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Read a full summary of Serpent & Dove, book #1 of Shelby Mahurin’s debut series, right here! This page is full of spoilers, so beware. If you are wondering what happened in Serpent & Dove, then you are in the right place!

Special thanks to Sanjana, a new BSR contributor who wrote this great recap! Visit her Instgram account to see great book pics and keep up with what she’s reading.

Author
Shelby Mahurin

Ratings
4.6 stars on Amazon
4.12 stars on Goodreads
Add Serpent & Dove on Goodreads.

Serpent & Dove series
#1 Serpent & Dove
#2 Blood & Honey
#3 Untitled

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

What happened in Serpent & Dove?

It isn’t safe to be a witch, especially since magic behaves as though alive, leaving a sharp smell in its wake, alerting everyone around them to its presence. It’s not something people talk about, since anyone that does usually ends up burning at the stake.

Louise (Lou) Margaux Larue (Le Blanc, but she doesn’t talk about that) and her best friend Cosette (Coco) Monvoisin are at The Bellerose waiting for Babette, their contact, to help them eavesdrop on a conversation between Madame Labelle and Pierre Tremblay. Madame Labelle, the owner of The Bellerose, wants to purchase a magical ring from Pierre Tremblay. Monsieur Tremblay was a trafficker of magical object until his daughter, Filippa, was killed.

Lou and Coco overhear the negotiations between Madame Labelle and Monsieur Tremblay and find out the ring is located in Monsieur Tremblay’s town house and that Madame Labelle will be there to pick it up at dawn.

Lou and Coco then meet Bastien St. Pierre (Bas), who used to be Lou’s lover. They meet at Lou’s favorite patisserie, where Lou devours a whole plate of cinnamon sticky buns, as they enlist Bas to help them steal the ring from Monsieur Trembley. Bas agrees after he is promised the rest of the spoils from the theft. It’s also revealed Lou has shared her and Coco’s true nature with Bas. Their conversation reveals Lou has not used her magic in quite a while and she wanted the ring enough to risk using her magic.

While leaving the patisserie, Lou bumps into a Chasseur. Chasseurs are a group led by the Archbishop whose aim is to find and execute witches. Each Chasseur carries a Balisarda, which makes them immune to magic. Reid Diggory, the Chasseur Lou bumps into, mistakes her for a man as she is dressed that way. When he realizes Lou is actually a woman, he’s distracted by a disturbance in the ongoing parade with the Royal Family before he can ask her any questions.

This attack on the Royal family is orchestrated by the Dames Blanches and their leader La Dames des Sorcières. Reid helps deter the witches from the attack when he comes into contact with La Dames des Sorcières herself and the witches give a warning and leave. She previously showed up as an old woman, but when she is in contact with Reid, she turns into a beautiful woman with child. The witches’ worship what they call The Triple Goddess—Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Only La Dames des Sorcières has the ability to shift between these forms. She intrigues Reid.

Reid meets with the Archbishop, who tells him the King wants to host a ball in his honor because of his bravery. Chasseurs also usually live a life of celibacy, are chaste, and rarely get married, so the Archbishop’s suggestion is insulting to Reid. This suggestion, however, causes Reid to think back to Célie Tremblay, the woman he’s been in love with since before he was a Chasseur.

Meanwhile, Lou, Coco, and Bas are preparing to break into the Tremblay’s house and steal the ring. To break into the Tremblay’s house, Lou and Coco both have to use magic. Coco is a Dames Rouges, which means she uses blood magic and does not demand a balance. Lou is a Dames Blanches, who see patterns and require balance. The balance of power takes away something from the witch. For instance, to take away someone else’s memory, the witch must lose a memory herself.

Using magic, Lou and Coco debilitate the guards and the dogs and gain access to the safe. Lou successfully finds the ring, and Bas clears out the rest of the safe. However, someone has informed the Chasseurs that a witch will be present around the Tremblay’s town house the same night. the Chasseurs show up at the house before they have a chance to escape. Coco escapes using magic and goes out a window. However, Bas and Lou are stuck in the house. Bas abandons Lou and tries to escape on his own, leaving Lou to fend for herself.

The Chasseurs at the Tremblay house include Reid and his friend Jean Luc. Reid recognizes Lou as the woman he bumped into at the parade and is determined to capture her. Lou, however, has procured Angelica’s ring. The ring is special because it protects the wearer from magic and can render one invisible if they hold the ring in their mouth. Lou decides to use the ring to help her escape the Chasseurs and gets away. Bas gets caught by the Chasseurs.

Lou meets Coco in Brindle Park, which contains sacred trees that help hide the scent of magic. Lou shows Coco the ring and tells her the story of Angelica’s ring. Angelica was a Dames Blanches who fell in love with a knight. The ring was his promise of marriage to her. The knight died, and Angelica cried so much she created a new sea called L’Eau Mélancolique. When Angelica had finished crying, she threw the ring into the waters and then jumped in herself. She drowned in her tears. When the ring was found, it was infused with magic.

Lou then asks how Coco escaped. Coco tells Lou she was seen. Lou tells her the Chasseurs will be looking for her and she needs to get out of town. They say goodbye, and Lou leaves.

She runs into Andre and Grue—thieves she knows—while making her way back to Soliel et Lune, the theater where she lived in the attic. They corner her and demand she give them the ring. She fights back, injuring them, and runs back to the theater. Lou keeps mentioning she needs the ring to hide from someone.

The next morning at Reid’s training session, Jean Luc keeps trying to aggravate Reid by bringing up his failure the night before. Word of his foul mood spreads until the Archbishop shows up and tells Reid he’s to accompany him to the theater.

Lou wakes up later than usual. She knows there will be a show this morning, but she needs to use the restroom. So she makes her way to the lobby. She bumps into one of the performers, who notices Lou’s face is injured. Lou brushes her off and continues to the restroom. Lou waits out the audience as they file into the theater for the show.

Unfortunately, as she’s leaving, Reid spots her and chases after her. As she tries to get away from him, she runs backstage. Reid chases her, and they end up tumbling onto stage in a compromising position. To cover up the fact that a Chasseur was found in a compromising position with a woman—and because it looked like he’d harmed her—the Archbishop plans to announce she is Reid’s wife. Lou agrees to this plan only because she thinks it will keep her safe. The Archbishop announces to the whole theater that Lou is Reid’s wife. Reid and Lou are then married, and she moves into the Chasseurs tower.

Reid tells Lou she’s not allowed to access the top tower floors. Once they’re in Reid’s room, Lou finds the love letters from Célie. The next day, when Reid goes to his room to fetch Lou for the interrogation, she isn’t there. Lou shows up moments later and tells Reid she took care of buying her own wardrobe.

Lou shows a great interest in the top floors of the tower, and Reid tells her again that she is not permitted to access them. He then takes her to the interrogation room to answer questions about Coco. Lou tells them about the night they stole from Monsieur Tremblay’s house as well as about Andre and Grue.

After the interrogation, Reid tells Lou he has assigned Ansel, a Chasseur trainee, to make sure she stays in the tower. Lou pulls out the love letters and journal she found and starts taunting Reid with them in an attempt to get rid of Ansel. This doesn’t work. Lou gets bored and begins to embarrass Ansel in an attempt to make him take her to the top floors of the tower or at least somewhere other than the room she’s stuck in. He finally caves and agrees to take her on a tour.

The next day, after trying to convince Ansel to take her to the upper floors of the tower and him denying her, she makes a run for it. Lou reaches the top of the tower and smells the magic there. She finds Coco working there in the infirmary as Mademoiselle Perrot. After catching up, Coco and Lou use the infirmary to practice magic because the presence of magic will cover the smell of them practicing.

When Reid comes back for the day, he tells Lou they were unable to find Andre and Grue. He also shares they have Bas in custody and are going to interrogate and execute him. Lou asks to see Bas; Reid tells her she can’t. Reid also notices the scar on her neck that she usually covers with a bow and asks her how she got it. She tells him it’s a long story for another day.

After Reid leaves for the council room, Lou spells Ansel into leading her into the dungeon. Lou goes to see Bas; she erases his memories of her and frees him. She passes out from the strain the magic causes. After she comes to, she hears voices coming down to the prison as she drags Ansel into the library to hide.

The Chasseurs, Jean Luc, and Reid find them and smell the magic in the room. Coco shows up from the infirmary as Mademoiselle Brie Perrot, the smell of magic coming in with her. She attests Lou was with her reading proverbs to the patients and Ansel was praying with Father Orville, so they could not have been responsible for Bas’s escape.

After Bas’s escape, Lou goes to Mass with Reid and grumbles through it all. The next night, Lou complains about how there’s nothing for her to read. Reid gives her a book not related to God or the Church. It’s a love story called La Vie Éphémère. Lou gets sucked into the story and is interrupted when Ansel shows up saying that Madame Labelle wants to speak to her.

When they meet Madame Labelle, she insists on speaking with Lou privately. What she wants to tell Lou is very important. The Archbishop shows up saying the church is closing, and Madame Labelle cannot speak with Lou. Madame Labelle grabs onto Lou’s hand and whispers something to her. Whatever she has to say panics Lou, and while they’re being separated, she says that she wants to hear what Madame Labelle has to say. However, Reid hauls her back.

Lou has a nightmare about her and hears her voice saying she’s coming for Lou. She wakes up with a start. Madame Labelle told Lou, “She is coming.” This makes Lou question who Madame Labelle really is. Lou thinks about how even though she’s married to a Chasseur, she will never be safe from her mother.

The next morning, Lou thinks of her sixteenth birthday. She’s always known she would die on her sixteenth birthday, when she came of age. Her whole purpose in life was to die to save her people, but now she’s changed and decides she wants to live. She’s snapped back to reality by Reid asking her if she wants to go to a show at the theater later.

Reid leaves while Lou is in the bathroom, and when she comes out, she finds Ansel sitting at the desk. She proceeds to look for a weapon to defend herself with because she’s afraid of her mother. She asks Ansel to help her find one, and he reveals Reid hid all the weapons. On their way to find Reid, they bump into Jean Luc, who tells them Reid has gone to help get rid of some hobgoblins outside the city.

Later in the Infirmary, Coco and Lou sit in the room with Monsieur Bernard, who they’ve named Bernie, and Coco asks Lou about her conversation with Madame Labelle. Lou tells Coco that Madame Labelle warned her that her mother is coming. They’ll continue practicing magic because Lou wants to be prepared in case her mother finds her. Father Orville shows up at Bernie’s room to inject him with a serum to help relax him.

Reid and Lou go to Soliel et Lune for a production of La Vie Éphémère. Lou recognizes one of the performers as Dames Blanches (Estelle), the woman who showed concern when Reid was chasing her. Lou starts to panic because she’s afraid Dames Blanches will recognize her. As soon as the show is over, Lou tugs Reid out, intent on leaving as soon as possible.

Estelle recognizes Reid and walks up to them, asking continuously how Lou is and giving Reid suspicious looks. Reid calls Lou by her name, and Estelle recognizes her. She tries to take Lou back with her, telling her what an honor it is for her to die for the good of her people. She doesn’t notice Reid causes Estelle to pass out to take her so she can burn at the stake.

Lou struggles with the guilt of essentially sending one of her kin to the stake. They inject Estelle with a new injection to paralyze her. Lou cries and deals with the guilt of being a witch killer. The next morning, the burning at the stake takes place. A crowd gathers to see the witch burn. Lou watches from her bedroom window with Ansel. After watching Estelle burn, Lou casts a spell to switch places with her. Lou takes the pain of burning at the stake, gifting her sister with a painless death. Lou passes out from the intense pain.

Lou wakes up in her bed, and Reid is sitting in a chair with his head resting on the mattress. Lou looks at his hand laying close to hers and thinks he must have been holding her hand. Reid tells her about what happened to her. He tells her they thought she was dead, but she wasn’t, that he has been taking care of her, and that she’s been unconscious for three days. Lou and Reid have an argument about how witches are also people because he continuously refers to witches as “it” and then asks him to leave her alone.

Lou then starts questioning whether her need to survive and hide from her mother, La Dames des Sorcières, was worth the cost. She then thinks about why her mother tried to sacrifice her. Even before Lou’s conception, Morgane Le Blanc had seen a pattern no other Dames des Sorcières had ever seen before or had been willing to carry out before: killing her line. With the end of her line, Morgane wanted to end the King’s line as well. All his legitimate and illegitimate children would die, which would end the torment witches are put through.

The next day, when Coco comes to visit Lou, she talks openly about the burning and what Lou did in Ansel’s presence. Lou realizes Ansel knows she’s a witch because he would’ve smelled the magic. She realizes Ansel didn’t tell the Chasseurs who she actually is, and she tears up. Coco warns Lou Reid is being called a hero. Ansel and Coco warn Lou she cannot be seen as a witch sympathizer because of Reid’s status. Lou is not okay with this because not all witches are evil. Ansel tells her some things cannot be changed with words. They have to be seen and felt to change how people think.

Before Reid comes back that evening, Lou finds his Bible and reads some of it but cannot focus. She thinks if Ansel can be convinced that witches aren’t evil, then maybe Reid can be convinced as well. To do this, she has to understand him better, so she makes her way to the library. She bumps into the Archbishop, notices he’s holding a half-eaten sticky bun, and starts craving one herself. She tells the Archbishop she wants to borrow a Bible, and the Archbishop gives her one as a gift.

When Reid returns, he finds Lou awake in the bed. she still hasn’t recovered fully from the burning. She teaches Reid to braid her hair, and they talk about how Reid became a captain. The next day, Lou and Reid go to the patisserie, and she introduces Reid as Bas to Pan. They talk while they eat their buns, and then Reid buys Lou a new cloak because the one she has is old and fraying and was a gift from Bas. When they return from their day out, they learn Monsieur Bernard is gone but is not dead because there isn’t a body. They’re informed by Coco and are told that a unit has been deployed to look for him.

King Auguste hosts a ball on the eve of Saint Nicholas Day to honor Reid. Reid leaves for the ball before Lou. Coco helps Lou dress for the ball, and the two of them head there with Ansel, who is smitten with Coco. They arrive at the ball, and Lou enters from the antechamber because she does not want to be announced. She looks for Reid and finds him encircled by a group of admirers, Célie among them. As Lou makes her way toward them, she’s stopped by Beauregard Lyon, the prince. She tells him she’s Reid’s wife. Beau sees Reid with Célie and proposes they make him jealous. Lou declines his offer and turns back to find Reid and Célie are gone.

Lou spots them and follows them, but the Archbishops stops her on the way and essentially tells her to let Célie and Reid be. She doesn’t listen to the Archbishop, follows them, and listens to the conversation they have. Célie tries to convince Reid to leave Lou, but Reid tells her that he won’t hurt Lou. Lou realizes she shouldn’t have listened to their conversation and makes her way back to the ballroom. She’s beginning to realize she has feelings for Reid. When Reid comes back to the ballroom and walks over to Lou, Coco interrupts and asks Reid who Célie is. Before Coco leaves Lou with Reid, she tells Lou to let her know if she needs her.

When Reid and Lou are alone, Reid tries to explain who Célie is and tells Lou that he loved her but nothing happened. Lou tells him she overheard them, and he asks her to promise not to keep anymore secrets. Lou and Reid enjoy the ball and dance together. When they decide to head back, Lou looks for Coco and finds her talking to Beau. Coco tells them to go back without her, and Ansel already left. Coco and Lou talk, and Coco tells Lou she knows something is going on between Lou and Reid. She says Lou needs to be careful because she’s a witch and Reid’s a Chasseur. Lou tells Coco she knows what she’s doing, and Lou and Reid leave the ball.

That night, Lou and Reid talk about how he became a Chasseur. Reid tells her there are only a hundred Balisardas and when a Chasseur either dies or retires, a tournament is held and the winner of the tournament is made a Chasseur. He tells her about how he also beat Jean Luc in the tournament. Jean Luc resents him for that and things between the two of them changed after that.

Reid also tells her about how he and Célie continued their courtship and he was going to marry her because it wasn’t unheard of for a Chasseur to be married. Lou also corrects his misinformation about magic and tells him she knows about it because her friend is a witch. She tries to tell him witches are women and correct how he refers to them as “it.” She tells him witches even give birth. He says they only give birth to females. Lou tells him they do give birth to males, but the babies are sent away because they don’t have magic. After their intense conversation, they flirt with each other, the sexual tension rising before they fall asleep.

The next morning, on Saint Nicholas Day, Reid and Lou decide to go to the festival and buy each other presents. Lou wants to buy Reid a dagger from a blacksmith she knows. She goes to the shop but soon realizes it’s a trap. The blacksmith locks her in the shop and leaves. Andre and Grue set this trap because of what Lou did to them. Lou uses her magic to fight and kill both of them.

People gather outside the shop and attract attention, and Reid shows up, too. He breaks in the door and ensures Lou is fine once he sees she’s in the shop. Lou asks how he knew she was there, and he tells her he didn’t know. He was there to buy her a presen, a knife. Feeling a surge of emotions, she feels the need to be close to him and kisses him. Soon they notice they’re lying in Andre and Grue’s blood.

After reporting the incident to the constabulary and answering all their questions, Lou decides to show Reid the attic in Soliel et Lune. She shows him where she used to live. They talk a little about Lou’s past, and she tells him she and her mother are estranged, she isn’t from Cesarine, and she got the scar on her neck from her mother. They go to the rooftop and look at the stars and continue to talk. Reid gives Lou a wedding ring and says he thinks it was his mother’s because he was found with it as a baby. The ring is an oval mother-of-pearl set in a gold band. Lou realizes she loves Reid, and they consummate their marriage on the roof of the theater.

The next morning, they go to Pan’s patisserie before they attend the special performance for the Archbishop. On the way to the performance, they bump into Madam Labelle. She asks Lou if Reid is a good man, and Lou notices Reid and Madame Labelle’s eyes are the same and comes to the startling conclusion that Madame Labelle is Reid’s mother. She then asks Lou if Reid really knows who she is and warns Lou not to take off Angelica’s ring. She warns Lou her mother is in the city, not to take off the ring, and not to let her mother see the ring.

On the way back to the Chasseur tower, Reid and Lou find Monsieur Bernard in an alley way. When Lou reaches out to him to check on him, he says to Lou, “I’m coming for you, darling.” Reid pulls her back and kills Monsieur Bernard with his Balisarda. Lou knows Monsieur Bernard was an enchantment from her mother. Reid and Lou talk once they reach the room, and Reid keeps telling her he knows she’s hiding something from him and he can’t protect her if she doesn’t tell him what she’s hiding.

Just as Lou’s about to tell him who she is, Reid gets called away by the King because of a gathering of women outside the castle. Just before he leaves, Reid tells Lou he loves her. The Archbishop stays with Lou after he delivers the message to Reid. He’s needed at the castle. A page boy arrives at the room to tell the Archbishop the performance is beginning and people are waiting for him to show up. Since he promised Reid he would stay with Lou, he takes her with him to the performance.

The performance by the Ye Old Sisters is about a holy man they call an archbishop. The Archbishop tenses. The story is about an archbishop who hunted witches and burned them at the stake. He was seduced by a witch, who became pregnant with his child. While the performance is going on, the Archbishop tells Lou to stay close to him. Through the description of the witch, Lou figures out the witch who got pregnant with the archbishop’s child was her mother, La Dames des Sorcières.

The gathering of women outside the castle was a diversion so the Chasseurs would be occupied during the performance. The witches performing try to get to Lou, but the Archbishop and the Chasseurs are determined to protect her. Reid and Ansel take Lou back to their bedroom. Reid asks Lou why the witches are after her and asks her to tell him the truth this time. Before she can say anything, a witch attacks Reid and Ansel, leaving them unconscious.

Lou fights the witch. The witch can’t use any spells against Lou because she’s wearing Angelica’s ring. She fights the witch with magic, and they argue about how Lou needs to sacrifice herself so they can rule their land again. But Lou says she will be dead. Reid regains consciousness, and to keep him out of the witch’s reach, Lou uses her magic. The witch threatens to kill Reid if Lou doesn’t go with her. Reid now knows who Lou actually is. Lou goes to the witch, and the witch injects her with something that paralyzes her. Reid looks at Lou with the hatred a Chasseur has for a witch. Just before she blacks out, she tells Reid she loves him.

Lou regains consciousness and hears Ansel trying to wake her up. They gave her an antidote for the paralytic, but there wasn’t enough for a full dose. Ansel begs Lou to help Reid, who is fighting the witch and losing. Lou is too weak, and she can’t fight the witch on her own. She tells Reid so. Reid tells her to use him like other witches have used people before. Lou uses Reid to create a balance and kill the witch.

Reid yells at Ansel to leave the room so he can talk to Lou alone. Reid looks at Lou differently, but she tells him she is still herself. He says no, she’s a witch. He connects the dots from the performance and what the other witch had said to Lou and realizes she’s La Dames Sorcières’ daughter and the Archbishop is her father. During their discussion, Lou tries to convince Reid she’s the person he loves and his wife. He tells her she isn’t his wife. Lou runs out of the bedroom heartbroken and into the streets. She gets caught by someone who injects her with the paralytic. It’s her mother.

Ansel asks Reid why he let her go, and Reid tells him it doesn’t matter and Lou can take care of herself. Ansel reminds Reid she is Morgane Le Blanc’s daughter and she could be in danger and might even be killed. Ansel tries to convince Reid to go after Lou and to save her. Reid tells Ansel to go by himself and protect her himself and he can burn with the witches. Reid leaves the bedroom and encounters Jean Luc, who tells him he saw Lou running out of the Chasseur tower crying. He also tells Reid he thinks she has a secret, clearly referring to the fact that Lou is a witch, and Reid knows too. Reid, triggered by Jean Luc, punches him. Their fight is cut short when the Archbishop shows up and asks where Lou is. He tells them he found out from a witch that the Dames Blanches are planning a revolution and that they need to find Lou.

After getting an order from the Archbishop to find Lou, Ansel asks Reid what they’re going to do. Reid tells Ansel he doesn’t want him involved with the witches. Ansel defends Lou and says she’s his friend. Ansel and Reid argue about Lou, and Ansel makes Reid realize “there had never been a choice.” He loves her, so he has to find her.

As they prepare to go search for Lou, Ansel suggests they visit Mademoiselle Perrot. Before they can go anywhere, Coco appears, asking them about where Lou is. They tell her she ran away, and Reid tells her Lou is a witch. Coco, as Mademoiselle Perrot, says of course she knew, as did Ansel. Reid asks why Ansel didn’t tell him. Ansel says that he was protecting Lou. He tells Reid he found out the day of the burning because he smelled the magic when Lou switched places with the witch at the stake. Ansel says Lou didn’t deserve to burn at the stake twice.

Coco tells them they should go to the Bellerose to figure out how to find Lou. She told Beau to meet her there. At the Bellerose, they meet Beau, and Coco performs a locator spell to try to find Lou. She reveals herself as Cosette Monvoisin, and they fill Beau in on the situation. The Locator spell tracks Lou to La Forêt des Yeux, but Coco can’t see past it. Reid says if Lou is with Morgane, they only have to find the Chateau. Coco tells him only a Dames Blanche can find the Chateau and she can’t find it because she’s a Dames Rouge. Coco asks if Reid knows a witch who would sacrifice for him the way Lou would. A voice answers that he does. It’s Madame Labelle.

Madame Labelle reveals herself, and Coco figures out that she’s a Dames Blanche because she knew about Morgane and warned Lou. Madame Labelle tells them Louise le Blanc was Morgane’s most guarded secret and she only knew about Lou because of spies in the Chateau. Madame Labelle tells them of how the war actually began and how it would likely end with the King if Morgane had her way. She tells them how it started with the witch Angelica and the Saint Constantin and tells them Angelica’s real story.

Angelica and Constantin fell in love, but she didn’t tell him she was a witch to keep the harmony between their people. However, she soon wanted him to know all of her, so she told him. At first, Constantin and his people were accepting of her people and their magic, and Angelica became the first Dame des Sorcières. As time passed, Constantin grew jealous that he did not possess magic, so he tried to take it from Angelica. When he couldn’t, he took their land and slaughtered her people instead in an attempt to take the magic. But the magic didn’t work for him. Eventually he took his own life, and Angelica cried a sea of tears and followed him. But his people lived on, drove the witches into hiding, and claimed their land for their own.

Madame Labelle tells them of Morgane’s plan to end her line and the King’s line to gain back her land. She tells them by her last count, the King had twenty-six legitimate and illegitimate children. They realize Morgane only conceived Lou to kill her because nature demands balance. Madame Labelle tried to buy Lou to protect her. Reid sees Madame Labelle’s ring, which is identical to the one he gave Lou. Madame Labelle says she set up the meeting with Tremblay hoping to alert them of the ring’s presence and location and she informed the Archbishop Lou would be at the house that night because he’d been looking for his daughter. She took a calculated risk hoping Lou would be protected by the Archbishop.

Madame Labelle tells them she had a son with the King and she fell in love with the King. Morgane ripped her baby from her. Reid realizes she is his mother. Madame Labelle tells them they have a fortnight to save Lou because Morgane will wait for a big festival so there are as many witches as possible to witness it. This festival is Modraniht, which is a night to honor their mothers.

Meanwhile, Morgane and Lou are approaching the Chateau. Morgane is keeping Lou paralyzed. Morgane tells Lou about her plan to kill her on Modraniht. She also took away Angelica’s ring from Lou. Lou wants Angelica’s ring back so she can dispel Morgane’s spell and save the Lyons. Lou spends days paralyzed as they make their way back to the Chateau.

When they reach the Chateau, Manon, who used to be Lou’s friend, volunteers to keep her company. Manon sees Lou resents her mother for trying to kill her. Lou tells Morgane she thinks the Chasseurs are capable of change. Lou tries to convince Morgane there has to be another way. Morgane disagrees and implies Reid will die, too, once the spell is cast, showing she knows Reid is one of the King’s illegitimate sons. Morgane tells Lou she doesn’t love her. How could she love the child of her enemy? Lou is just a means to an end for Morgane. Lou is kept in the Chateau with Manon attending to her and is told she will be sacrificed in three days.

In the meantime, Coco, Reid, Ansel, Beau, and Madame Labelle are camping in La Forêt des Yeux, trying to find the Chateau. Madame Labelle warns them to be careful because the roads would be watched. They heard the Chasseurs, led by Jean Luc, in the forest. The Chasseurs almost find them but see the cat instead and leave. Madame Labelle suggests creating an alliance with the Chasseurs so they have strength in numbers. Reid shoots this idea down because he’s afraid they’ll kill Lou.

At the Chateau, Lou is still dosed with the paralytic and is having an adverse reaction and can’t eat anything. Manon helps Lou with her pain and asks about where Lou went after she ran away. Manon tells Lou about her sister who burned at the stake. On the night of Modraniht, they dress Lou up for the celebration. Manon asks Lou how she escaped the night of her sixteenth birthday. Lou says she traded her life at the Chateau, her symbolic life, for her physical one. Lou also says it won’t work again because she can’t give Reid up. Lou accepts that she’s going to die.

Morgane summons Lou to her chambers to meet her father, the Archbishop, who is bound and gagged. Morgane tells Lou she found the Archbishop in the forest and offers to kill him for Lou if she wants. Morgane tells Lou since Lou told her the Church could change, Lou should ask the Archbishop anything. Through the conversation with the Archbishop, Morgane makes her point about how they will never change. Lou also realizes Reid is one of the King’s children and he will die when she dies as a result of the spell. Lou tries to get Angelica’s ring but is still too weak and can’t get it.

Meanwhile, in the forest, Madame Labelle tells the rest of the group only a Dames Blanche can find the Chateau. Coco tells them she and Lou knew each other as children. Madame Labelle disguises Beau, Reid, and Ansel so they can find witches to take them into the castle. Madame Labelle makes Reid leave his Balisarda behind because it was made in the same way Angelica’s ring was and could be detected by Morgane. They find witches to take them inside the castle.

They enter the Chateau and see Lou in the front with Morgane, floating in a white dress. They have to stand in the back while the witches begin the ceremony. Madame Labelle comes to the window they’re standing near and tells them they have to wait for her signal. They wait until it’s almost midnight and decide they can’t wait any longer. They need a distraction, but before they can create one, Morgane addresses all the witches and says it’s time for the ritual. Before performing the spell, she says she has a gift for her daughter and shows she’s captured Madame Labelle. She plans to honor Lou with Madame Labelle’s death. Reid runs toward her while Morgane plunges a dagger into her chest.

Reid pulls the dagger out of Madame Labelle. Morgane reveals Ansel and Beau as Madame Labelle’s co-conspirators and binds them down with magic. Morgane goes to Lou and prepares to cut open her throat. Lou looks to Reid and tells him she loves him. As Morgane raises the dagger, Coco jumps at Morgane’s throat. Lou shouts to them to help Coco no matter what. The bonds are released after Coco’s assault. Beau creates a distraction by singing and stripping himself of his clothing.

Reid holds a dagger to Morgane’s throat, but the Archbishop calls his name. Reid turns to see another witch is holding the Archbishop and tells Reid to let Morgane go or the Archbishop dies. Distracted, Reid doesn’t pay attention to Morgane until she drops the dagger from Reid’s hand, picks it up, and darts to Lou and tears her throat open. Reid is so shaken by this he can see nothing but darkness until a single golden cord shimmers in front of him going from the Archbishop’s chest to Lou’s. Reid takes a dagger and follows the gold path, taking the Archbishop’s life in exchange for Lou’s.

The Chasseurs then appear. Jean Luc saw Reid kill the Archbishop and fires an arrow at him. Reid grabs Lou, passes her to Beau, and tells them to escape. He goes back to Madame Labelle. He begs Coco to help her, to heal her after he finds she’s still alive. Coco heals Madame Labelle’s wound with her blood and tells them they have to hurry back to the camp to keep her alive. They find their camp. Coco says she needs to use blood and honey to save Madame Labelle and heals her. Coco then uses her blood to shield all of them from Morgane.

How does Serpent & Dove end?

They leave the camp as soon as possible. Madame Labelle becomes conscious and takes a walk with Reid. He tells her everything. He tells her he saw a golden cord. This surprises her. She realizes he saw and acted on a pattern. She asks him where it came from, and he tells her that it came from the darkness. Madame Labelle tells him he has magic. He’s the first male witch.

Coco shows up with Lou and deposits her in Reid’s arms. Coco and Madame Labelle leave them alone to have a conversation. They talk things out. Reid tells Lou he loves her. They walk back to the camp, and everyone embraces Lou as they plan what to do next. Madame Labelle tells them she was the one who contacted the Chasseurs. Coco suggests they go back to her coven with her, and Madame Labelle decides she needs to have a conversation with the King to ally with him against Morgane. Coco tells them who her aunt is: La Voisin, the leader of the Dames Rouges.

There you go! That’s what happened in Serpent & Dove. We hope you enjoyed this Serpent & Dove summary with spoilers.

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