The Silver Queen

The Silver Queen is Book 2 of the Sovereign Trilogy.

Blurb
What blood contaminates, only blood can cleanse.

The last city on Earth is contaminated. Now blood is the only thing that can wash it clean.

Julia is trapped inside the Blue as the Nobles fight over the few humans who are still alive. When the dust settles and she finds herself shackled to a new master, she knows she must escape or die.

Meanwhile, Cam has gathered a handful of comrades and is on his way into the Red to rescue his queen. But not all of his friends can be trusted, and not all of them will make it back alive.

The Silver Queen is the second book in Josie Jaffrey’s Sovereign trilogy, set in a dystopian Europe where vampiric Nobles control the last remnants of the human race.

Synopsis (Spoilers)
This section will contain detailed spoilers. Many characters in this series also appear in other Silverse books, so clicking any links may lead to spoilers not only for this book but also for other series - use caution!

In the prologue, Charles attempts to threaten an awakening Emmy into revealing why she is immune to the contaminated blood which turns Silver into humans. She refuses to tell him anything, and headbutts him.

Lucas has left for the Red, leaving Julia in the Blue to deal with the aftermath of the Weeper attack on the city and the subsequent fighting between Nobles (which they refer to as the Contamination). As their kitchen has been destroyed in the fighting, she and Claudia search for a place to hide until the city has calmed down; they find every place they try covered in blood and corpses, including the home of the Candidates, who have all been killed. Eventually, Julia and Claudia find a cellar on the outskirts of the city that will be defensible. Claudia explains that the Silver behind the previous attack at the Nomination ceremony (where the words 'Make no more Silver' were daubed across the temple) were angry at the diminishing population of humans to provide blood for them; she thinks Rufus was involved. After the Weeper attack, the uncontaminated blood supply is even more limited, and the surviving humans will be in danger.

After a few hours of hiding, Julia is snatched from the cellar by Rufus, who takes her to the temple roof to show her that Lucas's garden is on fire and taunt her that Lucas will not return. He hints that he will be claiming her as his Attendant soon, and rips Lucas's earring from her ear. When Julia returns to the cellar, she finds Claudia unconscious; Rufus has drunk her blood and dropped her down the cellar steps.

Cam and Tommy and several other members of the Solis Invicti (including Viv, who is pregnant, and Alistair and Adewale) who are old enough to remember Emmy are riding out to rescue her from Charles; the younger members have been left behind under Lorelei's charge to manage the fighting in the Blue and prepare for the invasion from Charles's people. Lucas arrives at their camp, sent by Lorelei to join the rescue mission; he is greeted with suspicion by all but Viv and Cam. Cam saw Lucas fighting in the Blue, and knows he is extremely strong, but he is worried that Lucas has no training and no knowledge of the truth about the Weepers and the vaccine, let alone Emmy. He questions Lucas as they travel and realises that he has not had a normal Silver upbringing. They reach the lake where Cam left Felix, but Felix does not appear; Cam goes to track his scent.

Julia and Claudia head back to the main square to find a new hiding place and get Claudia's wounds seen to. They realise they are being tracked by Priscilla, a young Noble, who attacks Julia; Julia stabs her and flees with Claudia. They break into an abandoned house, and Claudia stitches up Julia's ear. Julia asks her to put Lucas's earring back in. Having cleaned herself of blood, Julia goes to Livia's house to find medicine for Claudia, and overhears Nobles discussing the contaminated blood and the possibility of being 'cured', which confuses her; they talk about needing to drink from the Servers now, not just their personal Attendants. While climbing over rooftops, she slips and reopens some of her wounds, making herself more conspicuous to the Silver. At Livia's, she find evidence that Livia was hiding people in the upper rooms; she realises that this was a hospital. She is attacked by a Silver who has tracked her scent, and she runs away, ending up in the square, where she becomes surrounded by Silver who attack her, and is thrown to the floor. Suddenly, the fighting stops and all the Silver kneel; Sol has appeared, and asks what has happened to his city.

Cam finds Felix, who offers to guide the rescue mission through the mountains. Things between them are awkward after their kiss. When Felix joins the group, Naia immediately expresses attraction to him. Alistair begins training Lucas. Six of the group, led by Cam, break off to scout ahead at Silver speed, with plans to reunite with the others at Ana and Vasile's lake settlement; Cam has to carry Felix as he is human. When they arrive they find that Vasile has died, and Chloe and Alex (who Cam sent to the town) have not yet arrived. Ana offers to let Cameron stay permanently, which prompts Cam and Felix to discuss Cam's conflicted emotions about remaining Silver. He resolves not to become human until Emmy has been found, though afterwards he would be content to. That night, Felix kisses Cam and makes it clear that he is interested in a relationship.

A week after Sol's return, Julia and Claudia are returning the kitchen to normal with the other girls who worked there, who had been sheltering in the palace with Livia and the Empress; the other girls are hostile to them, believing them to be contaminated. They go to the temple to collect food and Sol makes an announcement about how the city will function, including testing each human for contamination, and reallocating Attendants to the remaining Nobles. Claudia is assigned to the palace, but Lorelei makes sure Julia is reassigned to a particular Noble, though she does not reveal who, telling Julia she will find out the next day. When they return to the kitchen, many girls are missing, and Julia presumes they were contaminated and have been removed from the city. The next day, Julia reports to the temple and discovers her assigned Noble is Rufus. She meets Marcella, whom Rufus has kept safe during the chaos, but she is subdued, and Julia realises that they are both trapped. Julia is allowed to collect her belongings from the kitchen, and while there she speaks to Livia, who reveals that the hospital on the upper floor is for people who left the Blue (like Julia's parents) and occasionally return from the Red for healing; Julia realises that the Red is not necessarily a death sentence for humans, and her parents may still be alive.

Cam's rescue party is on the trail of Chloe and Alex, who they realise have been captured by one of the rogue Silver caravans from Charlestown. Eveline leaves to follow a scent she has picked up, which Cam finds suspicious. When the Solis Invicti catch up to the caravan, they take control of it easily and the Silver manning it run away; the Solis Invicti free the captive humans and ask for volunteers to donate blood as their stocks are running low, but the humans are understandably unwilling to begin with, though four eventually donate. Chloe reveals to Cam that Alex is the son of Darius, one of the rescue party; he had visited Charlestown six years ago, and therefore cannot be trusted to be loyal to Cam. Most of the humans, including Chloe and Alex, leave for Ana's lake town, and Cam tells them how to contaminate themselves to be safe from Weepers and Silver alike. Tommy is upset by this, and dislikes Cam's thoughts that maybe it is time for the Silver to die out. The Solis Invicti take over two more caravans, again freeing the humans and receiving blood donations, though Tommy makes Cam promise not to inform the humans to contaminate themselves. The fourth caravan they find has been destroyed and has no inhabitants; it does not look like Weepers attacked, unless they are gaining sentience. The Solis Invicti are unnerved that they have not yet come across the army which is meant to be on its way to invade the Blue; Cam is concerned there is a traitor in his party feeding information back to Charles. Unseen by Cam, Felix releases a bird with a note tied to its leg.

Julia has been with Rufus for a fortnight; he makes Marcella take Julia's blood with a needle and bring it to him. Claudia is allowed to visit, against Rufus's wishes, and is shocked at Julia's state. Claudia informs Julia that in the palace, the Attendants are well-treated and not bled often, as if the Nobles are waiting for them to recover. The girls discuss Livia's hospital and that there seem to be no outward differences between contaminated and uncontaminated humans; Julia brings up the idea of escape to the Red again, but Claudia does not want to go, as her life at the palace is good. Later that day, Julia is napping when an angry and possessive Rufus accosts her and bites her; it is extremely painful, unlike when Lucas drank from her. Julia flits in and out of consciousness for the rest of the day and night until Marcella arrives and stitches Julia's neck up. Julia remains extremely weak for several days, and Marcella stays by her side, taking care of her. As she recovers, she plans to escape in four days' time, when she is allowed out of Rufus's house to visit Claudia at the palace.

Cam and Felix see the invading army leaving its mountain stronghold, about four weeks later than expected. They overhear a rider inform the army that there are Weepers ahead, and though they tried to bait them with a contaminated human, the Weepers avoided it (again showing more intelligence than suspected). The army is enormous, with hundreds of SIlver, but they are badly trained and young. Emmy is not among the soldiers, so Cam and Felix press on to the stronghold to look for her; they find an entrance Cam had not spotted before, and he leaves a blood trail so the rest of the rescue party can catch up. Felix and Cam set up camp, finally alone and able to act on their attraction, but are interrupted by the noise of someone nearby. They agree to take watches overnight. The next morning, they are interrupted again by the arrival of the rest of their party, minus Eveline, who has split off again. Tommy arranges pairs of scouts to look for other entrances, leaving Aaron, Lucas, Cam and Felix at the camp. Cam and Lucas discuss the reality of the Red compared to what the residents of the Blue have been told, and Lucas resolves to contaminate Julia to keep her safe, though Cam points out that finding Emmy may mean that the contamination becomes irrelevant. When the scouts return they discuss how to warn the Blue about the approaching army; Alistair suggests just telling Lorelei to abandon the city, if there is a good supply of uncontaminated humans in the stronghold.

Julia heads to the palace to say goodbye to Claudia before escaping; she offers to let Marcella come with her but Marcella refuses, saying Rufus would chase her harder. Claudia gives Julia supplies, including knives and food, but neither girl can think of where to get shoes, as all humans are kept barefoot. Sol, who has been eavesdropping, tells Julia she can find shoes at the guardhouse, saying that he has a fondness for rebels; he expresses dislike of the way the Blue has been run without him. He offers to distract the guards while Julia makes a break for the boundary. At the guardhouse, Julia overhears Santos tell Lorelei that all the guards are needed by Sol for a drill; when they have gone, she steals practical clothes, shoes, and a crossbow. She crosses into the Red and is surprised at how anti-climactic it is. She comes across huts housing the missing contaminated Servers, who are harvesting food; one of them tells her to run.

Cam sees Felix talking to an unknown Silver, but Felix seems unconcerned when Cam confronts him. He sys that the Silver was someone he knew from Charlestown who happened to run across his scent, and that he had lied and said he was looking to trade meat he'd hunted. He swears he would never betray Cam, and they kiss, which Cam feels seals a pact between them. The Solis Invicti try to enter the stronghold, but although it had seemed deserted, there are Silver waiting for them. Tommy orders four of the group to fight them while the others move in to search for Emmy. Inside the stronghold, there are more Silver waiting to ambush them, including the man Felix was speaking to earlier, who seems surprised to see Felix again. Alistair points out that the defenders are all young and weak, and Tommy realises that the leaders of the stronghold must be buying time, probably in order to prepare contaminated blood to turn the Solis Invicti human. Felix takes the lead as contaminated blood will have no effect on him; as he approaches the leaders, he signals them and shakes the hand of one, before killing him. A fight ensues, until a scream is heard from further down the corridor, and the defenders run towards it, leaving the battle.The Solis Invicti follow, and find that Emmy has taken out all the defenders; she deliberately kills Charles, even though he is already human. She is emaciated and feral-seeming, and does not appear to recognise Cam. Lucas leaves to take word to the Blue.

Julia travels through the Red, heading East; she comes to a beach and decides to camp in a tree for the night before attempting to cross the lake to the other coast, which is visible, as she can hear howling on the other side. The next day she overhears two Nobles who have been sent by Rufus to look for her; they are not trying very hard and agree she is either dead, a Weeper, or still hiding out in the Blue. She builds a poor raft to keep her pack dry and has to propel it across the water by swimming behind it. When she reaches the other side, she is greeted by Galatea, a human girl about her age, who tells her Livia warned them to look out for her.

Emmy is recovering slowly as they travel back to the Blue, but Cam thinks she is hiding something. Felix tries to talk to Cam about his relationship to the Silver at the stronghold, but Cam tells him to tell the whole truth or leave. Cam talks to a distraught Emmy, who is horrified at how the world has changed, though she has been trying not to break down in front of the Solis Invicti; she asks after Drew and Sol, and Cam tells her Sol is alive but Drew is dead. In the night, Alistair goes missing, taking his kit and his horse, as well as Viv's notebook, which has information about the army; his trail leads towards Charlestown. Adewale reveals that though Alistair had promised he was not part of Laila's plans, he used to disappear into the Red and come back smelling of blood. Cam confronts Darius about how he fathered Alex, but Darius says that he has never been to Charlestown and he and Chloe met elsewhere. They travel on and find Alistair has overtaken them, meaning he is heading for the Blue, presumably to warn Laila about Emmy's return. Felix and Cam argue again about the truth, and Felix says it isn't safe to tell Cam the truth but that he doesn't want to lose him; they are interrupted before it can be resolved.

Julia follows Galatea back to the human camp, which is mostly women, and mostly runaways from the Blue. The leader of the camp is Sabina, who used to be a Candidate, but Julia's parents are not there. Galatea reveals that her people are "immune" to the Weepers, but that Julia isn't; they are willing to make her immune if she wishes. Julia likes life in the camp, but wants to travel to another settlement she hears about, to check if her parents are there. Galatea makes her immune by sharing her blood, but Julia does not realise this is the same as contamination until Sabina tells here. Julia realises she will never be able to see Lucas again. Two days later, she encounters Lucas while travelling; he is returning to the Blue from the Solis Invicti. He apologises for leaving her, and they fill each other in on what has been happening; they both realise they have changed immeasurably. Julia is shocked that Lucas wants to return to the Blue now that they have both escaped safely. They spend the night together.

Things are fraught among the Solis Invicti. Emmy reveals that she had previously seen Cam inside the stronghold, decades ago. Cam realises Felix used to be Silver, and used to work with Charles. He confronts Felix, who tells him that he had been spying for Charles to save Otho, but things had changed when he started falling for Cam; he tells Cam he loves him, and they kiss. Viv interrupts them and takes over the questioning, finding out that Felix had given the army false information to delay them. Viv and Cam realise that it wasn't Felix who alerted the stronghold to their arrival, but Eveline, who has turned traitor, and has been working with Lorelei. As Tommy left Lorelei in charge of the Blue (and they do not yet know Sol is awake), the Solis Invicti think she will just let the army in without resistance. Emmy confirms that Charles was experimenting with her blood to pass on her immunity to the vaccine, but she refuses to tell Cam the full extent of the abuse she suffered.

When Julia and Lucas wake up, he tells her he saw Lorelei with the approaching army, and explains that she had lied that Cam had requested Lucas join the rescue party; they realise that Lorelei orchestrated the Contamination. Julia decides to return to the Blue with Lucas, but they decide to wait to warn the Solis Invicti that the city is in enemy hands already. They argue, with Julia pointing out Lucas's privilege. A few days later, they are attacked by a Tacitum, a Silver whose mouth has been sewn shut; in order to defeat the Tacitum, Lucas asks for Julia's blood to heal, but she tells him she is contaminated. Lucas attempts to fight, but struggles; Julia shoots the Tacitum with her crossbow.

The Solis Invicti are about to overtake the army when they also encounter a Tacitum, but they defeat it easily. Emmy is growing very weak, but Cam realises that as she is immune to the vaccine, she could drink from Felix; Cam worries about pressuring him, but when he goes to ask, Felix has overheard and volunteers. Cam and Felix discuss their histories; Felix was born in Charlestown a few hundred years ago and was tricked into drinking contaminated blood by Richard. Cam worries about the future; he plans to take Emmy and run if Sol doesn't wake up or the remaining Silver try to experiment on Emmy, but Felix tells him it would be up to Emmy to decide. The group comes across Lucas's scent and the signs of his fight with the Tacitum; they start to track him.

Lucas is unconscious after the fight with the Tacitum, and Julia has built a hidden den for them. Eventually he gains semi-consciousness and bites her out of instinct, despite her being contaminated. They are discovered by the Solis Invicti just before he can drain Julia dry. When Julia wakes up, she overhears Viv explaining to Lucas that Julia must have been mistaken, or lied, about being contaminated; she realises that Galatea's contamination didn't work and she wasn't as safe in the forest as she had thought. Julia assumes Viv is the Queen until Lucas corrects her. Lucas apologises for biting Julia, and explains that contaminated blood with turn the Silver human. He tries to urge her to stay safely in the Red, but she decides to come back to the Blue to rescue Claudia.

Before crossing the water back to the Blue, the Invicti camp for the night, but they are attacked by dozens of Tacitum sent by Lorelei using information from Eveline. While the group is defending Emmy, several Tacitum snatch Felix. Cam gives chase, and catches up to them; Felix has turned most of them human. The Solis Invicti discover the army is only fifty miles behind them, and preparing to load up on blood to beat them to the Blue; they cross the lake immediately and decide to send Lucas back to the city to warn Sol. Apart from Cam, Tommy, and Viv, the Invicti are unhappy with the plan of fighting such a huge battle without blood, but Cam convinces them to carry on. As they prepare to move out, they are attacked by soldiers from the army.

Julia and Lucas arrive at the palace but cannot convince the guards to let them in. They try to sneak in, but are discovered by Rufus, who taunts them; Julia shoots him in the eye with her crossbow. Inside the palace they find Claudia, who informs them that a curfew has been instituted, so they must wait to find the King.

Cam and Tommy steal the blood vials from the belts of their attackers during the fight and pass them out to the Solis Invicti; however, some of them are contaminated, in a trick by Lorelei. Gul and Aaron are turned human; Gul dies but Aaron is merely wounded. The attackers flee at the sound of a whistle from the forest.

At the temple in the Blue, Julia and Lucas find that Sol has fallen back unconscious and has begun to be covered in gilding again. Viv arrives and realises that this means all their effort has been in vain. She tells Lucas and Julia to flee with Claudia before the city falls. In the Red, Emmy, too, is weakening, and needs to be carried into the city. Cam asks Felix to stay behind with Aaron to stay safe. As Cam carries Emmy into the city, Sol awakens; they meet in the square, growing stronger by the step. Emmy covers herself in Felix's blood and taunts the soldiers, who are so hungry they start to drink it from her; half of Lorelei's army is contaminated and becomes human.

Julia, Lucas and Claudia have set themselves up with crossbows on a rooftop overlooking the square. They and the Invicti attack the remainder of the army. Eveline attacks Cam, and tells him that this is all because she resents Emmy for having been human before she was Queen; he uses contaminated blood to turn Eveline human. Emmy kills Lorelei. The battle ends, and the remaining Invicti, including Lucas, swear fealty to Sol, but Cam is concerned that Sol and Emmy have been permanently changed by her ordeal, and that there is still much to do to secure their future.

Julia wants to leave the city again, as she cannot tolerate Silver rule any more, but Lucas asks her to stay as his equal. He reveals that he has silvered for her. She agrees to stay, for now.

Cam is conflicted as to whether to stay, as he wants to be with Felix but does not know if he will be welcome in the city, as a contaminated human; he decides to return to Felix.

In the Red, two men are watching Felix and Aaron, and make a comment about blue eyes. They retreat until it is time to make their move.

Sol and Emmy are finally alone. Emmy demands to know where their son is, but Sol is confused. Emmy says a woman took her son to deliver him to Sol, but it is clear Sol knows nothing of this.

In the Red, Alistair asks a messenger to tell whoever is now in charge of Charlestown that he has found the boy.