What Sleeps Within The Cove by Harper L Woods

The fourth book picks up right where book three ended, with Estrella being sentenced to a set of trials in Tartarus and being torn apart to save her mate, Caelum. Caelum is struggling with not being near her. They have yet to complete the bond, and it’s driving him crazy that they can’t complete it now that she is gone. This anger all gets directed toward Mab. Mab still doesn’t know about the bond but plans on having Caelum sit in a cell and only bring him out to torture him.

Estrella, meanwhile, makes it to the entrance of Tartarus. She is assigned guards to take her through. They let her know that Chaos, god of the underworld, is in charge of what happens to her, and he has determined that she must go through a set of trials—trials where she will need to go through all the rivers in the underworld to be tested. They also then reveal that Chaos is her father, and Medusa is her mother. Estrella struggles with this, as she grew up with human parents and saw them as her parents. But Chaos sends her on her way for her trials. One of her first ones is running into her brother, whom she ultimately sacrifices in order to save the bond between her and Caelum.

Meanwhile, Caelum is still struggling in the hands of Mab. He is trying desperately to escape, and eventually, he finds someone willing to help him escape and take him to Tartarus. He makes it to the gates of the underworld to look for his mate; however, as soon as he crosses into the underworld, he dies. His fae powers are gone—he was pure mortal—and crossing over killed him. Estrella is brought to him as a trial. She ends up giving up everything of herself to save him, thus completing another trial. The two are officially reunited.

Medusa offers a celebration for completing a few of the trials. She offers that Estrella and Caelum can complete their bond; it just must be done in the way of the underland. They agree. They have their ceremony, consummate their marriage, and their bond is officially complete. The two could not be more happy.

Meanwhile, back in Mab’s court, she is furious that Caelum escaped and that it seems Estrella is doing well. In retaliation, Mab brings out Caelum’s mother and kills her. Caelum is now the king of the Winter Court.

Estrella gets to have a moment of peace before she continues her trials. During that time, she talks with Caelum about what they want to do with Mab. They think that there is a chance that something has taken root inside Mab, and that is why she has changed so much. Even though Estrella has a little bit of hope, Caelum warns her that she needs to be prepared to fully kill Mab no matter the cost—their lives come before Mab’s.

Estrella then continues her trials, still cautious, knowing that if she dies during it, Caelum gets taken with her. But she feels more comfort now that their bond is complete and Caelum is there with her. Her next river is the River Lethe. She will have to jump in, knowing she will lose her memories; she will have to willingly choose to come back. Which she does, but Caelum also can’t see her suffer like she did, so he also jumps in—leaving Medusa to clean up the mess and restore both of their memories. The two get to spend their time together again until the next trial. During this time, Medusa also shows Estrella a piece of the underworld that she controls. This piece is where Medusa tortures those who wronged her and the ones she loves. She managed to find the priest who abused Estrella when she was mortal. She gives Estrella the chance to torture him, which she eagerly takes.

Her next trial, and most likely her last, is being reunited with one of her past loves—one that Caelum killed. He wants to sleep with Estrella, but she refuses, knowing that her bond would break and it would hurt Caelum to see that. But because she denied him, she lost the trial, and it weakens her. When Caelum figures out why she failed, he gets possessive and begs to get another chance. Medusa says they need to take her to the temple of the goddesses where they can decide. Caelum is not allowed to be with her. So he decides to go back to the mortal world and shore up an army to take down Mab once Estrella finishes talking with the gods.

When Estrella talks with them, they tell her that she basically already passed the trials before she even came into the underworld. But they tell her that it is her destiny to kill Mab. When she leaves the temple, Chaos and Medusa are there for her. They are so happy she survived and passed the trials. But then Chaos ends up pulling out a dagger and stabbing Estrella twice in the chest. Her parents look only a little sad, and she slowly dies in front of them.

Meanwhile, Caelum is talking to his people and creating an army; he is already hailed as the Winter Court king. But as he is talking, he feels an immense pain and realizes something terrible has happened to Estrella.