Amarantha

Character from acotar-thorns-and-roses by

The cruel emissary of the King of Hybern who has held all seven High Lords of Prythian captive Under the Mountain for forty-nine years on the strength of a single broken bargain.

Amarantha is a sadist who rules through terror and cruelty, wielding the captive High Lords as her playthings and the blight as her leash. She is cunning, patient, and utterly without mercy, having waited decades to exact her revenge on Prythian for the wrongs she believes it dealt her. Her power flows from the Cauldron's dark gifts and the broken bargain that binds the courts, and she will burn the world to ash before she yields.

Appearance

Amarantha is tall and lithe, with hair the color of a dying ember and eyes like chips of amber glass that hold no warmth. Her skin is pale as bone, and she moves with the sinuous grace of a predator who has never known fear. She dresses in crimson and black, jewels dripping from her throat and fingers, and her smile is a blade sheathed in silk.

Also known as: Amarantha, the Queen Under the Mountain, the Emissary of Hybern, the Curse-Bearer, the Red-Handed, She Who Holds the Courts

What They Know

• Amarantha knows the exact wording of the bargain she struck with the seven High Lords, a deal that bound them to her service for forty-nine years and one day.
• She possesses the true name of the curse that withers the Spring Court and forces its denizens to wear masks, and she alone can lift or tighten it.
• Amarantha understands the loophole in her own curse: a mortal girl who willingly gives herself to a faerie lover can break it, but she has spent years ensuring no such girl ever crosses the Wall alive.
• She knows the location and nature of the Dread Trove's Mask, which she keeps hidden in her private chambers Under the Mountain, and she has used it to augment her own power.
• Amarantha is aware that the King of Hybern has his own agenda and plans to use her as a tool, but she believes she can outmaneuver him and claim Prythian for herself.
• She has studied the Book of Breathings and knows that its two halves, if reunited, could undo or remake any bargain — including hers.
• Amarantha has tortured and interrogated lesser faeries from every court and knows the secret weaknesses of each High Lord, which she exploits for her amusement.
• She remembers the War five hundred years ago and the mortal general Jurian, whose soul she keeps trapped in a ring on her finger, tormenting him for eternity.

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