Initially self-published and subsequently acquired and traditionally published by Bramble (a romantic imprint of Tor Books), The Serpent and the Wings of Night (2022) is a new adult fantasy romance that serves as the first installment in Carissa Broadbent’s Nightborn Duet, which is one of three planned duologies within the Crowns of Nyaxia series. The novel follows the first-person perspective of 23-year-old Oraya, who is the adopted human daughter of the Nightborn King—the ruler of the House of Night vampires. Tired of her human weakness, Oraya enters a once-in-a-century competition known as the Kejari for a chance at obtaining a wish from Nyaxia, the vampire goddess. However, her priorities and her desires shift when she falls in love with Raihn, a contestant belonging to an enemy vampire clan. Carissa Broadbent is also a Wall Street Journal Bestseller and author of the War of Lost Hearts trilogy, which begins with Daughter of No Worlds (2022).

This guide refers to the hardback edition self-published by Carissa Broadbent in 2022.

Content Warning: The source material features depictions of self-harm, flashbacks of rape, emotional abuse, slavery, and references to sexual abuse.

Plot Summary

As a child, Oraya is found by the Hiaj Nightborn King, Vincent, in the ruins of Salinae, a town decimated by Rishan rebels. The two House of Night clans—the Rishan and Hiaj vampires—battle for the territory. Seeing a piece of himself in her, Vincent adopts Oraya as his human daughter. He admires her initial distrust but assures her that he is in fact the only person whom she can trust not to hurt her. As Oraya grows older, she begins to feel trapped and researches her human family. Vincent is unable to seek any surviving members because it would be an act of war to invade Rishan territory; however, he tells her that if she wins the centennial Kejari competition, she may petition the vampire goddess, Nyaxia, for enough power to conduct the search herself. At age 16, Oraya meets a young vampire man who has recently been Turned and falls in love. When she has sex for the first time with him, his passion turns to bloodlust, and he feeds on her and almost kills her. As punishment for disobeying his orders not to trust anyone but him, Vincent forces Oraya to kill her first love. Afterward, to free herself from the nightmares of killing her lover, Oraya begins to hunt vampires in the night.

Six years later, 23-year-old Oraya hunts vampires in the human districts. She decides to join the Kejari, a once-in-a-century competition in which the winner receives a wish from the vampire goddess, Nyaxia. The competition is held in the House of Night’s capital city of Sivrinaj. Oraya plans to pledge as a contestant and trade her wish for enough power to safely venture into Rishan territory and locate her remaining human family members.

When the Kejari begins, Oraya finds herself in the Moon Palace, the official starting point of the Kejari. Throughout the next four months, Oraya goes through five trials alongside other contestants: the Full Moon trial, the Waning Moon trial, the Halfmoon trial, the Crescent trial, and the New Moon trial. Throughout the Kejari, Oraya meets with Vincent in secret, but he becomes increasingly distracted with issues occurring outside the competition. He does not reveal the nature of his troubles to Oraya, but she suspects that it involves his enemies—the Rishan, also known as House of Blood vampires.

During the Full Moon trial, she must battle humanoid demons to the death yet acquires fatal injuries that require her to form an alliance, sharing living quarters with two vampire contestants—Mische and Raihn Ashraj. The alliance protects her from the wrath of Angelika—the silver-haired leader of the Bloodborn contestants, among others. At first, Oraya refuses to trust Raihn enough to work with him and Mische in training for the Halfmoon trial, which requires teamwork to survive. Her fear of him causes her dormant magical power to lash out; Mische attempts to help her gain control over this power. In the weeks between the Full Moon and Waning Moon trials, Oraya briefly meets the prince of the House of Blood, Septimus, who seems to be betting on the fates of several contestants.

The Waning Moon trial consists of a labyrinth from which Oraya must escape without being killed by the other contestants. However, when she discovers that humans are also trapped inside, her anger at the presence of human children in the arena creates the first rift between her and Vincent. To atone for the humans who died at the hands of the vampire contestants, Oraya begins vampire hunting again. Raihn catches her in the act and offers to join her efforts as a method of training together for the next trial. Mische is severely injured in an attack on the Moon Palace and is withdrawn from the competition. Raihn, among other Rishan and Bloodborn contestants, is taken in for questioning by Jesmine prior to the Halfmoon trial, as Vincent is convinced of the factions’ guilt, but is returned in poor shape. Vincent’s disregard of the promise he makes to Oraya to not harm Raihn widens the rift in their relationship. Raihn gives Oraya the choice to abandon their alliance before the Halfmoon trial the following day, but her growing feelings for him lead her to stay.

The Halfmoon trial is designed to forge a connection between the minds and bodies of allied contestants. While other alliances are unable to function with the added weight of additional minds in their heads, Raihn and Oraya’s recent training allows them to adjust with ease as they battle the demons prowling the arena. During the battle, Oraya’s dormant power of Nightfire finally manifests, burning the surrounding vampires and demons. In the aftermath of the Halfmoon trial, Oraya and Raihn continue their alliance, and the thought of killing Raihn in the trials becomes impossible for Oraya to fathom. Leading up to the Crescent trial, the vampires are deprived of blood.

The Crescent trial weaponizes the vampires’ bloodlust by setting them loose in the forest to feed off poisoned animals. Oraya prevents Raihn from succumbing to the same fate by feeding him her blood to satiate his hunger and keep him alive. The vampire venom heightens her natural attraction to him. In order to complete the Crescent Moon trial, they must traverse through burning fog to get to the ending gate. On the journey, they discover the remains of Salinae, Oraya’s hometown within Rishan territory, to which Vincent has laid waste in an act of war. At the end of the trial, four contestants remain: Ibrihim, Angelika, Raihn, and Oraya.

When the final trial, the New Moon trial, is moved up to the following day, Oraya and Raihn give in to their mutual attraction and have sex. They promise to fight to the end of the Kejari, no matter whose blood they need to spill. He also reveals the tragic story of how he was Turned and enslaved to his enslaver for years; what he doesn’t yet reveal is that his enslaver was the former Rishan king, Neculai, whom Vincent killed and whose throne Vincent usurped. Upon Neculai’s death, the Rishan Heir Mark appeared on Raihn’s body. Unwilling to shoulder that responsibility and claim the throne, Raihn burned the mark away, leaving only an unrecognizable scar on his back where the mark used to be.

The New Moon trial traps each contestant in a room with the impersonations of three gods. After battling her own, Oraya is released into a colosseum of spectators, where she battles both Ibrihim and Angelika to the death. Ibrihim falls easily, but Angelika only falls because Raihn makes a deal with Septimus, unbeknownst to Oraya. In the terms of this deal, if Septimus orders Angelika to spare Oraya’s life, Raihn will ally with the House of Blood, should he manage to usurp Vincent’s throne. Angelika deliberately hesitates, giving Oraya the opportunity to end her life. As the final remaining contestants, Raihn and Oraya battle one another, keeping their promises to fight to the end. Although Oraya hesitates to kill him, Raihn helps her to thrust a blade into his own heart, sacrificing himself so that she can win the Kejari and receive her wish. The grief following Raihn’s death is too much for Oraya to bear, and she gives up her wish in exchange for his life, asking Nyaxia to alter the current reality into one in which he wins the Kejari.

A newly revived Raihn appears, agonized as Nyaxia asks him to state his wish. Oraya reels in betrayal as his concealed Heir Mark is revealed, and he asks Nyaxia for the power of the Rishan Nightborn King to be restored to him as Heir to the Rishan line. His first act of power is to kill Vincent and usurp the throne. However, following Vincent’s death, an Heir Mark appears on Oraya’s body—revealing her as Vincent’s biological daughter. Desperate to keep her alive among the vampires who now want her dead because of the threat she poses, Raihn forces her to marry him for protection.

Jesmine visits in secret, conveying her willingness to use the House of Night forces to free Oraya from Raihn’s clutches. Oraya instructs her to go into hiding while she stays at court, gathering intel that might prove useful for reclaiming the throne. The novel ends with Raihn and Oraya attending the first gathering of nobles in the Nightborn Castle’s throne room. They’re surrounded by covert enemies, including Septimus, who offers his friendship to Oraya on behalf of the House of Blood. The precarious state of Raihn’s rule hangs in the balance, setting the conflict up for the sequel.