To Kill a Kingdom

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2018

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Chapters 24-26Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 24 Summary

Lira stands on the deck of the Saad and sings to the sound of the ocean while the crew sleeps. She is lost in thought, worrying about what it will take to kill her mother. A familiar melody plays through the air, followed by a force crashing into the side of the ship. The Flesh-Eater pulls his monstrous form aboard the Saad, stalking towards her. He claims her as his and kisses her; she can taste the decay on him, but he recoils from her and spits as if she tastes disgusting.

Then the Sea Queen pulls herself aboard the ship, gripping Lira in her newly human form as the song plays louder. Lira finally recognizes the song as her own, which plays from a seashell around her mother’s neck. Her mother asks her if she has killed the prince, but Lira hasn’t. The queen questions Lira’s strength and points out that she’s cursed with human emotion. Lira, however, isn’t so sure that her emotions are a curse. She sees the way they bind the humans together, and how they bind her and Khalia: They make them a family, thereby increasing their strength. The Sea Queen warns Lira that her time is running out and that if she fails to take Elian’s heart, the Sea Queen will take hers.

Chapter 25 Summary

Lira looks at Elian and regrets that she plans to betray him, thereby betraying the entire crew. Elian tells her that they’re entering Psémata, a very dangerous place, because they need to steal something. They enter the gray, smoggy land with only 12 members of the Saad’s crew, going into an alley and paying a man to let them into a secret passageway. The passage leads to a narrow, dark staircase that leads up to a secret yet opulent room where the crew will be staying. Elian tells Lira that they need to steal back the necklace that the Págese princess told him will open the secret dome where the Eye of Keto is held. Lira finds it ridiculous that she sacrificed her family secret for a necklace, and Elian reminds her that she was willing to sacrifice her life for her own necklace.

Elian explains that they need to steal the necklace back from the Xaprár, which is notorious for stealing from royalty. He plans to take it using misdirection, or if necessary to poison Tallis Rycroft, the captain of the Xaprár. Lira jokes that he must have been keeping the poison around for his future wife, and he retorts that he’d only need it if she were his fiancée. She asks if he’s betrothed, knowing royals marry for power. He hesitates but rejects the notion. Lira begins to realize that she and Elian aren’t very different at their cores. She realizes that they are both trapped by their duty and legacy and that they both long for the freedom of the ocean.

Chapter 26 Summary

Elian recalls his time in Kléftes, where he learned how to steal and first began to build his crew. He decided to train in Kléftes when he realized that neither he nor his first mate, Torik, had the agility necessary to kill sirens. He found the people of Kléftes to be just as evil as the sirens and didn’t think they were worth saving until he met Madrid. The crew of the Xaprár is from Kléftes.

Elian takes Lira with him as he goes to confront Rycroft, pretending she’s just a girl he’s dating. The crew of the Saad lie in wait, a few of them hidden with eyes trained on Rycroft just in case things go south. They meet Rycroft on the dock and pretend that they just want to see his ship. Rycroft is dubious but invites them aboard. He serves them rum that is obviously from the Midasan royal cellar to provoke the prince. It is flecked with gold, and Lira drinks it sensually to distract Rycroft. The pirate asks Elian why he’s really come to the ship, and Elian pretends that he’s looking for a yellow sapphire that was stolen from the Midasan vaults. Rycroft offers to recover it in exchange for Elian’s ship, but Elian refuses and accuses Rycroft of having stolen it. He asks to see Rycroft’s stash belowdecks, hoping to actually find the Págese necklace. Rycroft balks, so he offers to send Lira.

Before their ruse can continue, a man comes to whisper into Rycroft’s ear, and Elian recognizes him as the same man who told him about the Crystal in the Golden Goose. Rycroft reveals that he has captured Kye and Madrid and asks Elian for what he knows about the Crystal of Keto in exchange for his crewmembers’ lives. He reveals that he has the Págese necklace around his neck. Elian refuses, but Rycroft threatens to take Elian to Págos himself to make Elian climb Cloud Mountain for the Crystal. Lira throws the rum in Rycroft’s face, temporarily blinding him with the flecks of gold. He draws his sword to attack Elian and Lira. They try to fight back, but the Xaprár crew circles them. Elian stabs Rycroft in the thigh with his knife, and the pirate steals the knife from Elian and throws it across the ship. Then he knocks Elian out and takes the two of them hostage.

Chapters 24-26 Analysis

The Sea Queen’s act of betrayal—using Lira’s song against her and the crew of the Saad—is a turning point for Lira. Though the Sea Queen threatens her life, Lira resolves to end her mother’s tyranny following the nighttime assault. From this moment, Lira becomes much more bonded to the crew, though she still plans to betray Elian once she has the Eye of Keto. However, her loyalty is tested aboard Rycroft’s ship. Lira, having no close relationships outside of Khalia, struggles to admit that she is developing feelings for Elian. Instead, she fights alongside Elian, putting her trust in him even when they are outnumbered by the Xaprár pirates.

Elian also continues to grow in these chapters. His memories of Kléftes highlight the dangers of judging an entire group by its worst members. Although generally a criminal hub—its name even means “thieves” in Greek—Kléftes is also where Elian met Madrid, one of his most loyal followers. Although the animosity between humans and sirens is much more deeply rooted, Elian eventually rethinks it due to his relationship with Lira. Elian’s good qualities also emerge in contrast to Rycroft, who serves as a foil to him. Like Elian, Rycroft is a pirate capable of acting ruthlessly, but where Elian’s brutality to the sirens stems from a desire to protect humanity, Rycroft seems motivated primarily by greed.