A Fate Forged in Fire summary - Full recap with spoilers

Read an A Fate Forged in Fire summary, the first book in Hazel McBride’s Bonded to Beasts Series. If you are wondering what happened in A Fate Forged in Fire by Hazel McBride, then you are in the right place! Get ready for the next book by reading up on exactly what happened in the first one.

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Author
Hazel McBride

Ratings
4.2 stars on Amazon
3.7 stars on Goodreads
Add A Fate Forged in Fire at Goodreads.

Bonded to Beasts Series
#1 A Fate Forged in Fire (this page)
#2 A Queen Crowned in Flames (synopsis)

***** Everything below is a SPOILER *****

What happened in A Fate Forged in Fire?

Your A Fate Forged in Fire summary:

In the land of Erisocia, Aemyra is the daughter of Draeven, a branch prince of the royal family, Clan Daercathian. Draeven was not in line for the throne years ago. According to lore, the Goddesses are all women, and a matriarchy must rule Tir Teine, the kingdom of fire. However, in a hundred years, no daughter has been born, and so royal Daercathian men rule instead. When Aemyra was born, her father knew she would be killed by the ruling king. Aemyra has trademark green eyes and red hair as a royal and has to hide her hair. At birth, her mother died, and Aemyra was taken away and raised by adoptive parents alongside her brother Adarian and her adoptive family’s younger son Lachlann. Orlagh, their adoptive mother, has an apothecary and Padraig, their father, is a blacksmith. The twins help with both businesses while waiting for Draeven to make his move and establish Aemyra as his heir.

Everyone in their makeshift family is a Duileach, a rare person blessed by the Goddesses with the ability to control an element. There are five kingdoms total in Erisocia, each with its own line of Duileach able to control elements. Tir Teine is the fire kingdom. Duileach can also Bond beasts in a symbiotic relationship, granting them more power. In each Kingdom, people can bond different beasts. Tir Teine has dragons, phoenixes, chimaera, firebirds, and other beasts associated with fire, but the kingdom of air has griffons and pegasi, and so on. Once Bonded, due to a treaty, Duileach cannot leave their respective kingdom. Two hundred years ago, there was a big civil war to claim the centermost kingdom, and many magical beasts died. Around a hundred dragons died in the civil war. Only three are left, and they are all male. Aemyra knows the ruling king, who is Bonded, is old, ill, and rumored to be mad. She plans to wait for him to die and then Bond his dragon Kolreath and take her place as Queen.

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Prince Evander is the crown prince of Tir Teine, and his younger brother is Prince Fiorean. Prince Fiorean comes to the blacksmith shop to pick up a commissioned sword. It is very beautiful with a large garnet, but its ornamentation makes it unwieldy for combat. Aemyra is jealous that her brother was commissioned for a sword while she was forced to make armor, so she makes pointed comments about the sword. Prince Fiorean is also very handsome. He chooses not to engage.

Aemyra and her brother go to a bar after work. Aemyra is attracted to her friend, the bartender Sorcha, and flirts with and kisses her. Some priests of the Chosen religion are also there and comment that Sorcha should focus on giving birth as a woman, not a relationship with another woman. Aemyra gets into a bar fight over Sorcha and defending the Goddesses. The True Religion is a religion that upholds patriarchy and denounces women and magic. One kingdom, Tir Uir, has already fallen to the Chosen priests. After leaving the bar, Aemryra and Adarian encounter a play where lore about Draeven, the treaty keeping Bonded in kingdoms, and more is revealed. There is an unBonded wild black dragon called the Terror who is presumed dead after being chased away by the King.

The next morning, Aemyra goes to the Goddess grove and sees it was destroyed by the Chosen priests. An attacker captures her, but it’s just Draeven in disguise. He lectures her about keeping up with her swordwork and queenly studies. He has people in place for a coup. They go to the fire Goddess temple, and people swear to her as their queen.

The king finally dies, and Aemyra upends the funeral at the temple by appearing and declaring herself queen with the support of the priestesses. The royal family is astounded and angry. They request a treaty during which the king will be mourned, and succession decided after. Aemyra goes to claim the king’s dragon but finds Fiorean and a drunk Evander in the woods. The dragon accepts neither her nor Evander and flies away.

Aemyra returns, defeated, and Draeven chastises her. In the night, the Covenanters/Chosen attack the temple, driving her and Draeven out of the capital to Penryth, a city on an island her father holds as his inheritance. While fleeing, Aemyra fights Fiorean and Evander, who has Bonded Kolreath. Draeven plots to gain allies to support Aemyra’s claim, ordering her to stay out. Instead, she goes with her brother to a village that was attacked by Covenanters and finds the Terror. She Bonds the Terror, who turns out to be female, and names her Terrea.

Aemyra’s father returns from negotiations and reveals that her adoptive family was burned to death by Fiorean for harboring her. She sneaks out on Terrea to find and kill Fiorean, but is captured instead. She is forced to marry Fiorean, to solidify her power in the ruling branch’s line and to legitimize her as a princess, but not a queen. Fiorean is supposed to bed her during the wedding, but instead of raping her, he shakes the bed while others listen outside and cuts and bleeds his hand onto the sheets as evidence of virginity. Aemyra plays politics, plotting an escape while Evander, the new king, slowly goes mad. Her food and water is drugged with a potion that stops her from using her fire powers. There are four royal sons, including Evander, and all are now married. Between the three prior married brothers, there are around 10 small children, but two died after Aemyra arrived, and the family blames her for “poisoning” them even though she was nowhere near. By avoiding food, Aemyra doesn’t ingest any more potion and her powers briefly return, but she is weak from lack of food. Aemyra has a failed escape attempt and reveals she is Bonded by exhibiting great power. The priests assume it is a hatchling and try to make her call her dragon so they can command it. They reveal Orlagh is alive, and so is Sorcha, now a prisoner. Aemyra promises to call her dragon to save them, but the captain of the guard kills Orlagh anyway. Aemyra fights the captain and is wounded. Terrea appears and kills some people but flies away at Aemyra’s command. Fiorean stitches Aemyra’s wounds and reveals he does not really communicate with his dragon, but just try to control Aervor. His dragon killed Aemyra’s adoptive family because he could not control it.

With this, Aemyra finds herself growing sympathetic to Fiorean. Fiorean’s birthday arrives, and there is a dance. At the dance, a lord tries to force her to dance. He injures her, but Fiorean appears and cuts off his hand for hurting her. He does not want her to be powerless, so he gives her a dagger. She turns on Fiorean and dares him to explain why she should spare him. Fiorean reveals he believes Kolreath, the king’s dragon, is driving Evander mad. He has bonded with too many over the years, and his mind is unraveling. Also, Fiorean knows women are mistreated in the kingdom ruled by the Chosen, and that is why all of his brothers have married women from that kingdom, to rescue them and bring them and their households to Tir Teine. And it was an accident that his dragon killed her family, who was fighting to escape. Aemyra kisses Fiorean.

Aemyra and Fiorean grow closer together. He gives her food and water without the potion and lets her keep the dagger. Fiorean takes her outside the castle via a secret passageway, and Aemyra helps him connect more with his dragon, Aervor, growing to know him more rather than using him as a power source. Terrea appears, wanting to rescue Aemyra, and fights Aervor, forcing him to surrender to her. Aemyra begs Fiorean to join her, but he won’t turn against his family. He does believe she may be better for the kingdom, though. He tells Aemyra her father is marching toward the capital to claim it with an army. Fiorean also reveals that his father abused him and his mother as part of his madness. He has a scar on his face, which he hides with his hair. Fiorean also admits he is very attracted to Aemyra. They have sex.

Aemyra uses her healing skills learned from Orlagh to help cure the royal children. It turns out they are being poisoned, but by whom? Also, Draeven has spies in the castle, and Aemyra is able to reach the kitchen to get and receive messages. Her father wants her to bide her time in the castle and set it up to fall.

Aemyra returns to her room one day to find the Chosen Priest there. Priests use another secret passageway to kidnap her and attempt forced sterilization to prevent more Duileach from being born. Fiorean intercedes and rescues her. She kills the captain of the guard, who was also a participant, with Fiorean’s blessing.

How did A Fate Forged in Fire end? A Fate Forged in Fire summary

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Fiorean comforts her after her traumatic experience. With this new monstrosity, he is on her side. He arranges to help her escape through the secret passage they used earlier to visit the dragons and calls Aemyra his queen. He also releases Sorcha himself. Aemyra returns to her father with their plans. Aemyra promises her father will not attack the army amassing afield to defend the capital from Draeven, and Fiorean promises he will not attack Draeven’s forces either. Draeven does not trust Fiorean, thinking Aemyra fell for a man and pretty face, and asks Aemyra to kill him. Sorcha saltily implies Aemyra was busy having fun with Fiorean and is not committed to the war. Aemyra tells her father regardless of Fiorean, they must take the capital, so they decide to trust her plan. Aemyra, Terrea, Draeven, and Geallach, Draeven’s dragon, will fly to the capital to take it with their army marching behind, and Fiorean will cause the guard to stand down and his dragon will join theirs. When Aemyra arrives, the capital is held by Covenanters, who fight her army. Kolreath and Evander fight Draeven and Geallach. Kolreath and Gealleach are badly injured, but Evander is killed. Aemyra and her father storm the capital with no dragons to oppose them. But when they enter the throne room, Fiorean is on the throne. He blames Aemyra for Draeven’s forces far away killing his when they were each supposed to stand down. Fiorean also reveals Draeven was probably behind the poisoning of the children after all. They caught one of Draeven’s spies doing it. Aemyra turns on Draeven, who admits he could not resist Fiorean’s vulnerable forces. A new chemical, a rejection agent, is released, stopping Aemyra from accessing her powerful magic. Adarian is hurt badly in his leg. Aemyra, Adarian, and Draeven are forced to flee. Aervor does not pursue their army because he submitted to Terrea as his matriarch, but the Covenanter army is not far behind. Aemyra swears a blood oath to kill Fiorean for betraying her, and it ends on a cliffhanger.

There you go! That’s a recap of what happened in A Fate Forged in Fire by Hazel McBride. We hope you enjoyed this A Fate Forged in Fire summary with spoilers.

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