The Assassin of Grins and Secrets Synopsis

Serein, 22, is a former assassin with the Bone Vipers sentenced to life in Grasdan prison. After two years of imprisonment, she is taken to the trading den, the Harpy’s Chest, and forced into the fighting pit by Jabir. She wins her fight against Sa, and before Jabir can beat her, a stranger offers to take her off his hands. When Serein comes to, she finds herself in a room with Jabir, the warden of Grasdan, and a prince from the neighboring kingdom of Sarddon and his guards. The prince, Rameses al-Amirmoez (22), came to seek her out with the offer of being his guard (a wali) in exchange for her freedom. Serein has a personal vengeance against the king of Sarddon, Sethos, after he started a war with her country, the Old Kingdom, and killed her family when she was a child. The war between Sarddon and the Old Kingdom has been going on for 15 years, and magic has almost vanished from the land after the plague killed those with magic, including the Immortals (Vale, Fae, Elves). Her goal is to kill the king and return to her Sun and Stars. Serein decides to test how badly Rameses needs her by holding a knife to his throat and has a run-in with Sarddon’s captain of the guard, Uriah Stormheir, 27. A deal is struck for Serein to work as Rameses’ guard for six years and then be pardoned for all her crimes. 

They leave the Harpy’s Chest and head through Locklin Forest to Sarddon. Uriah distrusts her and speaks to Rameses about it. Bandits then attack the group, and Serein helps to kill them. This causes Rameses to trust her more, but Uriah is still distrustful. When they arrive at Alqamar Palace in the capital city of Oyon, Serein is put in a room and meets the maidservant, Rizwana, who will be helping take care of her. Rizwana notices how many scars Serein has and reveals that Uriah asked her to try and find information from Serein. Later that day, Uriah and Serein have dinner, which is his way of trying to get more information from her. 

Rameses and his father meet after he returns to talk about why he sought an assassin for a guard. His father disagrees with his decision, but Rameses also wanted Serein to be a spy for him to uncover the truth about his father. There are rumors that he killed his brother, the former king, to gain power. A few days later, Rameses visits Serein and tells her she will be meeting with Sethos. When she meets with Sethos in the throne room, she speaks with him and is pitted against Uriah in a sword fight until Rameses steps in and stops it. After the incident in the throne room, Serein meets the queen, Lujayn, who doesn’t like her because she’s a Ravanasse (a half-blood, human with Immortal ancestry). She also meets Rameses’ siblings, Rasima (13), and Rahim (8).

The next day, Rameses takes Serein on a tour of the palace, and she is told a bit more about her job as a guard. Rameses’ head guard, Ilderim, is there too. Uriah is tasked with helping to train Serein and get her back in shape since the two years in prison weakened her. She spends days training and getting back in shape. One night, she receives a message from people in the Old Kingdom via a magical bird called a morhpling. She begins to write a letter back, but is interrupted by Rasima coming to visit her. She is curious about why Serein is there, but isn’t afraid of her.

After a few weeks of being in the palace, she is summoned to see Sethos in the prisons beneath the palace. He warns her about staying away from his family, and when he slams her against the cell, Serein swears she sees shadows move in his eyes. Serein sneaks out of her room to wander the palace, where she runs into the spymaster of the Golden Jackals (the king’s spy network), Il-Makah, and he asks her to speak with him. He is interested in her past and wants to know about Xansas, the leader of the Bone Vipers. Serein is cautious around him and worried he’ll find out why she’s really there.

Over the next month, Serein continues to gather information about Sethos, train and spar with Uriah, and plan how she will kill the king. Rameses takes her out into the city and shows her around while also telling her a bit about Uriah’s past. He was a soldier and served in the army for years until he was injured and returned to Oyon as a captain. On the way back to the palace, Rameses and Serein are attacked. She defends him and realizes that their attackers are Uriah’s men, and it was a test for her. She passes and officially becomes a guard. The next day, Uriah drops off her guard uniform and weapons, shadowing her and Ilderim the rest of the day. 

The night of the queen’s birthday feast, Serein is in her room by herself until Rameses comes and invites her to the party. She is reluctant at first but decides to dress up and attend in the hopes of gleaning some information. Donning a mask, Serein goes and watches the people in the room. A noble, Hasim, approaches her for a dance, and she pretends to be a noblewoman who lost her husband. In talking with him, she learns that he owns most of the horses in Sarddon and doesn’t seem totally in favor of the war. He leaves to speak with a strange person, and Serein ends up dancing with Rameses. After, she goes outside where she encounters a Vale disguised in a glamour. He gives her a rock with the rebel symbol on it before leaving, and Serein returns to the party and decides to return to her room. 

Days late, after a meeting, Rameses decides he wants to go hunting in the Royal hunting grounds. Serein, Ilderim, and Uriah go with him. Serein has been wondering for a while why Rameses really wanted her as his guard when there are other people in the palace more qualified than her. When they arrive at the Hunting Grounds, Rameses takes Serein aside to talk with her and tell her that he wants her to spy on his father. Serein isn’t happy with that. Rameses sees that his father has changed and is worried. It started after he was named crown prince and sat in on a war meeting where his father gave orders to raze a city with innocents in there. He knew his father was a bit colder and harsher after the death of his brother, but Rameses wanted to know what was happening and if his father was just making mistakes or choosing to be cruel. She reluctantly agrees and then sees a bone viper and kills it, which puts her on edge because it makes her think of Xansas. 

Two weeks have passed, and Rameses and Serein are in the palace library. Rameses asks her about her birthday, and she is reluctant to tell him. He ends up giving her a set of maps that show abandoned tunnels in the walls of the palace she can use to sneak around. Once Rameses’ other guard, I’timad, comes to relieve her, Serein sneaks off and finds one of the secret passageways. She finds one that leads to the king’s study and listens as Sethos speaks with someone about interrogating rebels captured along the Gold Road. He is sending ships to Bar Elenion. Serein wonders if he is planning to invade the northern continent. She also overhears about him throwing prisoners to the coliseum. There’s also an unknown woman’s voice she overhears, talking to Sethos about searching for something. She overhears them talking about General Hisein and his Scourge on the front. The General is returning to Oyon, and rebels were captured.

Sethos leaves his office, and Serein leaves the passageway. She encounters Kamau and the king, but they don’t suspect that she was listening. Il-Makah talks with her in the hallway, and she worries he suspects something. He asks her what she’s doing there and if she wants to chat again, but she declines. Later that night, Serein challenges soldiers to fight her and makes money off it in the guard’s courtyard. She is winning, and Uriah doesn’t understand why she is doing it. Kamau comes to test her skills. They fight, and he damages her nose, side, and gives her two fractured ribs. Rameses stops the fight before it turns bad. He finds out that Sethos sent Kamau to test her, but Serein suspects that it had to do with him finding out about her speaking with Rasima. Rameses talks with Serein in her bedchambers about what happened and what she found. Serein needs to stay in bed for three weeks to recover.

While she recovers, Serein is painting. Uriah comes to visit to check up on her. They talk for a bit, and he asks about her paintings while she teases him. Rasima comes to visit her with Laia, her handmaiden, and Karam, her guard. Rameses comes to deliver a little blind Ygris tiger cub. Serein is hesitant to take it, but she does. She names the cub Nala.

 A whole month has passed. Rameses and Serein are watching fights in the coliseum, and they watch as prisoners are thrown into the arena to be eaten by lions. A Ravanasse man and two children are brought to the arena to fight. Rameses tries to stop it, but his father doesn’t listen, and the three are killed. Sethos announces that he will be holding the Malik’s Aikhtiar (a fighting competition) to choose another muharib (king’s champion) during the Sister Moon festival in two months. Rameses leaves early and is attacked in the city. Serein stops the man, and they return to the palace. Rameses and Serein are back in his chambers and want to talk to her in private. He wants her to enter the Aikhtiar so she can learn more information about what his father is doing. She refuses and is offended. Rameses can’t understand why she is upset and doesn’t want to enter. She gets mad and leaves. In her chamber, she breaks down a little.

The next day, Rameses comes to apologize, and they go to the kennels to see the tiger cub. Serein is still mad at him. He has a new contract with him to give to her. She takes the cub with her and leaves the kennels. Rameses wants to talk with her. They go back to her chambers to talk about the Aikhtiar. She lets him have it. He gives her a clear answer and lessens her service to three years. She accepts, and they make a blood pact. She still has reservations about his plan, but decides she will help him make the plan better.

Uriah is training and thinking about the upcoming Aikhtiar. Competitors will be arriving over the next two months. Rameses comes to talk. It’s been a week since he and Serein made the pact. He tells Uriah what he did, and Uriah is upset. Rameses voices his concerns about Serein serving his father. Uriah goes to Serein’s chambers and finds Rasima there. He asks Serein if they can talk in private about the issue. He is mad at her, and she doesn’t think much of it. He leaves, frustrated.

A week later, the competitors for the tourney begin entering Oyon. Rameses watches from the walls of the palace and talks to Serein about it. Serein is still worried about Ilderim and what he knows, and she thinks about Sethos possibly killing her once he knows she’s entering the Aikhtiar. The next day, she goes out to the practice ring to see if she can make it past the prelim rounds. She faces off with Hisein, the Golden General. She spars with him and manages to overpower him, leaving him with a bruised jaw and a bloody nose. She wins, and he hates her now. As she leaves the arena, she is stopped by a Zhao warrior named Fang. She makes him back off and then talks to two Edolasian women, Salveig and her shieldmaiden, Ragnihildur. When Serein leaves the arena, she spots a familiar face. Eneca was another assassin she grew up with in the Bone Vipers, and who now works at the Faten as a courtesan. Serein is excited to see her, and they make plans to meet up the next night. 

The next night, Uriah is training and sees a person—Serein—leaving the palace. He doesn’t know it’s her, and he follows her to the Faten in the Gold District. Serein goes to the Faten to see Eneca, but she has to see the Aanisah, the owner of the Faten, first to secure a meeting with Eneca. She lets Serein see Eneca. They talk about the past, and she notices that Uriah is standing in the street below. Serein tells Eneca about what happened to her. She brings her money and candied nuts. Uriah has been standing in the street for two hours. Xansas walks by him, but he has no idea. Serein appears, and they head back to the palace. Uriah questions why she’s at a brothel, and she tells him she came to tell a story. She asks about when the competitors who passed the prelims will be announced, which will be in a week. She shows Uriah Nala when they get back to the palace.

A week later, Eneca and Serein are meeting at a teahouse. They talk about her life and how she might begin to trust people since she’s no longer who she used to be. That same day, Rameses is practicing his archery and talks with Serein about the upcoming Aikhtiar and the feast for the competitors. He mentions that he’ll be competing in the archery competition at the end of the month during the Aikhtiar. They also discuss what secrets they can gain from Hasim and if it would be a good idea to talk with him. Serein wants to wait until after the Aikhtiar.

A week after the preliminary fights, two hundred and twenty fighters remain. There’s a feast held to welcome the fighters. Rameses looks for Serein since she’s once again not at a party. He sends Uriah to bring her to the party. She doesn’t want to go but decides to anyway. She dresses in her uniform and leaves with him for the Great Hall. She watches people until Salveig comes over to talk with her. Il-Makah later comes and talks with Serein for a while. Serein spots a woman named Mayte, who was also part of the Bone Vipers and is faithful to Xansas. This causes her to be on edge because if Mayte is there, she fears Xansas will be there as well. Hisein finds Serein before she can follow Mayte. He is mad. He is about to seriously hurt her when Rameses walks up. Serein also sees Fang, but he steers clear of her. Sethos gives a speech about the Aikhtiar, which officially begins the next day. Serein leaves the party and returns to her chambers to find Nala drugged and unconscious. Xansas is there, and he poisons her so she can’t move. He saved Serein from the battlefield and trained her to be an assassin. He has an obsession with her and raped her when she was 13. When she fled, he found her and put her in Grasdan. Serein has wanted to kill him for many years, but chose to hide because she found out she was pregnant, which is what led her to flee.

Xansas tells her he is here to kill Sethos, but that he wants her to join him. She refuses. He tells her that he knows about the child she was carrying when she ran away and that he will find it. What he doesn’t know is that she had twins and hid them away. She gets mobility again and attacks him, but he escapes as Uriah bursts into the room. Uriah tries to help her, but she doesn’t want his help. In the bathing room, she takes a dagger after throwing up and cuts at the snake brand on her shoulder. Uriah comes in and stops her from seriously injuring herself. He finds out that she has children. Then she passes out. He leaves after she tells him not to tell anyone. This is when he starts to see her as less of a threat.

Hours later, Uriah comes back to Serein’s room. Rizwana knows a little about what happened. Uriah hasn’t told anyone, but he finds it hard not to. He lies and tells people it was food poisoning. Serein wakes up fully after two days of being sick. She struggles to recall exactly what happened, but remembers that Uriah was there and she told him about her children. Rizwana has been taking care of her. She goes and tells Uriah not to tell anyone, but that they will be working together to find Xansas. She makes him swear that he won’t tell anyone about her children. They leave through the secret tunnel in his room that he doesn’t know about. She takes him to meet Enec, and they talk at the Faten. She wants to work with Eneca to uncover where Xansas is in the city. She wants to hunt Xansas with only Uriah so that suspicion doesn’t fall on her if people know about him being in the palace.

Uriah and Serein leave the Faten. Serein asks why Uriah was by her room the night Xansas came for her. Uriah gets angry with her. On the way back to the palace, they are attacked by Fang and some of his clansmen. Uriah is hit over the back of the head with a bottle, and Serein’s wound reopens. Uriah has a mild concussion. Serein beats Fang and his friends and takes Uriah back to the palace. Serein takes Uriah back to his room through the secret passageway to avoid being seen. Rameses stops by Uriah’s chambers and finds them. Serein tells him half-truths about what they were doing before leaving to find a healer. Uriah starts mumbling and almost tells him the truth.

Serein is drawing in her chambers the next day. Rameses comes to visit her and talk about last night. He tells her that she should talk to him more. Uriah told him about Xansas, but not about her children. Rameses agrees to let her handle things, but she doesn’t want to tell him much about it.

The next day, Serein is in the coliseum watching people practice. She sees Mayte, and they talk until Mayte gets mad and begins to draw attention from the guards. Serein is worried about how Mayte is helping Xansas. She decides to follow Mayte to see if she’ll lead her to Xansas. Uriah finds Serein while she’s training in the guard’s courtyard later that night. Nala likes Uriah, and Serein wants to know why he didn’t tell Rameses about her children. He is still concussed. She steals his hair tie and points out that he collects rocks. She leaves and heads back to her room. 

Serein is on her shift in Rameses’ chambers the next day, thinking about how to catch Xansas. Rameses can’t sleep because of his worries and thinking about everything that’s been happening. He asks if she has nightmares and gives her a set of daggers. She offers to talk with him if he needs it.

Uriah and Serein are following a lead from Eneca to the Sand Fox Inn, where Xansas is supposedly staying. Serein doesn’t think they’ll find him, but she still follows the lead. They find the chamber empty, but Xansas leaves a note for her to find. He tells her about a possible witness to the murders of Sethos’ brother and what happened. Serein keeps the letter. He tells her about a former healer named Masud al-Nazari, who was a possible witness to what happened to the former king and fled before he could be killed.

The festival is starting. Oyon is decorated with flower murals, and markets are there. Sethos starts the competition. There will be 110 matches for the first week. Salveig and Ragnhildur are there and talk to her. Salveig is around 26 (day 2), Serein is around 45 (day 3). Serein is watching below the coliseum, looking for Xansas. Serein is fighting against a guy named Manolo de la Rosa of Sinabrac. The match starts, and Serein overwhelms him and defeats him. She meets Uriah by the gate. They talk about when Xansas will appear. Rasima shows up with Laia and Karam, and another wali to ask her to go to the festival with her the next day. Serein really doesn’t want to, but goes with her into the city. Rasima tells her about mooncakes. Serein tells her about the festivals she went to in the past around the world. They are walking back to the palace, and Serein tells her about a festival. Rasima tells her about the Sister Moons Festival. Serein sees Xansas in the market, but he disappears before she can do anything. Serein is worried and tells Rasima to head back to the palace.

Xansas is on a rooftop, watching and thinking about Serein. He wonders about their child and about her joining him again. He carves her name into a post.

Mayte’s fight is the fourth day of the first week. Serein is watching from the royal viewing box with Rameses. She talks with Rameses about keeping Rasima away from the coliseum and searching for Xansas. She watches as Mayte wins her match, noticing that she’s using two weapons. Serein decides to expose Xansas instead of hunting for him in secret.

In the early morning, Uriah is finished bathing and thinking about everything that’s going on. He discovers Serein waiting in his chamber. She came to talk about telling Sethos about Xansas. She gives him a sketch with Xansas’s face. She plans on spying on Mayte. She leaves him a rock and leaves through the secret entrance.

Third week of matches. Serein is fighting a man named Husam. She thinks she sees Xansas in the stands, but it was a blur. Rameses is watching the fight. He’s worried about his father knowing about Xansas since Serein and Uriah decided to tell Sethos about Xansas. Sethos talks with Rameses about Serein’s intentions to enter the Aikhtiar, and Rameses says that it was his idea to have her enter. He tries to protect Serein. Sethos is not convinced that Serein will win. That evening, Salveig invites her to drink with them to celebrate Ragnihildur’s loss. Serein figures out that Salveig is Edolasian royalty. She is the second princess to the Olhouser throne (Full name Salveig Brynhildur Dahl). Serein begins to wonder why Salveig is really there. They drink into the night. When Serein leaves, she finds Rameses waiting outside the bar for her. They walk down the street, and Rameses wants her to go with him down to the beach. They stop to buy 

wine. They talk about Fang’s fight. On the beach, people are lighting lanterns to send prayers up to the Saints. They go to some caves, and he shows her how to build a lantern.

Serein and Maybe are facing off during the 2nd day of the final week of fights. Serein and Mayte fight, and Mayte gets angry at Serein because Xansas favors her still. Serein pins Mayte down and cuts her across her throat as a warning, but leaves her alive. She is bothered by the fight and goes to visit Eneca to talk about it with her. Eneca says that Serein could change if she wants to and choose a different path. Serein almost cries, and Eneca comforts her. That night, Serein has mixed thoughts, and she is tired. Serein is in her chambers, writing a letter that will tell Uriah where her children are. She tells Rizwana to give it to him if something happens to her. Rziwana says that she can talk with her about her past if she wants to.

There are gladiator fights that happen between matches. Fang wins. There is an archery competition happening, which Rameses is participating in. He is on horseback and wins the competition. Serein and Salveig have their match. Serein notes that a storm is coming. Salveig fights with a big battleaxe. They begin their fight, and Serein has to draw both her weapons. The fight is pretty evenly matched, and they move to hand-to-hand combat. Salveig injures Serein, and Serein punches her in the nose. Serein wins the match, and Salveig wants to fight her another time. Rameses is watching Serein’s fight, and he’s pleased that she’s progressing. His father is not.

Serein is in her room, thinking about her last fight against Fang the next day. It’s raining and Serein enjoys it, but she starts worrying about getting attached to Rameses, Rasima, and Uriah. She is worried that it might affect her and put her at risk of not seeing her children again. Rameses comes to celebrate his victory with her, and Uriah and Rasima join them. Before they arrive, Rameses talks about her becoming the muharib and what that means for their plan. He wants to figure out a way not to kill people who could help them. Rasima comes with a plate of sweets. Serein compliments Uriah, and he blushes. Rasima wants to learn how to fight instead of taking classes, and Serein suggests that she learn to fight in different ways. Rameses toasts to Serein’s success against Fang. Serein is worried about what the future holds since she is coming to have feelings for the three of them.

The final round is between Serein and Fang. Fights with emei piercers and a curved sword. Serein draws first blood and looks like she’s going to push him back when she thinks she sees Xansas, and hesitates. Fang scratches her hand, getting some blood so he can use a magical spell with a vial of bottled magic he smuggled in. It’s a spell to cause her pain and stop her movements. Fang injures Serein, and she is bleeding from her nose. The spell is making her slow, and Fang wounds her left eye and cheek. She manages to wound him, but he gets a hold of her and drives his weapon through her stomach. He lets her writhe on the ground as he prepares to kill her. Serein begins her offense, intent on killing Fang. She drives her dagger into his thigh. Serein had hidden the blade in the sand, kicked it up, and slits his throat. She cuts off his head, and he is dead. Serein makes her way out of the arena and passes out after she tells Uriah that Fang used magic, hands him the empty vial, and tells him about the letter that Rizwana has.

For the next week, Serein is unconscious in the palace infirmary. She has been stitched up but isn’t in good shape. Rasima comes to pray, Rameses feels guilty, and Uriah stays by her bedside every day. He has the vial and the letter in his desk. Uriah and Rameses talk by Serein’s bedside. They leave when the healer comes around to go have a drink.

Serein is locked in a dream where she is chasing Luca and Astra. She sees her child self, and Xansas appears. He tells her that she can’t touch her children because she is unclear. Bodies start to drag her down. She wakes up screaming.

In the epilogue, a Vale (King Melcinítan) stands looking over a valley and has a dark vision with thirteen dark men. He is the current king of the Vale, last of the Immortal Kings. Calanon, his nephew, appears and brings word from their spies. They are of the house Gwae, which is a silver tree. They talk about a break-in in the Black Fells, which is the ancient burial ground of dangerous followers of evil that were sealed away. Sethos’ spies are searching for a dark relic left over from when Rúcarëgoth, the foreshadowed evil, was destroyed and his essence was scattered to his thirteen followers, who were sealed away after their death and his defeat. They talk about summoning the High Council to Isquasad and getting Lady Silmëloth, the elven queen with the gift of foresight.

Morcion is part of the maqua—an elite squad of five warriors who serve the king. He appears and talks about the rebels in Sarrdon. Melcinítan gives him the sword and begins thinking about what is to come.