Innamorata Summary By Chapter | Ava Reid

The delivery of this letter ensures the abandonment of Castle Peake for the coast.

Key Moment: The successful delivery of the letter sets the cousins’ journey to Castle Crudele in motion.

Chapter VIII: Arrival at Crudele

Castle Crudele is a colossal fortress rising from the sea like a tidal island. Agnes is cowed by the vastness of the ocean, which seems primordial compared to the stagnant ponds of home.

They pass a gate flanked by empty silver helmets on wooden stakes, the remains of Berengar’s enemies. Marozia delights in the colors of the sea and the navy-and-gold flags of Seraph.

Prince Liuprand greets them in a doublet dyed to match his eyes and informs them the king wishes to see them immediately.

Key Moment: The cousins enter the “grave marker” castle, built on the blood of their ancestors.

Chapter IX: The Sluggard King

Agnes hears snuffling and gulping sounds like pigs at a trough before entering the throne room. King Nicephorus is a slack mountain of chins with swollen, purple toes and pink, worm-like lips.

He calls the granddaughters “striga spawn” and questions why there are two of them. Liuprand defends Agnes, claiming the cousins are too aggrieved to be parted.

Marozia presents a chest of gold to the king, a gift to endear their houses and secure a partnership. The king watches the golden light dance on his face before ordering them to their chambers.

Key Moment: The royal family’s desperation for gold reveals the crumbling state of Seraphine rule on the island.

Chapter X: The Nurse Waltrude

Waltrude, an ancient wet nurse, meets the cousins at their assigned chambers. Marozia aggressively demands that Agnes’s trunks be moved into her own room rather than the separate lady’s chamber.

Waltrude is bewildered by Marozia’s “exorbitant, aggravating life” and Agnes’s corpse-like stillness. Marozia’s shadow falls across Waltrude, cowing the old woman into silence.

Waltrude yields to the “statue-girl” and her passionate cousin, fulfilling her duty.

Key Moment: Marozia’s insistence on sharing a room with Agnes highlights their unhealthy dependency.

Chapter XI: A Wordless Confrontation

Agnes rushes after Waltrude to prevent servants from finding her treasonous herbs. Liuprand intercepts her in the corridor, his imperious tone freezing her in place.

He demands she speak, ordering her to “open her mouth” to prove she hasn’t been maimed. Agnes is terrified he will see the black stains of the berries on her tongue.

He tips up her chin with one finger, and Agnes feels her skin warm beneath his touch. He eventually lets her go, leaving her with a pounding heart.

Key Moment: Liuprand’s physical touch begins to thaw Agnes’s self-imposed internal winter.

Chapter XII: Dreams of Shears and Scepters

Marozia praises the prince’s beauty and asks Agnes if they should endear themselves to the king. She stops Agnes from burning her herbs and feeds her the black berries instead.

Agnes sucks Marozia’s fingers to clean them of the dark nectar. In her drug-induced sleep, she sees three versions of Adele-Blanche carrying a spindle, a scepter, and shears.

The dream-grandmothers tell her the words are in the “tomes” and the bodies in the “tombs.” They command her to “read her own stomach” if she forgets.

Key Moment: The dream provides a cryptic map for Agnes’s mission: searching the tomes and the tombs.

Chapter XIII: The Prophet’s Vision

Agnes wakes violently, having vomited black berry juice down her arm and the mattress. She finds food and wine from Marozia but only nibbles at the bread.

Images of the shears and scepter flash behind her eyelids, blurring the real world. She picks at her nail bed until it bleeds to “resurrect” reality.

She wonders if the prophets felt similarly sickened by their sticky swarms of visions.

Key Moment: Agnes begins to lose the ability to distinguish between her drug-induced prophecies and reality.

Chapter XIV: Company in the Library

Agnes descends into the castle depths, seeking the library where books and bodies are kept together. A guard informs her she cannot enter alone, but Liuprand arrives and dismisses him.

The library is a columned chamber filled with amber light and the smell of parchment. Agnes is overwhelmed to find books not written by her grandmother.

Liuprand admits he is a scholar, reveals he knows she wrote the letter, and confirms the betrothal will proceed. They spend the afternoon reading in companionable silence.

Key Moment: Liuprand and Agnes find intellectual common ground in the library, away from royal expectations.

Chapter XV: Ruinous Fruit

The Exarch lives in total darkness in the chapel, lighting candles on a seven-pointed altar. Liuprand visits him, bringing breakfast and ordering him to bless his imminent marriage.

When the Exarch learns the bride is an islander with “no Seraphine name,” he is horrified. He calls Marozia a “viperess” who will suck the prince’s blood.

Liuprand ignores the priest’s prayers and leaves the door wide open, allowing light to “boil” the Exarch’s eyes.

Key Moment: Liuprand’s marriage is framed as a “civilizing mission” that the church views as a deadly curse.

Chapter XVI: Two Gowns and an Envious Heart

Marozia prepares for her wedding in the elephantine ivory gown of Liuprand’s mother. She asks Agnes if it is wrong to be afraid and makes Agnes swear to always be her Lady of the Bedchamber.

Agnes feels the “slippery and foul bile of envy” rooted in her stomach. Waltrude arrives and gives Agnes a gift from the prince: a ring with three small pearls.

Agnes realizes that Liuprand has “seen her” when no one else bothered to look. She slips the ring on her finger, feeling its secret beauty.

Key Moment: Liuprand’s gift of the pearl ring signifies his secret recognition of Agnes’s value.

Chapter XVII: Half a Soul

The wedding takes place in the great hall where guests sit in square depressions in the stone. Marozia descends the aisle with Agnes hefting her heavy golden train.

Agnes is seated next to King Nicephorus, who whispers that marriage in Drepane is just “ink, paper, and fucking.” During the ceremony, the king fondles Agnes’s thigh under the pew.

She notices the House of Blood’s plot is empty, containing only a single bottle of wine as a taunting gift.

Key Moment: The King’s sexual assault of Agnes during the wedding highlights her vulnerability and his depravity.

Chapter XVIII: A Feast for All But One

The wedding feast begins with the king grasping Agnes’s arm so hard it bruises. Agnes has a vision of a man with a needle-thin sword standing in a dark, cleared room.

Liuprand notices his father’s grip and quietly orders him to release her. Marozia orders servants to water Agnes’s wine and bring her plain bread.

Liuprand watches Agnes with a steady gaze, and she impresses her gratitude upon him with a stare.

Key Moment: Liuprand publicly protects Agnes from his father’s physical aggression.

Chapter XIX: Agnes Alone

Marozia goes to the prince’s chamber for the wedding night, leaving Agnes alone for the first time. Agnes examines the violet bruises on her arm and touches the letters inscribed across her skin.

The ritual to raise the dead requires a monk’s asceticism and a doctor’s wisdom, which Agnes has cultivated. She fears she violated the covenant by letting the king find pleasure kneading her thigh.

She digs into her nail bed, feasting on her own pain to distract from her longing.

Key Moment: Agnes’s internal scars and her childhood training are linked to the resurrection ritual.

Chapter XX: Unstained Sheets

Marozia returns to Agnes’s room in the middle of the night, racking with heaving sobs. She reveals that Liuprand refused to touch her, leaving a wide berth in the marriage bed.

Agnes comforts her cousin, but her movements are stiff with shock. Marozia asks if she is not as beautiful as a Seraphine bride.

Agnes writes for Marozia to “try harder,” which offends the new princess. They fall into a “twin slumber,” but Agnes knows the marriage bed remains white.

Key Moment: The failure to consummate the royal marriage creates a political and personal crisis.

Chapter XXI: The Language of Moths

Agnes seeks a garden at Castle Crudele and finds a courtyard with tapestries of “beautified” revenants. In a hidden courtyard, she meets Liuprand.

He teaches her the “language of moths” devised by Berengar—different colored insects for grief, forward march, and apology. Liuprand laughs openly for the first time.

She forgets to plant her grandmother’s treasonous seeds because she is so enthralled.

Key Moment: Liuprand and Agnes develop a secret, non-verbal language through the moths.

Chapter XXII: The Surgeon’s Search

The Most Esteemed Surgeon searches the villages for a mate to soothe his “soul-deep yearning.” He finds Ninian but feels no heart-skip, believing Seraphine blood requires a “matched half.”

Liuprand arrives and orders the Surgeon to desecrate the Exarch’s body in accordance with the Covenant. The Surgeon is appalled, as the Exarch was Seraphine.

Liuprand insists he will be no king if he does not follow the laws his own ancestor invented.

Key Moment: Liuprand asserts his authority over the Surgeon, prioritizing Drepane’s laws over Seraphine tradition.

Chapter XXIII: A New Handmaiden

Truss and Mordaunt are tasked with the Exarch’s desecration. Mordaunt encounters Liuprand, who looks disheveled and offers Ninian a position as Marozia’s new handmaiden.

Mordaunt delivers Ninian to Marozia, who is initially hostile and refuses the “gift.” Agnes shakes her head furiously, and Marozia eventually relents.

Ninian stands between the cousins as Mordaunt feels an atmospheric augury of a “snapping lute string.”

Key Moment: Ninian’s arrival marks the beginning of the breakdown in the cousins’ relationship.

Chapter XXIV: Dissolved Through Death

Marozia expresses hatred for her match and a desire to return to Castle Peake. She accuses Agnes of still believing Adele-Blanche’s “stories” of house greatness.

Agnes feels a sudden, violent rage toward Marozia and realizes they are “separate creatures entirely.” She writes that a marriage pact can only be dissolved through death.

Ninian enters and attends to Marozia’s hair with worshipful eyes. Agnes flees, afraid of the “exquisite poison” in her soul.

Key Moment: Agnes recognizes her own burgeoning malice and the finality of her separation from Marozia.

Chapter XXV: Wresting Speech

At a dinner, King Nicephorus notices Liuprand’s bruised cheek and demands Agnes speak in her own voice. When she remains silent, the king orders the Dolorous Guard to hold Liuprand back.

Nicephorus takes a knife and drives it through Agnes’s left hand on the table. He twists the blade into the tender webbing of her thumb.

Agnes realizes she will never hold a quill again. Liuprand snarls and stops his father as Marozia weeps wordlessly.

Key Moment: The king’s physical mutilation of Agnes is designed to break her silence and destroy her utility to the house.

Chapter XXVI: The Torture of Memory

Liuprand chases a bleeding Agnes down the corridor, whispering apologies. She shuts the door and collapses, haunted by Marozia’s silence during the attack.

In her dreams, she sees her mother Celeste humming over a mangled bundle. The dream shifts to the library where Wrestbone and Adele-Blanche prepare a “desecration” of living Agnes.

Her grandmother strips her naked and orders Wrestbone to “carve” into her flesh. Agnes realizes the rules of her existence were etched into her skin that day.

Key Moment: The revelation that Agnes’s “scars” are actually the resurrection rituals carved by her grandmother.

Chapter XXVII: Through the Prince’s Eyes

Waltrude finds Liuprand distraught and sleepless, his face bruised. He laments that the world has “forced” Agnes into silence and begs Waltrude to go to her.

When Waltrude visits, Agnes laboriously writes “Thank you” with her right hand. Waltrude is overtaken by awareness, seeing Agnes as the prince does: a “night-blooming flower.”

She realizes with terror that Liuprand’s heart belongs to Agnes, a “treason of emotion” that could ruin the kingdom.

Key Moment: Waltrude realizes the prince’s spiritual betrayal of his marriage vows.

Chapter XXVIII: A Twisted Dagger

Marozia enters Agnes’s room and is met with a new, defensive silence. She unbuttons Agnes’s gown, ignoring the scars to prep her for the king’s summons.

Marozia believes Liuprand’s rage at the feast proves his affection for her. Agnes feels the “foul bile of envy” as she imagines Marozia in Liuprand’s bed.

She follows Marozia to the great hall, trailing her like a “tethered ghost.”

Key Moment: Marozia misinterprets Liuprand’s protection of Agnes as a sign of affection for herself.

Chapter XXIX: The Master of Blood

The blood has been scrubbed from the hall. King Nicephorus decrees that Agnes will wed the Master of Blood to “salve” the wounds between their houses.

He transfers the title of “Mistress of Teeth” from Marozia to Agnes. Liuprand is forced to unclamp the necklace from Marozia’s throat and fix it onto Agnes.

Marozia’s anger is icy as she loses her birthright. The king leeringly hopes Agnes is firm enough to satisfy the Master of Blood’s lust.

Key Moment: Agnes is officially elevated to Mistress of Teeth, deepening the rift with Marozia.

Chapter XXX: A Treacherous Journey

Agnes travels to the House of Blood with Waltrude and Liuprand. Liuprand gives her a wedding gift—a golden cage containing a gray moth.

Agnes fears that being “forced” by the Master of Blood will spoil her grandmother’s ritual. She realizes she left her mortar and pestle behind.

Liuprand watches her with a look of desolation, appearing as the Sorrowful Prince.

Key Moment: The loss of Agnes’s herbs threatens her mission to resurrect her grandmother.

Chapter XXXI: The Indifferent Castle

They arrive at Bitternest, a castle wider than it is tall. Lord Fredegar, an aged man, welcomes them but denies receiving the king’s missives.

His son Unruoching enters with shifting eyes. Liuprand delivers the king’s order for Fredegar to wed the Mistress of Teeth.

Fredegar agrees, noting his bed has been empty since his wife died.

Key Moment: The king’s “solution” is revealed to be a forced alliance based on lost letters.

Chapter XXXII: The Sins of the Fathers

Pliny the leech helps Fredegar to his chambers. Fredegar expresses horror at the “degenerate cruelty” of the House of Teeth.

Unruoching mocks the idea of Agnes as his mother. He warns Pliny that his words are merely a jest.

Pliny realizes Unruoching is unhappy about the match potentially producing a new heir.

Key Moment: The political tension within House Blood over the new marriage is established.

Chapter XXXIII: Free of the Noose

Agnes looks out at the marshes, feeling she will not live if she stays. Liuprand visits one last time, telling her Seraph is finished with Drepane.

He reveals his marriage to Marozia is essential to save the island. Agnes gives him back her pearl ring.

She writes two words: “Now, four.” They share a moment of genuine joy before he leaves.

Key Moment: Agnes and Liuprand acknowledge their love even as they accept their duty-bound separation.

Chapter XXXIV: Hope and a Still-Life

Agnes prepares for her wedding in a pale lilac gown, weaving moonflowers into her hair. For the first time, she feels beautiful without Marozia’s sun to eclipse her.

Fredegar is gentle, treating her with reverence. During the ceremony, Agnes catches Liuprand’s eye and wishes he would stop it.

At the feast, she defiantly eats meat and drinks wine, breaking her ascetic shackles.

Key Moment: Agnes’s marriage to Fredegar represents a potential escape into a normal, albeit loveless, life.

Chapter XXXV: A Mute Tongue Moves

Fredegar tells Agnes he loved his late wife without ornamentation of words. As they walk to their wedding bed, Unruoching intercepts them.

He stabs his father to death at Agnes’s feet. Liuprand and the Dolorous Guard arrive instantly.

Back in her room, Liuprand finds her in her bath, and Agnes finally speaks her first verbal words: “Liuprand.”

Key Moment: Agnes’s physical and verbal awakening occurs through trauma and Liuprand’s embrace.

Chapter XXXVI: The Casks of Lord Fredegar

In the dungeon, Unruoching is tied to a table. Liuprand reveals Fredegar bottled the blood of every corpse like wine vintage.

To punish the patricide, the prince forces Unruoching to drink his own father’s bottled lifeblood. Liuprand orders him walled up alive.

Pliny returns Agnes’s necklace of teeth, refitted with silver and pearls.

Key Moment: Liuprand’s transformation into a barbarous dispenser of justice for Agnes’s sake.

Chapter XXXVII: Returning to the Cold

Traveling back to Castle Crudele, Agnes realizes Waltrude knows of her secret night with the prince. Marozia wears a massive golden choker.

King Nicephorus is furious that the rapport with the House of Blood has been destroyed. He mocks Liuprand as “Liuprand the Just.”

An icy horror climbs Agnes’s spine as the king prepares to announce a new solution.

Key Moment: The political consequences of Liuprand’s justice threaten the entire kingdom.

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Book II

Chapter I: Healing Exercises

Pliny uses a vat of rice and glass beads to help Agnes regain the delicate finesses of her scarred hand. She notes her transformation into richer colors.

She asks to hold a quill, but her fingers still spasm. Liuprand interrupts, appearing with vivifying light.

The prince dismisses Pliny to speak to Agnes alone. Pliny notes the secret smiles Agnes reserves only for the prince.

Key Moment: Agnes’s physical therapy mirrors her slow reclamation of personhood.

Chapter II: The Most Invidious Match

Agnes views the library with hope rather than fear. Liuprand encourages her not to let others convince her her desires are aberrant.

He suddenly embraces her with a pulse of longing. He whispers her name, claiming he needs the one person who can tend to the feeble creature beneath the epithet.

Agnes flees, reminding him he is bound to another.

Key Moment: The weight of their forbidden love becomes too much for any human to bear.

Chapter III: A Parasite in Velvet

Ninian wraps Marozia’s swollen, pulsating pregnant belly in tight bandages. Marozia views her pregnancy as a blight and pestilence.

Ninian seeks a tonic from Truss and Mordaunt to speed the labor. Mordaunt warns the potion may result in a cold stone or grotesque child.

Ninian prepares to secretly poison the princess to end her suffering.

Key Moment: Ninian prepares to induce labor with a dangerous tonic.

Chapter IV: Forced Appetites

Agnes joins a dinner with mummers. Marozia sits at Liuprand’s right, refusing to acknowledge Agnes.

Agnes feeds Marozia bread from her hand, a moment of smothering warmth. Liuprand recalls in a haunted tone how he was forced to conceive the child.

Agnes feels the world is crushing them inward like grapes mashed for wine.

Key Moment: The horrific details of the child’s conception stain the pregnancy with trauma.

Chapter V: The Howling of Ghosts

Waltrude wakes to Marozia’s labor screams. She finds the princess writhing in sheets soaked with mucuses, sweat, and blood.

Marozia screams for no leeches to be allowed near her. Agnes arrives and lets her hand be mangled in her cousin’s grip.

Marozia whimpers and weeps as her labor progresses with barbarous violence.

Key Moment: Marozia’s labor is framed as a literal battle for survival.

Chapter VI: The Two-Headed Coin

Agnes fetches Pliny, and together they work to save the princess. She notices Marozia’s lips stained with a charcoal smear from the tonic.

Liuprand waits in the corridor, looking desolate. The first child, a girl, is born, and Marozia embraces it with mother-wolf intensity.

Pliny reveals a twin is coming—a boy born still and blue. Marozia rejects him, shrieking and throwing a candleholder.

Key Moment: The birth results in Marozia choosing the girl and violently rejecting the boy.

Chapter VII: The Princeling

Agnes stands in the corridor holding the future king, who suckles fruitlessly at her barren breast. She finds she loves the child.

She takes the boy to Liuprand’s disordered chambers. Waltrude finds her and takes the infant to feed.

Agnes feels painful reluctance as she gives him up. She realizes her womb remains a shining-white salt flat.

Key Moment: Agnes assumes an unofficial maternal role for the rejected princeling.

Chapter VIII: Perfidy on the Altar

Agnes prepares to find Liuprand, dressing in deep violet. She tracks him to the chapel, where a thousand candles burn.

Liuprand has gashes on his face from defending the room from his father. They fall into a frenzied passion on the altar itself.

They join in a secret joy that would mean their death if known.

Key Moment: The secret marriage is consummated on the altar.

Chapter IX: The Leech’s Witness

Pliny enters the chapel and witnesses the prince and lady feasting upon their own pleasure. He sees white flowers shaken from Agnes’s hair.

He recognizes what he sees is no less than love, a sentiment that could break all of Drepane.

He watches as Agnes collapses against Liuprand, strangled by her apostate heart.

Key Moment: Pliny becomes the first witness to the clandestine royal family.

Chapter X: Designs of a Design

King Nicephorus summons Agnes to his chamber, half-naked and mottled purple. Marozia presents her daughter.

The king names the girl the bride for the House of Blood and decrees the boy is the heir. Marozia protests.

Liuprand warns his father that every wise father wishes for his son to be greater than him.

Key Moment: The king’s decree sets the stage for new political conflicts.

Chapter XI: Asunder

Agnes wanders the castle, feeling she has failed her grandmother. She realizes the king has honed his cruelty to destroy House of Teeth traditions.

She visits Marozia, who sits in a dim corner with her suckling daughter. Marozia harshly rejects Agnes.

Agnes sees Ninian in gray observation and flees, her brow pricking with cold dew.

Key Moment: The formal dissolution of the bond between Agnes and Marozia.

Chapter XII: A Stone Turned

Pliny finds Agnes and shows her a silver clip from the chapel floor. Agnes panics, realizing her secret is uncovered.

She confesses her love for the prince. Pliny tells her of the Seraphine belief in a matched half that transcends all laws.

He offers his counsel and discretion, becoming their secret ally.

Key Moment: Pliny officially joins the conspiracy to protect Agnes and Liuprand.

Chapter XIII: Innamorata

Pliny prepares the chapel with just enough wax. Agnes enters in silver with white flowers in her hair.

Waltrude leads her to the altar and draws a lace veil over her head. Pliny speaks the dead sacraments of old Seraph.

Liuprand produces a ring with a black pearl. They join hands and swear a bond that surpasses all earth-made vows.

Key Moment: The secret wedding of Liuprand and Agnes.

Book III

Chapter I: Seven Years of Silence

Tisander is now seven years old, a child who talked before he could toddle. Agnes dotes on him with the passion of a nun.

The boy has the prince’s golden hair and lagoon-blue eyes. Liuprand and Agnes meet every night in the furnished chapel.

Their love is now peace and safety. Agnes has trained her right hand to write.

Key Moment: The establishment of a hidden, happy family life within the castle walls.

Chapter II: The Tower’s Secret

Princess Meriope is six years old and to be married in sixty-six days. Marozia tells her stories of the House of Teeth’s magic.

Marozia continues taking a leech’s potion to keep her breasts full of milk. Meriope still suckles from her mother every night.

Marozia and Ninian share a bed and a feral passion.

Key Moment: Marozia’s regression into a fantasy world where her daughter remains an infant.

Chapter III: Whispers in the Dark

Pliny and Tisander walk the beaches. Waltrude notes Marozia never leaves her chambers.

Liuprand visits Tisander, kissing his temple. Pliny smells lavender and wax, knowing he has just come from Agnes.

The prince asks Pliny to perform a task of utmost secrecy.

Key Moment: The hidden family’s secret becomes a treasonous burden for their allies.

Chapter IV: The Offal-Eater

Maleagant sends a wretched creature named Offal-Eater to the castle. Pliny recruits him for a task.

Offal-Eater is half-mad with a lustful sheen in his gaze. Maleagant sees visions of the golden prince in a dark chamber.

Pliny leads the galloping creature into the castle’s shadows.

Key Moment: The introduction of a mad witness who will later ruin the prince.

Chapter V: Horrors of the Blood

Waltrude visits Marozia’s impeccably neat chamber. Meriope runs to her mother, who kisses her with mother-wolf devotion.

Marozia demands to know the horrors awaiting her daughter. Waltrude admits she knows but remains ignorant.

The princess’s hands tremble with terror and hatred.

Key Moment: Marozia begins plotting vengeance for the loss of her daughter.

Chapter VI: A Masque for a Wedding

Liuprand visits Agnes in the library and asks her to write a masque for Meriope’s wedding. He wants to celebrate unity.

Agnes is suffused with pride and affection. Liuprand promises her a surprise in the chapel.

They read together, their love an airborne thing felt in the room.

Key Moment: The masque is intended as a public demonstration of a united royal house.

Chapter VII: The Kitchen’s Glutton

Offal-Eater arrives in the kitchens, guided by Truss and Mordaunt. He eats fish bones and rotten pits.

The leeches trick him into a game of chance. He mentions a forbidden delicacy that sustains him.

The leeches vow to loosen his tongue with a reward.

Key Moment: The leeches begin corrupting the mad witness.

Chapter VIII: The Chapel Refreshed

Agnes organizes her actors, selecting graceful peasants. She finds the chapel transformed with a stone tub.

Liuprand has scented the water with lilac, protea, and hyacinth. They bathe together.

She proposes Liuprand take the main role in her masque. He agrees, calling himself her disciple.

Key Moment: A perfect scene for a painting is created within the chapel.

Chapter IX: The Procession of Sorrow

Wedding guests arrive, including Lord Gamelyn. Marozia appears in black wool, silently protesting.

Little Meriope is dressed in white taffeta and lace, an absurd and poignant bride. Guests flinch at her childish keen.

The king commands festivities proceed.

Key Moment: The forced wedding of the child-bride creates glacial silence.

Chapter X: The Masque of Moths

Agnes’s masque features Liuprand as a noble knight and herself as a winged creature. Moths form a vivid tapestry.

Liuprand and Agnes dance, their fingertips brushing publicly. Marozia watches, a tear and drop of blood falling as she realizes the truth.

The audience applauds, seeing only a storybook scene.

Key Moment: Marozia’s silent realization of the love between Agnes and Liuprand.

Chapter XI: The Solicitors

The houses pay honors: Lungs, Bones, Flesh, Hearts, and Eyes. Lord Rabanus and Lady Perpetua represent a rare marriage of love.

Thrasamund of the House of Eyes arrives with his son Childeric. Childeric plies Agnes with facile flattery.

He notes her reputation for dignity and resilience.

Key Moment: Agnes’s new public identity as a virtuous and gifted lady is established.

Chapter XII: A Brutal Justice

Childeric proposes to Agnes and attempts to force her by gripping her wrist. Liuprand reacts with barbaric luster.

He beats Childeric until his face is a mangle of red pulp. Thrasamund renounces loyalty to the Crown.

Marozia chases her daughter as the House of Blood flees.

Key Moment: Liuprand’s violent loss of control destroys the castle’s political alliances.

Chapter XIII: The Parapet Confrontation

Agnes flees the reek of blood. Marozia pursues her to the parapet and slams her against the balustrade.

She calls Agnes a traitorous whore and grips her throat. Lightning blanches the sky as Agnes nears darkness.

Marozia releases her and flees before the stone crumbles. Liuprand hauls Agnes to safety.

Key Moment: The cousins’ unyielding hatred nearly results in Agnes’s death.

Chapter XIV: Vows of a Servant

Pliny treats Agnes’s necklace of bruises. Liuprand visits, expressing desolate grief.

Agnes writes that the fault lies with her. Liuprand vows he would fall upon a sword before letting her be harmed again.

He claims his soul was fashioned for the purpose of loving her.

Key Moment: Liuprand commits himself to Agnes’s protection above all earthly laws.

Chapter XV: Sacrifice and Silence

Waltrude and Pliny discuss the prince’s crime in sacrificing his daughter for love. Meriope has been taken to the House of Blood.

Waltrude realizes the world’s order cannot be restored without sacrifice. Agnes asks for counsel.

Tisander whines, “I don’t want you to go.”

Key Moment: The allies recognize that debts must come due.

Chapter XVI: The Offer of the Mother

Offal-Eater is visited by Truss and Mordaunt, who promise a reward. He agrees to loosen his tongue.

The leeches want him to reveal the prince’s apostasy and prurient passions.

He is loyal only to his own insatiable hunger.

Key Moment: The mad witness is bought to destroy the prince.

Chapter XVII: A Speckled Message

Agnes selects a moth with one speckled wing and one white. She fixes a scroll to its leg and sends it to Ironmanse.

Lord Thrasamund reads the note, calling Liuprand a miscreant wretch. He sends a reply.

Agnes waits in the garden, feeding the moth nectar upon its return.

Key Moment: Agnes uses the secret language to negotiate her own forfeit.

Chapter XVIII: A Treacherous Treaty

Agnes prepares to meet Thrasamund, marking days by fading bruises. She orders Waltrude to watch over Tisander.

Thrasamund arrives, demanding Liuprand hear his apology. Liuprand bows his head in submission.

Agnes watches with bewilderment and fear.

Key Moment: The stage is set for a meeting that will decide the House of Teeth’s fate.

Chapter XIX: The Bride of Eyes

Thrasamund presents his son Childeric, now a shell who cannot move or speak. Agnes offers herself as wife to the vegetable.

She claims marriage need not be a match of love. Liuprand’s face goes white with shock.

Thrasamund agrees to consider the terms.

Key Moment: Agnes’s forfeit to become the bride of the man Liuprand mutilated.

Chapter XX: Chains of Desire

Liuprand confronts Agnes, saying life without her is posthumous existence. Agnes insists she must make this right.

Liuprand claims he cares nothing for his legacy. They stand in impenetrable silence.

He asks if she loves him. She replies, “With every fragment of my being, forever.”

Key Moment: The lovers affirm their devotion in the face of impending ruination.

Chapter XXI: A Childhood Tale

Waltrude tells Tisander stories of his father’s childhood, describing Liuprand as gentle. She realizes his love for Agnes has sullied him.

Heading to the chapel, she is blocked by Truss and Mordaunt. They force her into a game of chance.

The coin lands, and the thin leech smiles.

Key Moment: The leeches take control of the castle’s fate through chance.

Chapter XXII: The Hyacinth Girl

Agnes waits in the chapel, lit with torches and scented with purple hyacinths. She contemplates her injurious position.

Thrasamund enters instead of Liuprand. He tells her she is not nearly so beautiful as her cousin.

He draws his dagger as Agnes’s breath comes in labored gasps.

Key Moment: The betrayal and murder of Agnes by the House of Eyes.

Chapter XXIII: Grotesque Recompense

Thrasamund’s men drag Agnes’s dark crimson body to the altar. Ninian reveals she opened the barbican herself.

Offal-Eater latches onto Agnes’s wrist, tasting Seraphine blood. Liuprand arrives and finds his beloved dead.

Thrasamund forces the prince to prove his love upon her corpse. Liuprand, mad with grief, thrusts into her.

Key Moment: The total psychological and spiritual destruction of Prince Liuprand.

Chapter XXIV: The Resurrection of Design

Castle Crudele’s golden vaults are empty, the gold siphoned by Marozia. Thrasamund orders Agnes buried in the old ways.

Some say it was Adele-Blanche’s magic. Others believe it was the vitality of Liuprand’s Seraphine seed.

Within the rictus of death, a movement occurs in Agnes’s once-barren womb.

Key Moment: The design of resurrection is fulfilled through a beastly union.

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