Read an Now I Rise summary with spoilers, book #2 in Kiersten White’s The Conqueror’s Saga. If you are wondering what happened in Now I Rise by Kiersten White, then you are in the right place! Get ready for the next book!

Special thanks to Chinesebun for providing this Now I Rise summary!

Author
Kiersten White

Ratings
4.5 stars on Amazon
4.2 stars on Goodreads
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The Conqueror’s Saga
#1 And I Darken summary (recap)
#2 Now I Rise (this page)
#3 Bright We Burn (synopsis)

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

What happened in Now I Rise?

Your Now I Rise summary:

Radu and his wife, Nazira, conspire to build Mehmed a navy to take Constantinople without the important Grand Vizier, Halil Vizier (formerly Halil Pasha), finding out. If he does, he will sabotage Mehmed. Radu believes Lada is happily on the Wallachian throne until he meets the Danesti boys from his childhood who claim the throne. 

Lada still has her personal Janissary men, but she is not on the throne. The Wallachian nobles rejected her claim, and now she is a vigilante terrorizing the neighboring country of Transylvania. 

Radu meets Urbana, a woman claiming to build cannons big enough to break Constantinople’s walls. Meanwhile, Lada allies with Hunyadi, a famous Crusader from Hungary, to take her throne. He killed Vlad and Mircea, who were supporting the Ottomans at the time. Hunyadi wants Lada to marry his son, but Lada proves in a skirmish she is more useful as a ruling ally than a wife. 

Lada reveals Mehmed means to take Constantinople. She swears loyalty to Hungary’s king. Radu, at the request of Mehmed, pretends to betray Mehmed. He flees with his wife, Nazira, to Constantinople with an ambassador, Cyprian, the emperor’s nephew, and plays spy for Mehmed, feeding them enough information to assuage their suspicions. 

Lada asks Radu to help her persuade the nobility to support her claim to the Wallachian throne. Mehmed sends a reply asking her to keep Hunyadi from Constantinople, and he will support her claim with soldiers. He needs his borders secure to focus on Constantinople. Lada convinced Hunyadi to stay in Hungary and protect it from Mehmed instead. She secretly goes to meet with Mehmed. They have sex. Lada finds there are no soldiers for her. Mehmed lied to convince her to betray Hunyadi and join him in taking over Constantinople. Lada leaves angry, no closer to the Wallachian throne than before. 

Constantinople prepares for siege. They have enough stores to last a year. If Mehmed fails to break the city, he will lose the support of the Ottoman nobles, and his reign will end. Radu sabotages the food stores of Constantinople. Lada begs her mother, princess of Moldavia, for help to claim Wallachia, but she has gone mad after being mistreated by Vlad. Hunyadi catches the plague during a border skirmish and dies. Lada agrees to kill the king of Hungary and the heir to make way for Matthias, Hunyadi’s son. In exchange, Matthias will support Lada’s claim to Wallachia.

In Constantinople, Radu meets Mehmed’s spy and shares what he’s learned. Unfortunately, Italians sail past Mehmed’s navy, giving Constantinople hope and supplies. Lada meets with Toma Basarab, a noble who, at the behest of Matthias, will sway the boyars to Lada’s side. Peasants, tired of being exploited by the boyars, join Lada’s men. Lada kills a boyar and gives the land to the peasants. Daciana, a freed peasant girl, becomes Lada’s maid. She questions when Lada’s last period was. Lada’s period is irregular. She becomes concerned about pregnancy, but later has her period. 

How did Now I Rise end? Now I Rise summary

Mehmed is set to take Constantinople any day. Food is running low. He presses the city on all sides, with raids on the wall, a navy, and cannons. Mehmed’s spy warns Radu away from the wall, and Radu goes to warn Cyprian. He realizes he loves Cyprian. He is torn between Cyprian and Mehmed. Lada takes the Wallachian capital with her army and becomes prince. She tries to kill anyone in her way, with only Toma tempering her behavior with the boyars. 

Thanks to Radu’s treachery, Constantinople falls, and the Ottomans swarm and loot it. Cyprian realizes Radu is a traitor. Radu gets Cyprian and Nazira out safely on a boat, but returns to the city to save Constantine’s young nephews. Mehmed arrives in triumph and rewards Radu with the title of Pasha. Radu realizes Mehmed knew all along he was gay and used Radu. Yet Radu cannot help but love him. 

Lada hosts a dinner with the boyars to discuss changes to Wallachia. She realizes princes come and go, but the boyars remain. They demand she get rid of her men, as princes cannot hold standing armies. It turns out Toma only supported her so he could use her as a figurehead to gain power for himself. Then the boyar’s guard secretly kills one of her men. Lada orders the doors locked and kills the boyars and Toma. Radu writes to Lada, asking her to pay tribute to Mehmed as a vassal of the Ottomans. Lada defies Mehmed and declares Wallachia independent from Mehmed’s empire.  

There you go! That’s a recap of what happened in Now I Rise. Read to read or re-read And I Darken, Now I Rise, or Bright We Burn by Kiersten White. We hope you enjoyed this And I Darken summary with spoilers.

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