Princess of Blood by Sarah Hawley

Here is a summary with spoilers for Princess of Blood by Sarah Hawley

Kenna does not know what to do. Her life has been completely changed. From palace whipping girl to the new princess of the Blood House, Kenna does not know what is expected of her or how to run her own house. Along with her, she brings Anya, her childhood friend whom Kenna recently found being used and abused. She feels broken. She also brings Lara, her old mistress from Earth House, who was recently banished and exiled by her mother and had her magic taken away. Kenna officially brings them into the House of Blood as her first two members.

After Kenna’s first night of sleep, Kallen arrives. She is to come to a meeting with the other heads of houses to discuss the kingship. It is Kenna’s decision. She has the deciding vote and the race is between Hector, Kallen’s brother, and Drustan, the fae she thought she loved and trusted. When she gets to the meeting, Drustan is immediately hostile toward her, upset that she did not give him the crown. Kallen has to remind him he needs to earn her trust to gain her vote. The whole meeting reminds Kenna that she is not prepared for her job. She does not know the politics or the customs and she feels utterly lost. The other heads of houses are not being very patient with her.

All the heads of houses are then invited to a party by the current queen, Imogen, who is going to be queen for a month until everyone can decide between Drustan and Hector. Imogen promises that it will be a peaceful month and insinuates that people should pick her to be queen because of that. Drustan dances with Kenna, trying to vie for her vote. She promises she will not let their past decide her vote, but she will not pick him just because he flirts. Drustan is a little upset by that. Kenna also decides to take the party as an opportunity to fully open her house to anyone who wants to join the House of Blood. The next morning, all sorts of servants and others come to her door, taking her up on shelter. She offers a free life and as much help as she can give. The House of Blood has turned into a refuge.

As Kenna is sneaking out, she runs into Kallen. They discuss politics and it is clear that they are getting closer to a civil war. Voting for the king will tear them all apart. Kallen also worries for Kenna and decides to start training her because he knows that one day soon she will need to protect herself and her people. Kenna spends her days training with Kallen and learning about politics and running a country in all her other time. Imogen continues to throw her illusion parties and even offers to fulfill any of Kenna’s fantasies if she can have her vote. Kenna also continues to worry about her friends, Anya who is being haunted by nightmares, and Lara who does not like her new role and does not know where she belongs now. She is also slowly falling for Kallen and does not know what to do with those feelings. Kenna enjoys what her house is becoming. She loves to see the servants of all houses interact and come together. She likes that she has turned her place into a house of refuge. Politics continue to get crazier as both Hector and Drustan fight for her vote, and Imogen keeps hosting outrageous parties in hopes that she will convince everyone to choose her. One of the parties gets out of hand when Imogen requests a game from the heads of houses and it turns into a deadly game, which Imogen ends up winning. Caedo, Kenna’s talking dagger, finally feels like he is thriving thanks to the game, and Kallen is happy to see that her training came to her advantage. Kenna seeks comfort from Kallen after the battle and says that he feels like a safe haven.

In a bid to gain Kenna’s trust, Hector decides to share a secret. There have been rumors about his actions and Kenna wants to know if they are true. He takes Kenna to a secret shelter. Hector tells her a story of how he fell in love with a woman from Illusion House named Luna. The two fell madly in love and had a child. Hector tried to hide her and the child but failed to hide Luna. When King Osric found out about Luna, he forced Hector to watch her die. Since that moment, Hector and Kallen have dedicated their lives to finding changelings and giving them a safe place to live. Kenna sees the safe haven he has built and is in awe of what he created and of all the children saved under his watch. Kenna starts to realize that she might vote for Hector.

When Kenna returns home, she finds Anya and realizes that things are getting worse. Anya is wearing herself thin because she refuses to sleep due to the nightmares. The servants try to help her but nothing works. Kenna is forced to bring her a sleeping draught and knock her out. That night, Kenna goes out to look into Light House since she has not done much exploring there. What she sees makes her blood go cold. The leaders, Torin and Rowena, are letting terrible things happen. They are forcing girls to dance and be used, and these girls can do nothing about it. Kenna is sickened, so much so that she goes to the training rooms to let out her anger. Kallen comes in and helps her with some of her anger, though it turns into the two kissing. They are interrupted when they hear a sound and realize someone is spying on them. Kallen regrets the kiss and says it was a mistake before running out of the room.

Anya finally wakes and she is set on revenge against anyone who worked for the king and is the cause of her nightmares. Kenna offers to teach her hand-to-hand combat so she can do that. It is the first glimpse of her friend she has seen in weeks.

At another one of Imogen’s parties, Kenna has already decided she will be voting for Hector, though Drustan does not know that. He still tries to get her vote, this time by flirting, which she turns down immediately, not wanting to be used. She goes to find Kallen, who apologizes about the kiss. Kenna does not regret the kiss and tells Kallen that. In return, he decides to share a story. When he was young, he had a first love. He shared everything with her, all his secrets and dreams. The next day, Kallen was summoned to King Osric. The girl told Osric everything and Kallen was forced to kill her on Osric’s orders. He is scared that if he kisses and falls more for Kenna, she will be taken from him. Kenna reassures him that it will not happen and the two end up sharing a night together.

Their night together is interrupted by another one of Imogen’s parties, one they both need to attend. With a promise to finish what he started, they go to the ball. In the middle of the party, Kenna realizes that something feels wrong. She has been poisoned. She runs straight to Kallen and finds him just about to be killed and stabbed by Drustan. Kenna acts fast. She grabs her dagger and throws it at Drustan. Everyone starts to scream and the illusion scatters. Kenna drank something that made her see the illusion. Kallen was never there and she truly threw a dagger at Drustan, who is dying on the floor. Fae start screaming and yelling that Kenna broke the accords and started a war. They put her in iron chains to suppress her magic.

Things escalate even more when Torin from Light House yells that Kenna started the war but he will end it. He kills Imogen. Kenna is taken down to the dungeon by Torin and Rowena. Rowena wants Caedo, so she straps Kenna down and chops her arm off. She then pries Caedo off her severed arm. She brings the arm back to Kenna, knowing that it will heal, but Kenna is devastated knowing she has lost Caedo. She is officially a prisoner of Light House. Kenna starts to panic when Rowena tells her that she is so glad Kenna likes to dance.