Malik and Karina, neither knowing who the other is, end up hiding together in an abandoned building and having a bit of a connection. He and Tunde race to the finish, Tunde having decided that he does in fact want the opportunity to marry Karina. Malik is defeated because he cannot complete the deal he made with Idir and it appears Nadia is going to die.

Dedele does not even perform, dropping out of the competition, as this was Karina’s win condition for wakama.He takes Malik’s sister Nadia prisoner and says he will only release her if Malik kills the princess by the end of Solstasia. Finds out at the end of the story that she has the ability to summon storms with her magic that has been repressed most of her life. Brown has admitted to using Ghanaian folk tales as an inspiration for her book, this story isn’t really a fairy tale or folk tale retelling.

Using magic that had long been dormant but was awakened by Idir, he creates an illusion of his patron deity naming him champion in front of everyone in the temple. On the eve of Solstasia, Karina has escaped the palace with her maid and finds herself in a competition with a man from the tavern for a bag of gold coins, which Karina dreams of using to escape her life in Ziran. Even the book’s map itself creates a sense of exciting new worlds, with the Snowlands to the south, the masks in the corner, and jungles to the north. Later that evening, just before the comet arrives, assassins sneak into the palace and attack Karina and her mother, and the fight ends with the Kestrel dead, making Karina the new sultana of Ziran. They enter the maze, and Tunde is suspicious of Malik because he knows that it was he who killed Driss.

in case you need some good news right now, the author describes this book as: black princess who doesn't give a fuck, black boy who gives so many fucks, slow burn enemies to lovers romance with PINING, so much backstabbing. The other two champions who will move onto the final challenge are Driss (Sun champion) and Tunde (Water champion). After admitting that her mother is dead, Karina enlists Afua’s help with the eventual ritual that needs to happen. He’s the “man” of the family, but he suffers from panic attacks and cries at multiple times throughout the story.