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A Conspiracy of Kings is the fourth book in the Queen's Thief series. It was originally published on March 23rd, 2010 in the United States.

Plot[]

Sophos, the heir to Sounis and the magus's former apprentice, is exiled from the capital after Helen, queen of Eddis, accepts his marriage proposal.

Living with his mother and sisters on his family's villa on the island of Letnos in the far north of Sounis, he finds himself much out of his element as he and his family are ambushed at their villa. Surprising both his attackers and himself, Sophos at first succeeds in evading his attackers and hiding his mother and sisters, but is soon betrayed by his servants, who thought they were more likely to survive by surrendering.

Sophos finds out that he was kidnapped as part of a baronial conspiracy to overthrow his uncle, the ruler of Sounis. Sophos, face mangled and hair dyed by his kidnappers to disguise him as a violent slave, is snuck off of the island and taken to the mainland.

On the mainland, Sophos escapes his captors by persuading Berrone, the daughter of the Baron Hanaktos, to purchase him as a slave. Sophos is put to work in a field house and finds himself content with manual labor. Though the other slaves initially fear him after being told he is a "man killer," Sophos forms an unlikely camaraderie with the other slaves and workers, who ironically call him "Bunny." Sophos dreams of being tutored by the goddess Moira in a library while Helen, the queen of Eddis, watches on, unaware that his dreams are godly intervention.

One day, Sophos' father arrives at Hanaktos's estate to collect him, and Sophos is faced with the choice between remaining a slave or returning to his previous life. Sophos reluctantly chooses to return to his previous life as heir to the throne.

Reunited with his father, Sophos soon learns that Hanaktos plans to ambush and kill his father and his men at dinner. With the help of two of other slaves and an unwitting Berrone, Sophos warns his father of the plan. After a bloody fight with Hanaktos's men, Sophos helps his father and his men escape in the dark with his knowledge of Hanaktos's fields.

Sophos is soon reunited with the magus and learns that his uncle has died and he is now king of Sounis. With the country embroiled in a civil war, Sophos narrowly escapes an assassination attempt and flees to Attolia with the magus, where he asks his old friend Eugenides, now Attolis, for aid. In exchange for military assistance, Sophos pledges his loyalty to Attolis, making Sounis a vassal state of Attolia. He also agrees to marry Eddis in the event that he is able to take his country back from the rebels. Together with Eugenides, Sophos hatches a plan to defeat the rebel barons and Median conspirators.

After returning to Sounis, Sophos intentionally allows himself to be captured again by the rebel barons as part of his plot with Eugenides. The rebel barons and Medians hope to use Sophos as a puppet and install him as king. While captive on Baron Brimedius's estate, Sophos stalls to give his troops time to make it to Elisa for the inevitable fight against the rebels, and also in hopes of giving himself time to rescue his mother and sisters from where they were being held captive.

When Sophos receives an encoded letter from his sister, Ina, letting him know that she, their sister Eurydice and their mother are safe in Eddis, Sophos, certain that his troops had already reached Elisa and hidden themselves, tells the Mede ambassador, Akretenesh, that he is ready to comply if they will take him to the sacred site to confirm him king.

Sophos loses his first confirmation vote, but after shooting and killing Hanaktos in front of the other barons, Sophos is able to consolidate power and win the votes of his barons.

Immediately following the vote, however, Akretenesh attempts to order his men to kill Sophos, but hidden crossbowmen shoot them before they are able to. Sophos in turn shoots at Akretenesh in anger, but only injures his shoulder. Akretenesh then reveals that he has ten thousand Mede soldiers waiting in the port of Elisa down the road, rather than the one thousand soldiers that Eugenides and Sophos had been anticipating. However, with help from additional troops sent by Attolia and Eddis, Sophos is able to rout a large Mede army and restore peace to Sounis.

Sophos, anxious to see Helen and be officially engaged, races to Eddis, but arrives to find that she is in Attolia. After spending time with his mother, father and sisters, he travels to Attolia and recounts his decisions since leaving Attolia, as he is anxious she will reject his proposal when she learns that he resorted to violence to take his throne. She soothes his worries and they are officially engaged. Before she can explain her and Gen's plan to Sophos, however, they are called away for Sophos's official pledging his loyalty to Attolis.

After the ceremony, Sophos, still unaware of Eddis and Attolis's plan, publicly announces his engagement. Eugenides is forced to tell him that Eddis must also swear her allegiance to Attolis if she wishes to marry him. Sophos and Helen fight, and Helen takes him to see the Attolian library—which looks exactly like the library he saw in his dreams, and she tells him she had the same dreams he did. They reconcile. Gen and Sophos meet later that day and they reconcile as well.

Trivia[]

  • In the first chapter, Sophos says all of his uncles except Sounis are dead. But near the end of the book, Sophos makes one of his other uncles Berrone's guardian.
  • The magus and Sophos take a very similar route to Attolia as they do in The Thief.

Editions and Translations[]

A Conspiracy of Kings has been published with two different covers in the United States, and received new covers for at least one international edition (see Cover Gallery, below.) Other translations reused the artwork of either Vince Natale or Joel Tippie. It has been released in the following languages:

  • English [Note: US and UK]
  • Bengali [Note: published in one volume with The King of Attolia]
  • Estonian (Kuningate vandenõu)
  • German (Der Verschwörer) [Note: "The Conspirator"]
  • Thai (แผนสมคบคิดแห่งองค์ราชัน) [Note: "Conspiracy of the King"]

Audiobooks[]

A Conspiracy of Kings has been recorded with a variety of narrators.

  • Jeff Woodman (US)
  • Steve West (US)

Cover Gallery[]

References[]

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