Grey Flynn (well) – Main character of The Second Death of Locke. Also known as Gremaryse (Maryse) Locke. Last surviving member of the Locke family and heir to the Isle.
Kiernan Seward (mage) – Grey’s childhood best friend and love interest. Captain in the Scaelan army, then commander of Lochan forces.
Ola Et-Kiltar (well) – Scaelan, member of the retinue, has never done a single thing wrong in her life
Brit Wyvern (mage) – Scaelan, member of the retinue, beloved pain in the ass
Eron Fastria (typic) – Scaelan, member of the retinue, cannot cook a meal to save his life
Wilesela Naudé (well) – Better known as Sela. Prisoner of the retinue, Cleoc’s daughter
Scaelas (unknown) – High Lord of Scaela
Cleoc (unknown) – High Lady of Cleoc Strata
Alma Locke (well) – Grey’s mother, last High Lady of Locke
Isaak Locke (mage) – Grey’s father, Scaelan before he married her mother, best friend to Scaelas
Severin Locke (mage) – Grey’s brother
Kitalma (well) - First well of the Isle, one of the Lochan gods
BEWARE: HERE THERE BE SPOILERS! If you have not read The Second Death of Locke, ye be warned.
Grey Flynn is a Hand Captain in the Scaelan army, meaning that she is the well and power source for her mage, Captain Kier Seward. Grey and Kier are making the best of their lot in a nation where the power system is dying, thanks to the destruction of the Isle of Locke nearly two decades before. They are also best friends – they grew up together near the coast, and there is no one Grey knows better than Kier. There is also no one she loves more than Kier, but that is a secret she’d rather keep to herself.
The pair are given a mission by their superior officer: they have to retrieve a resource from an enemy convoy. Kier gleans that this resource may hold some secret to restoring the power source across Idistra and the magic system that ties the five nations together. During the raid, they find a prisoner and determine that she is the asset their commander wants. She is only a young woman, and while Kier is comforting her after the raid, the prisoner stabs Kier. Grey gets him back to camp before he can bleed out or otherwise expire, then treats him to ensure he will not die.
When Kier recovers, they’re called in for a new mission: they are to escort the prisoner across the mountains and north, towards the Scaelan capitol, where she will be greeted by their High Lord, Scaelas. Their commander tells them that the girl is rumored to be a descendent of the lost Isle of Locke, and thus able to resurrect both the Isle and the power system it once supplied. They go back to their quarters, where Kier starts packing a bag. Grey realizes he’s deserting, and the pair fight about their changing fate, except, Kier reminds her that they can never be safe, not on the mission and not in Scaela. After all, this prisoner is not the lost heir to Locke: Grey is, and Kier will do everything in his power to keep her safe, even if it means deserting.
Grey convinces Kier to stop overreacting and that they have to go on the mission. They select the rest of their team for the mission: Eron Fastria, a typic (non-magical) officer; Brit Wyvern, a mage; and Ola Et-Kiltar, Brit’s well. The five of them and the young prisoner, Sela, set off on their quest.
Grey is reluctant to trust anyone other than Kier, but finds herself begrudgingly opening up to the others. While treating Sela for other injuries, she begins to suspect that she’s younger than she’s claiming to be.
During a break at an inn, Kier, Ola, and Eron set off on other duties, leaving Grey and Brit to guard Sela. Grey and Brit are attacked by enemy trackers who are trying to take Sela for themselves, and Brit tries to use Grey’s power—and finds that they cannot. Grey and Kier completed a binding ritual years ago, so Grey’s power belongs to him alone. Brit uses power from Sela, who is revealed to be a well, and the trio narrowly survive the encounter. Brit is injured and Sela is scared, and when the others return, Ola holds Grey accountable for not providing Brit with power. Kier calls her off for the night, but in the morning, they know they’ll need to own up to their binding.
In the morning, Grey and Kier reveal to the others that her power is bound to him. In a moment of frustration, Grey asks Sela who she really is, as she is too young to be the heir to Locke. Sela admits that she is not the heir to Locke—but she is the heir to another nation, Cleoc Strata, caught up in the war after she ran from refuge. The team find themselves in the middle of an international incident, as Scaela is also at war with Cleoc Strata, and this could end very badly for everyone involved.
They decide that they’ll take Sela north and ask for a contingent from Cleoc Strata to meet them and Scaelas so they can potentially broker for peace, and they continue their travels north. While staying in a shepherd’s hut, they find themselves surrounded by an enemy company. Grey asks Kier to trust her and they tell the others to run. When they go out to confront the company, Grey reveals a talent she kept from Kier: as the root of Idistran power and the heir to Locke, she is able to pull power from other wells, which leaves them vulnerable to Kier’s magic. Kier kills the entire company but the force of the effort nearly kills Grey.
When Grey wakes, Kier is there. She is ashamed of what she’s done and the power she holds, but he tells her that she’s done what she needed to survive. Kier confesses that he’s in love with Grey, but he understands if she doesn’t feel the same. She calls him out on being the worst and the two kiss (the others are most certainly not listening at the door). Later that night, they discuss their plans to continue north and Grey assures Kier that she does indeed love him back.
When they reach their destination, the commander of the post is already aware of who Sela is. Grey and Kier meet with Cleoc, the High Lady of Cleoc Strata (and Sela’s mother) and Scaelas, the High Lord of Scaela. It’s a tricky one, as Scaelas was once Grey’s godfather and the best friend of her deceased father, so it’s possible he would recognize her. The rest of the company do their best to conceal her.
After a celebratory dinner, Grey and Kier return to the inn, where there is intentionally, metaphorically, and spiritually only one bed. In the morning, though, they are brutally awoken and taken prisoner by outside forces, then dragged into captivity. There, their captors, who are from the nations of Eprain and Luthar, reveal that they know Grey/Kier/Ola/Eron/Brit killed that entire company—and there’s no way five of them could’ve done that if one wasn’t very, very powerful. In a moment of betrayal, Kier says that he is the heir to Locke and it’s his strength that wiped out the company. He bargains for the release of the others (Grey does indeed bite and fight back, but tastefully) and stays behind as their prisoner.
Grey and the others go back to Scaelas to seek his help. Grey reveals her true identity, and Scaelas recognizes her immediately. She calls for Scaelas and Cleoc to ally with her and enter into an agreement when she raises the Isle as long as they help her get Kier back. Because they are bound, Scaelas explains that, if he wanted to, Kier could raise the Isle too, so they really need to get him back. The prisoner exchange goes wrong when Eprain/Luthar arrange for an ambush, and Grey/Kier jump off a cliff to escape. While weighed down by her armor and drowning in the sea, Grey begs her gods for the Isle’s return.
She wakes up on the Isle of Locke, restored. Not far away, Grey finds Kier’s body: he is dead. She does not take this well. When she wakes up again, she is in the Ghostwood, the Lochan cemetery, and the ghosts of those she loved are there. Her parents explain that a sacrifice was needed to raise the Isle, and that sacrifice was Kier. Grey fights them; when her god, Kitalma, comes to confront her, Grey fights her too. She begs for Kier’s life, as she cannot do this alone. Kitalma agrees to a bargain: Kier can stay dead; Grey can have Kier in totality and give up her power; or Grey can keep her power and Kier can give up his freedom, remaining forever tied to the Isle. She asks for time to think about it, and Kitalma agrees.
Kier wakes and the ghosts retreat. Grey cannot believe he is alive again, and is willing to do whatever it takes to keep him—except tell him the truth. The pair retreat to the fortress and sleep off the death.
In the morning, they realize they are caught in an in-between state, so they start setting the Isle to rights and prepare for war. They bury those who died in the great hall during the ill-fated attack that brought down the Isle, and figure out the boundaries of Grey’s power. After a few days, the Isle returns in totality—and their friends, plus Scaelan and Stratan forces arrive to help. They know it’s only a matter of time until Luthar and Eprain attack, and Grey isn’t sure she can hold the Isle or keep anyone safe.
Grey confesses to one of her friends about the deal she made for Kier’s life. Kier overhears and he is pissed. Grey defends her actions, but things are frosty between them as the Isle prepares for battle. The night before battle, she apologizes, and Kier begs her not to give up her power.
In the morning, Luthar attacks. Grey tries to be good and wait out the battle in the safety of the fortress, but she can’t do it. She dons her armor and joins the fray by Kier’s side. While fighting, she is mortally wounded, going back to that half-death between state where her mother’s ghost waits for her. Her mother teaches her how to pull power in a greater measure, and Grey strips the power from all Eprainish and Luthrite wells. Grey wakes up to the end of the battle, still dying.
Kier takes her back to the fortress, where she is treated for her wounds. When she wakes, it’s to an uneasy truce: the other nations are willing to negotiate to regain their power. Grey agrees to this and forges some sort of peace. In the aftermath, Grey and Kier go to the altar of her gods and pledge Kier’s freedom in return for her life. To grant him some modicum of privacy, Grey gifts Kier a cottage as a retreat that is all his own.