The Thorn Queen Summary: A Dark YA Romantasy Sequel
TL;DR: The Thorn Queen by Sasha Peyton Smith: An Introduction
Four months after a wedding that was supposed to end a faerie queen’s reign of bargains, Ivy Benton sits on England’s throne as the wife of an immortal king.
In The Thorn Queen, Sasha Peyton Smith returns to an 1848 Britain where rogue faeries roam freely, cruel deals are struck in drawing rooms, and the woman wearing the crown holds almost no real power.
Ivy’s husband, King Bram, rules both England and the Otherworld, a realm where time moves differently and where her sister and her true love have vanished.
Separated from everyone she trusts, Ivy builds a quiet circle of allies inside a court that treats human suffering as entertainment.
The novel follows what she is willing to risk to reach the people she lost.
- Bram forces Ivy and Lydia into a series of lethal trials to decide who rules the Otherworld.
- Emmett is found alive but broken, having spent months in Bram’s dungeons.
- Ivy’s rebellion hinges on Ferrinus, a legendary cold-iron blade that can kill a faerie king.
- The story ends with Bram dead, Lydia resurrected as the Otherworld’s true queen, and Ivy confirmed as England’s ruler.
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Who Will Enjoy This Book?
- Readers of young adult romantasy set in historical England.
- Fans of dark faerie courts, deadly trials, and forbidden romance.
- Readers who prefer sister bonds at the center of a fantasy plot.
- Those who read the first book, The Rose Bargain, and want the sequel’s resolution.
Characters in This Book
| Character | Role |
| Ivy Benton | Queen of England and wife to King Bram, who leads a secret rebellion against him. |
| King Bram | Immortal faerie king ruling England and the Otherworld, and the living doorway between them. |
| Prince Emmett De Vere | Bram’s foster brother, regent of the Otherworld, and Ivy’s love interest. |
| Lydia Benton | Ivy’s older sister, who was married to Bram first and later crowned Queen of the Otherworld. |
| Rhion | Bram’s oldest friend and chief adviser, who secretly aids Ivy’s rebellion. |
| Queen Mor (Moryen) | Bram’s mother and former tyrant of England, imprisoned beneath Bath’s Roman ruins. |
| Faith Fairchild | Ivy’s lady-in-waiting and rebel fighter. |
| Marion Thorne | Ivy’s lady-in-waiting and Faith’s partner in the rebellion. |
| Olive Lisonbee | Ivy’s lady-in-waiting, enchanted by Bram to feed the imprisoned Queen Mor. |
| Emmy Ito | Ivy’s lady-in-waiting and member of the rebel circle. |
| Ben | An eighteen-year-old cook’s apprentice who acts as an informant for the rebels. |
| Eduart | A 410-year-old former banner knight kept alive by a magical bargain. |
| Este Thorne | Marion’s seventeen-year-old sister and the youngest rebel. |
| Ethel | Ivy’s elderly friend, whose death in a faerie flight bargain drives Ivy’s resolve. |
| Lady Thalia | A powerful faerie noblewoman who enters a political marriage with Emmett. |
| Duddon | A river sprite who assists Ivy in exchange for her tears. |
| Fennick and Nan | Faerie pub owners in Little Londinium who shelter Emmett. |
| Lord Langley | Speaker of Parliament who presides over the transfer of royal power in London. |
The Thorn Queen Summary
Spoilers ahead. This section covers the plot of The Thorn Queen from beginning to end, including the ending.
The novel opens in the Otherworld dungeons, where Prince Emmett De Vere is starving in a cell. He measures time by a healing scar and clings to a torn shirt, a dead boutonniere, and a shattered pocket watch.
Four months later, Ivy Benton lives at the Royal Crescent in Bath as Queen of England. Bram sleeps in her bed at night but ignores her in public, and she hides her hatred for him behind stories about a faerie king.
At a revel, Ivy’s plan to recruit the courtier Aurelia Vallen collapses when Bram’s guards drag Aurelia away. Rhion then hints that Ivy’s lady-in-waiting Olive leaves the house every morning at eleven.
Ivy finds the body of a young girl who had been trapped in an enchanted deer mask, frozen on the sidewalk. Bram dismisses the death, and Ivy’s friend Ethel is later killed by two faeries who trick her into a bargain to fly.
Following Ben’s observation that Olive returns each day soaking wet, Ivy and her ladies descend into the Roman ruins beneath Bath. There they find Olive enchanted, feeding Queen Mor glazed buns and milk inside an underground cell.
Rhion admits that Bram has become irredeemable and confirms that Lydia is alive in the Otherworld. He explains that Bram himself is the conduit between worlds, and that Ivy must make him drunk on intense human emotion to open a portal.
At a revel, Ivy lets her hatred for Bram surface while pretending it is passion. Overwhelmed, an intoxicated Bram opens a glowing doorway on his bed, and Ivy steps through into the Otherworld.
Inside the opalescent castle, Ivy is seized by guards and dragged into a ballroom. She finds Lydia on a throne with a diamond crown, and Emmett beside her wearing a crown of his own.
Lydia explains that she has lived two years in the Otherworld because of time distortion, and that Bram married her first. Emmett refuses to believe Ivy is real, accusing her of being a selkie shape-shifter.
Lydia proves Ivy’s identity with shared childhood memories, but the sisters argue over who suffered more. Emmett eventually carries a sleeping Ivy back to her room and sleeps outside her door to guard her.
In the town square, Bram announces a competition between Ivy and Lydia to determine the single Queen of the Otherworld. He takes Marion and Faith hostage in the dungeons to force Ivy to compete, and guards knock her unconscious.
For the first trial, Bram sends the sisters into an old-growth forest to hunt a creature marked with his seal. Guided by the river sprite Duddon, Ivy finds a baby unicorn, but Lydia snaps off its horn and kills it to win.
Ivy later sneaks into the dungeons, frees Marion and Faith, and discovers Queen Mor imprisoned nearby. She coaxes Bram into releasing her friends to guest rooms, then catches Emmett watching her while another faerie kisses him.
On a moonlit terrace, Emmett admits he believed Ivy died on their wedding night and endured two years of torture holding onto her memory. Separately, Lydia heals the unicorn’s horn and sets it free beyond the castle gates.
Emmett takes Ivy through Little Londinium, where faerie tavern owners Fennick and Nan treat him like family. Their walk ends in an argument over his ties to Lydia and his role as Bram’s regent.
At a garden revel, a love potion leaves Ivy and Emmett kissing before he pulls away in horror. Emmett makes bargains across the court to keep word of the kiss from reaching Bram.
Emmett then presents his research on Ferrinus, a cold-iron blade Bram once used to kill his own father. Rhion reveals the blade was hidden in a cottage in the woods, and the group plans to retrieve it and force Bram to abdicate.
On the journey, a bridge spirit demands a button and a memory from each traveler. It rejects Ivy’s memory of Emmett and casts her into an illusion where she has been missing for seventy years.
The others reach the cottage, which is overrun by Redcaps. Rhion burns the cottage down, and a dying Redcap reveals that Ferrinus was thrown into the forbidden Isern Caves.
Ivy wakes from the illusion in the garden with Emmett holding her. She devises a plan to trick Bram into choosing the Isern Caves as the setting for the second trial.
Inside the cave, Ivy trips over Ferrinus and is flooded with visions of Emmett’s two years of captivity. She learns he entered a political marriage with Lady Thalia to protect human lives and Lydia.
Ivy wins the trial but confronts Emmett about the marriage, feeling betrayed that he hid it. Lydia then brings her a stack of letters Emmett wrote during his imprisonment, and the two reconcile and pledge to face the final trial together.
Bram arrives in Ivy’s bedroom and asks her to explain the human concept of love. He reveals he has watched her since childhood and refuses her request for a divorce, promising the final trial will be more brutal.
Knowing Bram suspects the rebellion, Ivy and Emmett force Queen Mor to open a portal to Kensington Palace. Mor double-crosses them, dragging Ivy back to the Otherworld ballroom and crushing her hand under her heel.
Ivy stabs Bram in the heart with Ferrinus, but the wound heals instantly. The blade was forged, and only an unspilled, unforged cold-iron weapon can kill him.
Bram locks Ivy in a dungeon to starve, but she discovers that as a crowned queen she can open portals herself. Emmett leaps through to join her, and Bram recaptures them both.
Bram forces Emmett into a fencing duel, then orders the final trial in a massive marble coliseum. Ivy and Lydia are commanded to fight to the death while thousands of faeries watch.
Both sisters refuse to harm each other despite a dark magical voice urging them to kill. Enraged, Bram hurls Ferrinus into Lydia’s heart, killing her instantly.
The land revolts: an earthquake shatters the coliseum, rain pours down, and trees erupt from the marble floor. Duddon returns Ivy’s lost silver sword, and she finds Bram pinned to a tree by writhing branches.
Recognizing the silver sword as unspilled cold iron, Ivy drives it into Bram’s chest and kills him. Glowing vines then wrap around Lydia’s body and submerge her in white light, restoring her to life as the immortal Queen of the Otherworld.
Queen Mor vanishes, leaving only a ring of bloodred lux flowers behind. Lydia outlaws the torture of humans and establishes a new system of justice in the Otherworld, though her resurrection binds her permanently to the realm.
Ivy, Emmett, Faith, and Marion return to London, where Parliament votes overwhelmingly to crown Ivy as Queen of England with Emmett as her regent and husband. Twenty years later, in 1868, Ivy tucks in her youngest daughter, Pippa, who asks to hear once more “the story of the faerie king.”
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Summary by Chapter
Spoilers below. The book contains thirty-two numbered chapters, an opening perspective section, interstitial character point-of-view sections, and an epilogue. This section offers a brief look at each part for readers who want to see what is inside.
Prince Emmett De Vere (Opening Section): Emmett is held in a dark Otherworld dungeon, malnourished and scarred. He measures time by his healing wounds and holds onto reminders of Ivy until exhaustion takes him.
Chapter One: In October 1848 Bath, Ivy lives as Queen of England with Bram, hiding her hatred behind a bedtime story. Her plan to recruit Aurelia Vallen fails when guards seize the courtier.
Chapter Two: Bram forces a courtier to apologize on her knees while enchanted humans dance until their feet bleed. Rhion tells Ivy that Olive leaves the house every morning at eleven.
Chapter Three: Ivy discovers the deer-masked girl’s corpse outside, then meets Rhion, who poses a riddle about promises. She spends the day handling human governance and grieving aristocrats in the Pump Room.
Chapter Four: Bram’s promised “present” turns out to be Ethel, who dies after two faeries trick her into a flying bargain. Bram dismisses the death as a voluntary transaction, and Rhion answers his riddle: “A promise.”
Chapter Five: Ivy and her ladies enter the Roman baths and find a hidden cell holding Queen Mor. They discover Olive enchanted and feeding her, and Ivy plays gin rummy with Mor to bargain for information.
Chapter Six: Rhion admits Bram has become a monster and confirms Lydia is alive in the Otherworld. He explains that Bram is the living door between worlds and breaks Olive’s enchantment.
Chapter Seven: Rhion explains that Ivy must make Bram drunk on intense emotion to open a portal. Ivy lets her hatred surface at a revel, and an intoxicated Bram opens a doorway she steps through.
Chapter Eight: Ivy crosses a pastel market town to the opalescent castle, where guards seize her. She finds Lydia crowned on a throne beside Emmett, who appears intimate with courtiers.
Chapter Nine: Lydia reveals she has spent two years in the Otherworld and that Bram married her first. Emmett insists Ivy is a selkie and rejects her coldly.
Chapter Ten: Lydia confirms Ivy’s identity through childhood memories, and the sisters argue over their suffering. Lydia tricks Emmett into checking on Ivy, who sleeps while he carries her to bed.
Prince Emmett De Vere (POV Section): Emmett tells Lydia he is tormented by Ivy’s arrival and recalls how Bram lied about her death. He sleeps outside Ivy’s door to protect her.
Chapter Eleven: Eloree dresses Ivy and leads her to the town square, where Bram announces a competition between the sisters. He takes Marion and Faith hostage, and guards knock Ivy unconscious.
Chapter Twelve: Emmett cuts Ivy out of a suffocating corset in the carriage, and Bram hands the sisters swords for the first trial. Ivy finds a branded baby unicorn, but Lydia kills it to win.
Chapter Thirteen: Ivy frees Marion and Faith from the dungeons and finds Queen Mor in a nearby cell. She coaxes Bram into moving her friends to guest rooms.
Chapter Fourteen: On a moonlit terrace, Emmett admits he believed Ivy died and endured two years of torture. Lydia heals the unicorn and sets it free beyond the castle gates.
Chapter Fifteen: Emmett walks Ivy through Little Londinium and introduces her to Fennick and Nan. Their time at a waterfall ends in an argument over his ties to Lydia.
Chapter Sixteen: Faith and Marion dress Ivy for a revel, where a love potion leads to a passionate kiss with Emmett. He pulls away and then bargains across the court to hide the event from Bram.
Chapter Seventeen: Rhion explains that he engineered Faith and Marion’s capture to gain Bram’s trust. Emmett presents his research on Ferrinus, and the group plans to retrieve the blade.
Chapter Eighteen: The group crosses a bridge that demands a button and a memory from each traveler. The spirit rejects Ivy’s memory of Emmett and casts her into an illusion of seventy lost years.
Faith Fairchild (POV Section): Faith recounts crossing the bridge and Rhion confirming Ivy is unharmed. The group reaches the cottage, fights the Redcaps, and learns Ferrinus was thrown into the Isern Caves.
Chapter Nineteen: Ivy wakes from the illusion in Emmett’s arms and the group discusses the forbidden caves. She plans to trick Bram into choosing the caves as the second trial.
Chapter Twenty: Bram names the Isern Caves as the second trial. Ivy finds Ferrinus but is subjected to visions of Emmett’s two years, including his marriage to Lady Thalia.
Chapter Twenty-One: Ivy hides the blade and confronts Emmett, who confesses the marriage was political. Lydia brings her the letters he wrote during his imprisonment, and they reconcile.
Chapter Twenty-Two: The rebels finalize their plan in a greenhouse. Bram visits Ivy’s room, asks about love, reveals he has watched her since childhood, and refuses a divorce.
Chapter Twenty-Three: Ivy and Emmett force Queen Mor to open a portal to Kensington Palace. Mor drags Ivy back to the Otherworld and crushes her hand, and Ivy stabs Bram with Ferrinus.
Chapter Twenty-Four: Bram’s wound heals because the blade was forged. Locked in the deepest cell, Ivy realizes she can open portals herself and manifests one to Kensington Palace.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Emmett leaps through the portal, and Bram recaptures them both. Bram forces Emmett into a fencing match, and Emmett declares his love for Ivy before being knocked unconscious.
Chapter Twenty-Six: After three days confined, Ivy is dressed in white and taken to a marble coliseum. Bram announces that the final trial requires the sisters to fight to the death.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Neither sister will fight, and each turns her weapon on herself to save the other. A dark voice urges them to kill, but Bram hurls Ferrinus into Lydia’s heart.
Chapter Twenty-Eight: The land revolts with an earthquake, rain, and erupting trees. Duddon returns Ivy’s silver sword, and she kills the pinned Bram with unspilled cold iron.
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Glowing vines wrap around Lydia’s body and restore her to life. The crowd hails her as the true Queen of the Otherworld.
Chapter Thirty: Ivy and Lydia reunite, and Queen Mor is found to have vanished, leaving only bloodred lux flowers. The King’s Guard kneels to Lydia.
Chapter Thirty-One: Lydia reveals her resurrection binds her permanently to the Otherworld. She addresses her court, outlawing human torture and establishing a fair system of justice.
Chapter Thirty-Two: Ivy, Emmett, Faith, and Marion return to England after emotional farewells. Parliament votes to crown Ivy as Queen, with Emmett as her regent and husband.
Epilogue: Twenty years later in 1868, Ivy and Emmett live at Kensington Palace with their children. Ivy tucks in her youngest daughter, Pippa, who asks to hear “the story of the faerie king.”
Book Details at a Glance
- Genre & Subgenre: Young Adult Fantasy / Historical Faerie Fantasy
- Core Narrative Tropes: Dark court intrigue, forced marriage, forbidden lovers separated across worlds, deadly trials, sisterly sacrifice, rebel underground
- Tone & Atmosphere: Melancholic, gothic, romantic, tense, and lyrical
- Primary Conflict: Ivy’s effort to overthrow King Bram, rescue Lydia and Emmett from the Otherworld, and protect human society
- Pacing Style: Fast-paced and high-stakes, alternating quiet emotional confrontations with violent twists and magical trials
- ISBN: 978-0063481152 (ISBN-10: 0063481154)
- Pages: 384
- Book Structure: An opening perspective section, thirty-two numbered chapters, interstitial character point-of-view sections, and an epilogue
Quotes from The Book
“There once was a faerie king who was beloved by his people…”
“Love is nice, but your hate tastes so much better.”
“I had faith in the palace guards to keep us safe. I was willfully naive about a lot of things. I know that now.”
“Sometimes a single minute matters more than one hundred years.”
“I would have endured one thousand years bearing the loss of you if it meant I got to hold on to the memories of what we had.”
“Because love doesn’t care if you’re deserving or not. It just is.”
“Love is the knowing, no matter how hard everything else is, you’ve got a soft, warm place to land.”
“It’s your job to protect her… My baby sister.”
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