citadel is an ancient settlement containing statues representing the twenty Major Arcana and the twenty-first position associated with the World. The Worldkeepers have deliberately kept the location hidden because they believe Naethor may know that it exists. The citadel also contains the location where the vessel must be created.

At the Stone Citadel, Clara creates the vessel card. She uses the special materials she has gathered from the Fool's workshop, including fragments connected to reversed cards, and combines them with the magical water associated with the Worldkeepers' sanctuary. While creating the vessel, Clara experiences a vision connected to her mother. Laylis's teachings guide Clara's hand, and Clara realizes that the lessons her mother gave her as a child were preparing her for precisely this moment.

The completed vessel is unlike a normal tarot card. It contains a blank space intended to hold the power of the World. As Clara finishes it, she hears a warning from the Worldkeepers who came before her. The warning establishes that the World ultimately answers to fate rather than simply obeying the person attempting to use it, and it specifically warns against the Fool trying to contain the World. Clara takes this as another reason to be cautious about what she is doing. Nevertheless, she now possesses the completed vessel and the means to summon the World once the remaining golden card is obtained.

Clara does not immediately give the vessel to herself. Instead, she deliberately gives it to Vaduin, the leader of the Worldkeepers. This is a strategic decision. Clara knows that she is the only person who currently knows how to recreate the vessel, while the Worldkeepers possess information and resources that she needs. By separating the vessel from herself, she ensures that neither side can independently summon the World. She tells them that she will not allow the wish to be made until she and Gregor have been formally inducted into the Worldkeepers and until Arina is ready to provide the Star card.

The Worldkeepers disagree among themselves about what the wish should accomplish. Some want their order restored. Some want a permanent safe home. Others want the entire Oricalis family erased. Clara refuses to commit to any of these plans. She intends to make the final decision herself. She also recognizes that the Worldkeepers do not all trust Kaelis and that some of them would willingly use the World to destroy him and his family. Clara therefore has to keep her relationship with Kaelis secret from some of the people helping her.

Clara then turns to Thal for help with Arina. Thal has the Sun Major, whose power can remove physical or mental pain. Clara asks Thal to continue using the card on Arina, despite the risks involved. Thal agrees, but establishes that they will control how and when they use their power. Clara's intention is not simply to keep Arina alive; she needs Arina to recover enough of herself to make the Star card.

As Arina slowly improves, Clara and the others prepare for the final stages of the plan. All twenty Major Arcana are needed, and Kaelis possesses a large portion of the golden cards. Clara has to keep him believing that they are still working toward his intended version of the World while simultaneously making plans of her own.

The conflict with Ravin continues. Ravin remains determined to capture Clara and prevent her from gaining control of the World. He also becomes increasingly important because of his Death ability. Clara knows that simply fighting him is dangerous because his power can kill her if he learns or uses her true identity under the right circumstances. This forces her to rely increasingly on disguises, deception, and the powers of the other Majors.

Kaelis, meanwhile, demonstrates just how powerful he is. He can use Major cards despite not appearing to be their designated wielder, and he can reverse cards. Clara initially assumes that his ability is simply the result of unusual magical talent or some other secret power. By the end of the book, it becomes clear that his connection to the Major Arcana is much more fundamental.

Clara and Kaelis eventually stop pretending that their relationship is only strategic. Their physical relationship becomes explicit, and Clara finally admits to herself that she loves him. After they spend the night together, Clara leaves while Kaelis is sleeping. She does not wake him to confess what she is feeling. She instead returns to her responsibilities, particularly Arina and the World. The next morning she considers what will happen to Kaelis when the World is used and whether he will remember her afterward.

At this point, Clara has become increasingly aware that the World may not simply grant a clean reset. The Worldkeepers' warnings, the nature of fate, and the possibility that memories may change all concern her. Gregor specifically wants Worldkeeper initiation so that he will remember the current world after the wish. Clara realizes that she cannot guarantee the same for everyone she loves.

The plan eventually reaches the point where Arina must create her golden Star card. Arina is still severely impaired, but she begins to show enough awareness for the process to become possible. Clara's friends help care for her while the Worldkeepers prepare for the final ritual.

The group then moves toward the final confrontation over the World. Clara's plans require her to keep certain cards away from Kaelis while still convincing him that she is cooperating with him. One of the most important deceptions is Clara's handling of the Death card. She does not give Kaelis complete control over all of the Major cards and continues keeping information from him about what she actually intends to do.

The final conflict also exposes more about Clara's family. Moreus's connection to Clara is confirmed, and the truth about her parentage becomes part of the increasingly tangled history surrounding the Oricalis and Ventall families. The revelation comes too late to prevent the larger plan from moving forward, because the World is already assembled and the various characters are now committed to using it.

Clara eventually gets the Star card from Arina. Rather than allowing Arina to remain simply another damaged person in the background, Clara recognizes that Arina is herself a Major Arcana and that the Star's existence is necessary for the World. Arina's recovery therefore becomes directly tied to the final magical sequence.

The golden cards are finally brought together with the vessel. Clara has to decide exactly what she wants. Her intention is not simply to kill the Oricalis family or give the Worldkeepers a new home. She wants to create a world in which the people she loves can live without the oppression that shaped their lives, while also preserving her relationships and undoing the losses she has suffered. The problem is that the World does not necessarily interpret a wish literally; intention and fate are part of the result.

Before the World is completely activated, Clara and Kaelis are separated by the competing plans of their allies and enemies. Clara believes she understands what Kaelis wants from the World, but the book has spent much of its second half establishing that Kaelis has been withholding information from her just as she has been withholding information from him.

The final sequence reveals that Kaelis is the Fool.

The Fool is not simply another ordinary Major Arcana wielder. The Fool is the original figure connected to the creation of the Major Arcana system and to the ancient workshop beneath Arcana Academy. Kaelis's ability to manipulate Major cards, his knowledge of the academy, his ability to reverse cards, and his unusual relationship to the magic are all connected to this identity. The reveal changes the significance of many of the things Clara has previously learned about him.

The book then reveals that the World has been used and that reality has been remade. The result is not the world Clara expected. The characters' circumstances, identities, relationships, and positions in the kingdom have changed. The previous reality has effectively been replaced by a different version of the world.

Clara is one of the people affected by the change, but she retains awareness that something is wrong with the new reality. The mechanics of the World and the fact that Clara's Worldkeeper-related card behaves differently leave her with memories or impressions that should not exist in the remade world. The people around her largely live as though this new reality has always been normal. Discussions among readers specifically identify the reversal of Clara's Worldkeeper card as important to why she is able to retain awareness of the previous reality.

Kaelis is also present in the new reality, but he is no longer simply the same Kaelis Clara knew. The ending establishes that his identity as the Fool is fundamental to the new world and leaves open how much of the previous Kaelis remains separate from the Fool. His relationship with Clara is therefore transformed from the complicated romance that developed throughout the book into something much more dangerous because Clara now has to determine exactly who, or what, Kaelis is.

The final scenes establish that the people and political structures Clara knew have been rearranged by the World. Clara's relationship with Kaelis is no longer operating under the same circumstances as before, and the book ends with Clara aware that the reality she is now living in is not the reality she came from. The last reveal centers on Kaelis, the Fool, and the consequences of the World having rewritten reality rather than simply granting Clara the straightforward outcome she wanted. The published edition identifies Prince of Swords as the second book of the Arcana Academy series, and the ending is intentionally left at this point rather than resolving the consequences of the new reality.