Rites of the Starling by Devney Perry

Here is a summary with spoilers for Rites of the Starling by Devney Perry

In a prologue Sparrow Wolfe is imprisoned by the five kings of Calandra and selected as a political sacrifice. She is traded to secure peace following a devastating migration event that destabilized entire regions. She is forced into marriage with King Tanis Oak, binding rival kingdoms through oath and blood. Sparrow is taken against her will and silently accepts the role imposed on her while internally rejecting the gods and the Voster priests who manipulate divine authority and magic. Her father, King Ramsey, apologizes for her fate but confirms there is no alternative, reinforcing that royal women are used as political instruments to preserve fragile peace between kingdoms. 

In the present timeline, Ransom is actively searching for Odessa after her disappearance. He arrives at the abandoned encampment of Treow, where he learns from Cathlin that a crux scout has been observed shifting into human form. Mariette reports that the King has moved soldiers toward Allesaria, but Odessa and Evie are missing from the expected location. Ransom finds Odessa’s blood-stained knives abandoned in the street, confirming violence and suggesting she was taken or fled under attack.He decides she may have gone to Quentis, the kingdom of her father, and decides to go and search there. 

Odessa is traveling under the escort of Brother Dime, a Voster priest whose magic produces a physical sensation in her body. Evangeline travels with her and is emotionally destabilized by the death of her father Zavier, refusing food and struggling to function. Odessa gradually realizes that the priest-led journey is not safe, and that their destination is not being consistant. By the time she recognizes the situation is dangerous,it is too late for her and Evangeline to escape. Brother Dime later departs, leaving Odessa with Brother Skore, who assumes control of their route and instructs them to continue toward Ozarth. At one point, Brother Skore makes Evangeline pass out, and forces Odessa to go into a waterfall to collect an item under it. She does so, and doesn’t think much of it, she is only focused on getting back to Evangeline. 

Odessa and Evie travel through multiple hostile regions including mountain passes, forests, and infected territories. Skore uses wind-based magic to conceal their presence from these creatures. During travel, Odessa studies alchemy journals she recovered from Turah and deciphers a hidden map embedded in Ransom’s leather cuff, which contains encoded geographic information. Evie remains psychologically unstable due to prior trauma. The group eventually reaches a cabin owned by Damon and Sally, where they briefly recover and heal. Damon introduces a lionwick claw necklace believed to offer protection.

We are then introudced to Caspia, whose storyline runs parallel and begins with recurring visions of her sister Emery being killed by a silver-eyed warrior. Queen Oleana, her aunt dismisses her visions as meaningless and tells her not to do anything about them. Caspia experiences a physical pull toward the ocean and the ritus (a starling pull to change) increases in intensity. Against royal orders, she leaves Nelfinex in secret to save Emery, stealing her sister’s elfalter rings as symbols of identity and authority. She hires a pirate to cross the Marixmore Ocean.

During the voyage, Caspia and Xandra, her cousin who snuck on board travel together. The ship encounters marroweels, aquatic creatures that respond specifically to Starling blood. Caspia and Xandra are both affected by the ritus, which becomes physically and emotionally overwhelming. Xandra begins to transform, eventually shifting into a violent, monstrous form and attacking Caspia. Caspia escapes by jumping into the sea, surviving but becoming separated from her group.

Caspia is rescued by a mysterious man after nearly drowning. She learns she is in a different continent and begins adapting to the language and culture. The man says his name is Andreas, and reveals he abandoned his noble status to live a simpler life. Caspia initially conceals her identity but later confirms she is royalty and is pursuing vengeance for Emery’s death.

Odessa then finds and joins the Maidens, a mercenary group, and negotiates passage to get back to her fathers kingdom; she promises them payment upon arrival. She reveals her identity as the Sparrow princess to secure their cooperation. During a major attack in the skeleton forest, Odessa loses her horse Freya (and she has to be the one to end her life), suffers heavy casualties within the group, and is nearly killed by bariwolves before Ransom arrives and saves her. The two then have their reunion. Ransom reveals that Zavier may still be alive and that political and magical instability is increasing. He reveals that the crux scout in Ellder may have been a shapeshifter rather than a normal monster. They continue traveling together toward Quentis via ship, while Ransom’s Lyssa symptoms worsen, causing partial transformations into a silver-eyed, beast-like state. He struggles with control and fears full transformation; something Odessa has to keep an eye out for as well. 

Caspia and Andreas settle temporarily in Roslo within Quentis. While on their way, the two catch a young boy stealing. Caspia has a vision about the young boy. She tells Andreas that she has visions and that she needs to go save the boy. After searching all day they find the young boy, Kos, and they decide to keep him around.  The three then make it to the castle, where Caspia begins documenting Starling history, including shapeshifting, green blood, and the inability to return to human form once transformation is incomplete. She leaves this written record in hopes it will be preserved. Kos, the boy they rescued, begins to integrate into society under the guidance of Faxon, a bibliosoph who studies historical texts. Caspia continues experiencing visions, now including future events rather than only past ones. Some of these visions are of her leaving, which she doesn’t understand why she would leave the love of her life Andres. Though she quickly starts to find out, via another vision, that maybe she is not meant for Andres. Because in another vision Andres holds a baby boy that looks nothing like her. This vision doesn’t help when she finds out that he is already betrothed. Though he asures her that he will be breaking it off soon. At one point caspia decides to make it easy on Andres and leave, but Andres comes looking for her, and the two get secretly married. 

Odessa arrives at Quentis and soldiers fail to recognize her identity, and she is placed in a restricted section of the castle. Her father refuses to see her, and  remains emotionally distant and refuses to disclose information about Odessa’s mother. Odessa repeatedly demands answers but receives minimal information. She begins working with Healer Alore to study Lyssa and attempts to use Ransom as a biological reference to develop a cure. Ransom also resumes combat training with Odessa, which gives Odess a chance to prove her worth among those who tore her apart when she lived there last. 

Odessa discovers that proximity to Voster priests causes her physical pain, suggesting a biological or magical connection. Gable, a weapons master, confirms that Odessa’s mother was a Starling and a skilled warrior. Odessa realizes her mother’s identity was intentionally hidden. One evening Odess and her sister have a meeting, though they are ambushed. Ransom comes for them, and Ransom enters a Lyssa-induced rage and kills several guards, and continues to harm even after they are dead. Ransom, horrified but what he did, runs away from it, the king eventually finds him and places Ramsom under arrest. Though before they learn about the arrest, Odessay gets a visitor, Zavier, who is magically alive. Evie and Zavier have a reunion, and the two groups of people share their stories and get all caught up, then make a plan on how to get Ransom. 

Caspia learns that the Voster are connected to ancient magical systems and that Calandra’s monsters are corrupted versions of creatures from her homeland. She learns about the orbits, which contain the source of magic in Calandra, and that destroying them would eliminate magic entirely and stop migrations. She and Andreas commit to locating and destroying the orbits. Caspia later discovers she is pregnant, Andres tells her to not try and shift. 

Months later, Caspia and Andres have a beautiful girl and name her Odessa, Des for short. They are incredibly happy, though Andres is under a lot of pressure as he is now taking over the throne as his father got ill. Caspia also still has the same vision of Andres with a baby boy that is not her own, but she does notice that the baby boy looks a lot like her lady maid Margot. One day the Voster priest invade, and Caspia knows what must be done. She forces Margot to take Odessa, and Caspia shifts into a crux. She loses control of her transformation and kills multiple priests. She briefly regains clarity when she hears her unborn child, Odessa, and instructs Andreas to kill her before she becomes fully monstrous. Andreas kills her, and she returns to human form only to die. Andres mourns her for days, refuses to engage with their child, and abandons her due to grief. He later assumes a leadership role as king and wants nothing to do with Odessa.

Odessa goes to Ransom in prison, where she is met with Margot, a women who acted as mother to her. Odessa learns through journals, Margot, and revelations from the Gold King that Caspia was her mother. She realizes Ransom unknowingly killed her mother earlier when Caspia was in crux form. The Gold King admits involvement in concealing the truth and confirms political manipulation surrounding the Voster and Starling lineage. He releases Ransom from imprisonment. Odessa confirms all of this with her father, and he tells his side of the story. It starts a slight truce between the two of them, though the trust between the two is still very fragile. 

Odessa discovers she is central to stopping the orbits and ending the cycle of magic and migration. Skore and other sources confirm her bloodline makes her key to the system. Ransom’s Lyssa infection is traced to a bite from Xandra, who had transformed into a monstrous form. The infection is tied to Starling biology and cannot easily be cured. Odessa also learns that she is beginning to experience the ritus, confirmed by physical symptoms and visions.

Odessa and Ransom (and Evie and Zavier) prepare to leave Quentis and continue the mission to locate and destroy remaining orbits. Ransom confesses love for Odessa (which is the first time he has said the word love to her this whole book). She does not disclose that she is beginning to feel the ritus within her. Odessa then sees a vision of herself kneeling with green blood as someone calls her “my queen,” potetnially meaning that she is the next Starling to undergo transformation and continue the cycle of magic, migration, and sacrifice.