The Songbird and the Heart of Stone

The Songbird and the Heart of Stone (2024) is a New Adult fantasy romance by Carissa Broadbent and the third installment in the Crowns of Nyaxia series. The novel follows Mische, a mortal turned vampire, once blessed by the sun god, who must endure a dangerous mission into the Underworld with the sole surviving Shadowborn Prince—to kill the god he seeks to resurrect. Through its characters and the developing romance at its heart, the novel explores themes of Self-Destruction in Pursuit of Redemption, The Dangers of Unquestioning Loyalty, and The Importance of Reciprocity in Love. The Crowns of Nyaxia series began self-published, but after amassing quick popularity, was published by a romantic imprint of Tor Books called Bramble in 2023.

This guide refers to the e-book edition published by Bramble in 2024.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of self-harm.

Plot Summary

Once a human acolyte blessed by the sun god Atroxus and serving as a priestess in the Order of the Destined Dawn with her sister Saescha, Mische has since been turned vampire by the Shadowborn Prince, Malach, whom she later killed. Mische struggles with her identity as a vampire and her desire to continue faithfully serving her sun god. Every attempt to use his magic results in new burn scars along her arms.

After being imprisoned by the House of Shadow and sentenced to execution for her murder of Malach, Mische is offered salvation by Asar—the bastard son of the Shadowborn King, Raoul. Asar gets permission from the king to enlist Mische’s help in accompanying him to the Underworld on a mission given to him by the goddess of vampires, Nyaxia. In this mission, Mische’s gifts from the sun god will be extremely valuable.

Asar, the Warden of Morthryn prison, brings Mische to Morthryn, where she witnesses him perform necromancy to bring a human acolyte of Atroxus back to life. The acolyte, named Chandra, is a backup in case Mische does not survive the Descent to the Underworld. Mische also meets Elias, the trusted guard of Asar’s sister Egrette, and Luce, Asar’s childhood dog whom he also resurrected. Both will accompany them on their journey.

The night before the journey, Mische is visited by Atroxus for the first time in a year. He offers her redemption despite her vampiric corruption, if she completes a task for him. Atroxus instructs her to help Asar resurrect Alarus, and then kill the god permanently while he’s in a vulnerable state. Mische’s unquestioning loyalty to Atroxus leads her to believe this mission is for the benefit of everyone, as Atroxus tells her that Nyaxia will likely wage war on the White Pantheon and destroy the human nations in the process after regaining her lover.

Asar and Mische’s mission will take them through the five Sanctums of the Descent—each of which contains a relic Alarus placed there before his death. Each relic is protected by Atroxus’s magic to prevent resurrection from taking place, which is why Mische’s talents are needed. Atroxus tells Mische that she will come across a weapon in the Descent capable of killing a god, and this is the weapon she must use against Alarus. Desperate for Atroxus’s approval, Mische accepts the task, even knowing that she must betray Asar to do so.

The group descends to the first Sanctum: Body. After a close confrontation with the wardens who patrol the veil, the group manages to enter the Sanctum but are immediately set upon by wraiths hungry for their life source. They race to the temple at the epicenter of the Sanctum, where they must battle a massive bird containing Atroxus’s magic. Inside the bird’s carcass, they find the first relic: an obsidian tree branch.

They retreat to the safety of Morthryn, which acts as a passageway between realms. While in these liminal spaces, Mische discovers that the wards first set in place by Alarus to contain the wraiths and the hierarchy of the Descent have recently begun failing. Asar has been working diligently to reconstruct the wards as they fall, but he is desperate for help as they’ve become increasingly difficult to maintain. After some thought, Mische agrees to tap into her innate Shadowborn vampire abilities to aid Asar in this venture, justifying this decision by believing that if the wards were to fail and the Descent were to devolve into chaos, they would be unable to collect all the relics and complete the missions their gods have tasked them with.

After weeks of travel, they arrive at the Sanctum of Breath, where they confront Souleaters and a mysterious woman, later revealed to be Ophelia—a former lover of Asar’s, whom he tried and failed to resurrect after she was murdered by Malach—in the temple at its center. They narrowly escape both and retrieve the second relic—poppy petals—before returning to Morthryn.

Next, they reach the Sanctum of Psyche, which preys on their minds. Mische experiences terrible nightmares. Meanwhile, she continues to work with Asar to reinforce the gates, and the two become closer. As they enter Psyche, an Heir Mark appears on Asar’s hands and arms—denoting him as the rightful heir to the House of Shadow. Before Asar can fully comprehend what this means (that his father has died), Elias stabs him. Elias is revealed to be working with Egrette to kill Raoul and Asar, clearing her path to the throne. After pushing Asar off the cliffside, Elias offers Mische freedom if she returns with him to the surface. Mische refuses and jumps after Asar.

Mische is followed by Chandra, who begs her to return with them, but Mische refuses. When Chandra is attacked by wraiths, Mische initially tries to help, but a look into Chandra’s memories reveals that she’s responsible for murdering countless newborn vampire children in Atroxus’s name. Disgusted by Chandra’s actions, Mische leaves her to die. Mische, Asar, and Luce reunite and secure the third relic—a silver wedding ring—at the Psyche temple.

In the fourth Sanctum, the Sanctum of Secrets, Mische and Asar face many repressed secrets and desires. They give in to their sexual desires for one another—a decision that earns Atroxus’s rage and scorn. Mische also regains a repressed memory of the night she was turned—in which she murdered her own sister out of uncontrollable bloodlust.

After securing the fourth relic—a golden arrow capable of killing a god—Mische and Asar prepare for the final Sanctum and the end of their journey. Atroxus visits Mische in private. Despite his anger at her for defiling herself with Asar, Atroxus reasserts pressure on her to kill Alarus with the golden arrow at the time when he’s most vulnerable. Mische convinces Atroxus to promise her two things if she succeeds: to offer Saescha the mortal life she should have lived and to spare Asar’s life. While Asar is also visited by someone and secrets are revealed to him within the Sanctum of Secrets, he does not explicitly share these with Mische until the resurrection in the Sanctum of Souls.

During their perilous journey to the Sanctum of Souls’s epicenter, Mische and Asar are assaulted on all sides by wraiths. With Asar’s help, Mische subdues Ophelia and helps her pass on to the Underworld, bringing her peace at last. After preparing the ritual, Asar tasks Mische with completing it on her own. He surprises her by offering himself up as the Soul, revealing that he carries a seed of Alarus’s bloodline passed down by one of his mortal lovers. Mische is devastated by this, and as the ritual commences, she clings to Asar’s soul with every ounce of power she has. This alters the course of the resurrection, placing Alarus’s gathered power inside Asar and preventing Alarus himself from being properly resurrected.

When Atroxus appears to witness what he believes will be her success in his mission, Mische realizes that his intentions aren’t as benevolent as he made them seem. He had hoped Alarus’s death would give Atroxus more power—as all the gods share communal power, and when one god dies, another becomes stronger—which he’d then use to rid the world of all vampires. Mische stabs Atroxus with the golden arrow, but he sets them both aflame, determined that she die alongside him.

When Mische wakes, barely alive after the fire unleashed upon her in the wake of Atroxus’s death, she sees the gods appear and chain Asar. They cannot kill him because he is now a god, but they do deliver a killing blow to Mische. She wakes in the Underworld, where the deceased former Nightborn King, Vincent, greets her and tells her they have work to do. Meanwhile, in the realm above, Asar bides his time in captivity. He plans to find Mische again and enact retribution on the gods who had roles in her death.