A Gathering of Shadows recap

Four months after the black stone, Kell is a restricted, resented royal messenger and Rhy, unkillable while Kell lives, is staging a great international magicians' tournament in Red London. Lila Bard has joined the privateer crew of Captain Alucard Emery, learning the sea and hiding how fast her magic is growing. In Black London, Holland is found half-dead by Osaron, the living magic of that dead world, and takes its bargain: it makes him whole, restores White London to life, and puts him on its throne, in exchange for a way into a living world. Holland sends his agent Ojka after Kell. In Red London, Kell enters the tournament in disguise and so does Lila, and their secrets come apart in front of each other: Lila is Antari too. The tournament is broken up by an attack. Lila kills Ojka, but Holland takes Kell through to White London to use his blood as a doorway, and Rhy is stabbed and survives only because of the bond. Lila and Alucard sail for White London.

Previously: four Londons occupy the same point in different worlds, and only Antari, marked by one solid black eye, can travel between them. Kell, raised in the Red London palace as the crown's messenger, was handed a black stone that turned out to be a piece of Black London, the world magic consumed and which was sealed away centuries ago. Hunted for it, he was robbed of it in Grey London by a street thief named Delilah Bard, and the two of them ended up carrying it back toward its source together. The rulers of White London, the twins Athos and Astrid Dane, wanted the stone for their starving world; they kept the only other living Antari, Holland, bound to their service by a spell cut into his skin. Lila killed Athos and Kell broke Holland's binding, but Astrid had already crossed into Red London and taken Prince Rhy's body. Kell destroyed her, which meant killing his brother, then tied his own life to Rhy's with Antari blood magic to bring him back. Rhy now cannot die while Kell lives, and the two of them share pain. Kell bound the stone into the dying Holland, pushed him through the door into Black London and sealed it. Lila, refusing a comfortable place in a magical world, left for a ship of her own.

Four months on, Lila Bard is at sea. She has talked her way onto the Night Spire, a privateer ship licensed by the Arnesian crown, whose captain, Alucard Emery, is an exiled Red London noble with an eye for magic and for people who are hiding something. She is learning the trade, learning to fight, and quietly teaching herself magic. In Red London, Kell is under a much shorter leash: the king has curtailed his travelling, the court blames him for what nearly happened to the prince, and the bond he made means anything he suffers Rhy suffers too. Rhy, unable to die and unable to say so, is throwing himself into organizing a great international magicians' tournament to be hosted by his city. And in the dead world beyond the sealed door, Holland is not dead. Starving among the ruins of Black London, he is found by something that speaks to him and offers him a bargain.

The thing that found Holland is Osaron, the living magic of Black London: a will without a body, ancient and patient, that trades in offers. It makes Holland whole again and gives him what he has wanted his whole life, his own city restored, and in return it means to be carried into a living world. Holland returns to White London, takes its throne, and watches the grey city come back to life around him. He raises up a fighter named Ojka, giving her strength she was never born with, and sends her out to find Kell, because what Osaron needs is Antari blood. Meanwhile the Night Spire makes for Red London: Alucard has business there and the tournament is drawing competitors and royal delegations from Faro and Vesk. Lila, who has never been near a magical contest in her life, decides she is going to enter it.

The city fills up for the tournament. Kell, forbidden to compete as himself and desperate for anything that is his own, enters under a false name and a mask, with Rhy's collusion. Lila does the same, buying her way into another competitor's place. Alucard's arrival reopens old ground with Rhy, whom he knew well before he was exiled from the country, and puts him at odds with Kell immediately. Lila and Kell find each other again in the middle of it, both lying about what they are doing there. Alucard, who sees magic as threads of color, has already worked out that Lila is far more than a clever thief with a knife, and presses her about it.

The tournament runs through its rounds in front of the visiting courts, with Kell and Lila both advancing behind their disguises and neither able to say so aloud. In the process Lila's secret comes apart: she is Antari, the third living one, self-taught and largely untrained, and Kell and Alucard both learn it. Kell, who has spent the book being told what he is not allowed to be, has to decide what to do about a second unregistered Antari in a city that already fears the one it has. In White London, Holland's preparations are finished and Ojka has found what she was sent for; the attack on Red London is no longer a question of whether but of when, and it will come while the whole city is watching the arena.

The tournament ends in disaster rather than a ceremony. Ojka draws Kell away from the crowds and nearly kills him; Lila reaches them and kills her. It is not enough, because Ojka was only the opening move. Holland comes for Kell himself, overpowers him and drags him through to White London, since Osaron needs an Antari and Kell's blood will open a door into a living world. Inside the palace, Rhy is stabbed during the confusion and does not die, because he cannot while Kell lives; the secret of the bond, which the crown has guarded for months, is out. Lila, no longer hiding what she is, makes Alucard turn the Night Spire toward White London. The book closes with Kell a prisoner, Rhy wounded and effectively alone at the head of a frightened court, Holland restored and serving no one but the thing he bargained with, and Osaron ready to cross.

The tournament ends in disaster instead of a ceremony. Ojka lures Kell away from the arena and very nearly kills him before Lila reaches them and kills her instead. Holland then takes Kell himself and drags him through to White London, because what Osaron needs is an Antari, and Kell's blood will open a door into a living world. In the palace, Rhy is stabbed in the chaos and does not die, because he cannot while Kell lives, and the carefully kept secret of what Kell did to save him is no longer safe. Lila's own nature is now known to Kell and Alucard: she is Antari, the third of them, self-taught and largely untrained. She forces Alucard to turn the Night Spire toward White London to go after Kell. The book closes with Kell a prisoner in the world he was warned about, Rhy wounded on a throne he has not inherited, Holland restored and no longer anyone's servant, and Osaron poised to cross into a living city.