Ascendance Trilogy

Sage is a fourteen-year-old orphan who steals a roast from a local butcher, but is saved from his wrath by a nobleman named Bevin Conner. Conner is visiting different orphanages and buying teenage boys who resemble the missing Prince Jaron, heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Carthya. Conner buys four boys, but a particularly weak one is soon killed as a threatening example. Conner takes the boys to his estate, Farthenwood. They learn that Conner is a minor regent of the circle that surrounds the King. King Eckbert, his wife Erin and his oldest son, crown prince Darius, have been murdered in secret. Conner is a patriot who wants to see the Kingdom of Carthya preserved, rather than fall into civil war at the hands of Prime Regent Veldergrath. He therefore concocts the plan to place a fraud on the throne to avert the coming war. One of the three boys will be chosen as the imposter, and the other two executed. The chosen boy will impersonate Prince Jaron, the younger son of King Eckbert, who disappeared after the ship he was aboard was raided and destroyed by pirates from Avenia, a nation that borders Carthya. Sage's argumentative, independent behavior continually lands him in trouble over the next two weeks, as he and the other two boys, Roden and Tobias, compete against each other to become Conner's choice for the impostor. On one occasion, he steals back a rock that Connor took from him, which Connor claims is imitators gold and Sage insists is real gold. Because of this, Connor has him whipped in an attempt to bend Sage to his will. During his stay at Farthenwood, he also meets a kitchen maid named Imogen.

As the two weeks draw to a close, Tobias attempts to challenge Sage, but the attempt backfires as Sage is able to blackmail him, offering mercy is Sage becomes Prince Jaron. At the end of the two weeks, Roden is chosen, but at the last minute, Connor notices Sage rolling a coin over his knuckles and remembers that this was a special trick which Prince Jaron was known for. He instead chooses Sage because of this.

In a flashback, Sage reveals to the readers that he is Prince Jaron himself. Many years ago, he was being sent away by his parents because of his unruliness, so he ran away long before the ship was attacked. His father found him and told him to escape the responsibilities and dangers of being a prince by not returning. This hurt Jaron, but he thus took the pseudonym of Sage and pretended to be an orphan.

When they arrive at the royal castle in the city of Drylliad, they are refused entrance inside, so Jaron takes them inside by way of the castle sewer. Roden, angry over not being chosen, challenges Jaron to a sword fight. Jaron accepts and ultimately wins, but chooses to show mercy to Roden by allowing him to live. At the castle, Jaron reveals himself to the crowd at the castle as the true lost prince, stunning everyone, including Connor and his late father's advisor Lord Kerywn. Jaron then reveals that Connor is the one who killed the royal family by poisoning them and that Connor was the one who hired the pirates to kill him. Connor is arrested at once, and Jaron assumes the throne.

King Jaron is attacked by Roden, who is still angry over losing the throne to Jaron. Roden tells Jaron that he has joined the Avenian pirates, and that the pirates are seeking to kill Jaron because they failed to accomplish this the first time. Roden tells him that the pirates are giving Jaron ten days to surrender, or else they will attack Carthya. Jaron realizes that the pirates are in alliance with Avenia to kill him and destroy Carthya.

During the encounter, Roden threatened to kill a person dear to Jaron if he refuses to cooperate, and Jaron realizes that this person is none other than Imogen, so he decides to send her away to keep her safe. He lies, saying he has no feelings for her and he used her, hoping to put more distance between them. Imogen leaves the castle in anger. Jaron also visits Connor in prison, accompanied by Gregor, the captain of his guard. Connor tells him that the poison he used to kill Jaron's family came from the pirate king Devlin.

When the regents of the kingdom find out about the assassination attempt on Jaron, they propose that Jaron go into hiding for safety and appoint a steward to rule for him until he is of age. Jaron believes that they need to defend themselves, but the regents are all for following King Eckbert's footsteps in avoiding war through negotiation. Jaron agrees to leave the castle, opting to return to Farthenwood with Tobias, but he leaves Tobias to impersonate him and escapes to face the pirates. Jaron spends a night at Rulon Harlowe's estate, and Harlowe treats him very kindly and urges him to stay, but Jaron departs for Avenia and arrives the next day. He is taken by Erick, leader of the Avenian thieves, and convinces Erick to take him to the pirates, supposedly to help them steal a vast amount of hidden Carthyan treasure.

To his surprise, Jaron discovers that Imogen is working for the pirates as a kitchen maid. Imogen tells him that she and Amarinda, a foreign princess betrothed to the Carthyan throne, figured out that Jaron would come to the pirates, and Imogen decided to come as a last effort to discourage Jaron from his fool's errand. Devlin makes Jaron a pirate. Jaron gets Imogen to escape from the pirates on horseback with Fink, a young boy, but Gregor, on his way to the pirates, comes upon them and brings them back. Jaron realizes that Gregor was a traitor. Gregor exposes Jaron's true identity to Devlin, but Jaron challenges his position as pirate king, and Devlin is obliged to answer as part of the pirate's code. Jaron wins, but surrenders to Devlin in exchange for Imogen's release.

Roden returns from sea early just as Jaron is about to be whipped, and becomes angry because he had been promised that he could deal with Jaron as he pleased. He kills Devlin and becomes the new pirate king. Considering his victory over Carthya as good as secure, Roden locks Jaron in a secure room with Erick and Fink and breaks Jaron's leg to ensure that no escape is possible. However, with aid from Erick and Fink, Jaron climbs escapes and challenges Roden as pirate king. As they spar, Jaron expresses his desire for Roden to come to his side and return to Carthya as the captain of his guard. Jaron loses narrowly, but Roden, having been won over by Jaron and recognizing Jaron's commitment to Carthya, surrenders and agrees to return with Jaron. Jaron goes back to Drylliad and finds that Tobias has convinced the regents not to replace Jaron with a steward. Jaron also makes Harlowe his new prime regent and mends his relationship with Amarinda. In the epilogue, Jaron is informed that Avenia has invaded Carthya and captured Imogen.

Avenia, Gelyn, and Mendenwal are waging war against Carthya. Roden and Jaron have staged a public argument in hopes that his enemies will believe Carthya's armies are disorganized and quarrelsome, while providing a cover for Roden to march out to defend the borders. Jaron receives word that Imogen has been captured by Avenia, but Mott insists on taking the risk of rescuing Imogen in Jaron's stead. Jaron sends Amarinda, Tobias, and Fink to Amarinda's home country of Bymar for their safety and to ask for Bymar's aid.

When Jaron discovers that Avenia captured Imogen not to lure Jaron, but Mott, Jaron's most trusted man, to force information from Mott, he changes plans and breaks into the Avenian camp to rescue them. Mott escapes, but Imogen is shot with an arrow and Jaron is captured. After some time, Tobias joins him in his prison cell and is shocked to realize that Jaron is alive, as he and Amarinda overheard Avenian soldiers claiming that Jaron was dead. Upon hearing this, Amarinda decided to return to Drylliad to encourage and lead the people while Fink went on to request Bymar's aid, but Amarinda and Tobias were separated on the way back and Tobias was captured. They are held as prisoners until Mott and Harlowe rescue them from the camp. Before they leave Avenia, Jaron pays a visit to the Avenian pirates to request for their aid, but the pirates respond with unwillingness and anger. Erik assures Jaron that, whether or not the rest of the pirates come to Carthya's aid, he will aid Jaron.

On their way to Drylliad, they meet Amarinda. Jaron rejoins Roden in a battle at Drylliad, reinforced by Bymarian cavalry. A Bymarian soldier informs them that Fink refused to believe Jaron was dead, and tried to prove it by going to the Avenian camp to search for Jaron after he had succeeded in his mission of requesting Bymar's aid. Although the battle at Drylliad is eventually won, Jaron realizes that most of the soldiers were not Avenian, meaning this battle is just a distraction as the bulk of Avenian soldiers await a different mission. Jaron goes out to meet the enemy at a dry lake. Jaron contrives a plot to lure soldier into the lake before bursting the lake's dam and drowning them, and tricking those that remain into surrendering. But even as the enemy surrenders, the bulk of Avenia's armies arrive, vastly outnumbering the Carthyans. Jaron and his troops are trapped in the battle against Avenia and Mendenwal and are forced to retreat to the woods. During this time, Fink is able to rejoin Jaron.

Jaron surrenders to the Avenians to get a medical help for his soldiers. The Avenians take Jaron to Farthenwood; there, he meets Roden, who was captured, and Imogen, who did not die when she got shot. The next day, King Vargan of Avenia tells Jaron that since Tobias offered to trade his life for Jaron's, and they have two gallows built, Jaron can choose which two of the three of them will be hanged; Jaron says that he and Roden will go to the gallows.

At the gallows, Connor, who appears to have sided with the Avenians, subtly gives Jaron a knife, allowing Jaron to cut his and Roden's ropes. The Avenian pirates and the remaining Carthya soldiers fight with the soldiers of Gelyn, Mendenwal, and Avenia. While trying to escape, Jaron is cornered by Vargan and about to be killed, but Conner intervenes and is killed instead. Vargan is then betrayed his own commander, who has come to respect Jaron and wishes to surrender to end the bloodshed. Jaron makes peace with Mendenwal, Avenia, and Gelyn. Harlowe is revealed to be Roden's birth father, and the two are reunited. In the end, Jaron weds Imogen and Tobias weds Princess Amarinda, as the two have grown to love each other.