Fearless

Fearless is a young adult romantasy novel by American writer Lauren Roberts. Originally published by Simon & Schuster in April 2025, Fearless is the third and final title in the Powerless Trilogy. It is preceded by Powerless (2023) and Reckless (2024), and it completes the story of the main characters, Paedyn Gray and Kai Azer. After Paedyn and Kai return to the Ilya castle, they’re horrified to discover that Kai’s brother, Kitt Azer, plans to marry Paedyn. Paedyn and Kai are in love and want to protest but know that the union between Kitt and Paedyn will finally unite the Ordinaries and Elites. As they try to realize the peaceful kingdom they’ve always dreamed of, Paedyn and Kai must learn to let each other go. The novel explores themes including Gaining Strength From the Power of Love, Personal Growth Through Challenge, and Confronting Grief and Trauma to Move Forward.

This guide refers to the 2024 Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, illness, death, child abuse, substance use, and cursing.

Plot Summary

At the end of Reckless, the previous book in the Powerless Trilogy, Paedyn Gray and Kai Azer escaped imprisonment and decided to return to the Kingdom of Ilya as a couple. This is unusual because while Kai is an Elite, possessing magical powers as a result of the Plague years before, Paedyn is an Ordinary, a survivor who gained no magical powers. These two segments of society don’t mix; in fact, Kai is a royal assassin whose job is to hunt and kill Ordinaries. Their relationship is especially unusual because Kai is the brother of the current king, Kitt Azer. When they arrive in Ilya, however, Paedyn and Kai discover that Kitt intends to marry Paedyn in order to bring Elites and Ordinaries together, erasing their segregation.

As Fearless begins, Paedyn stands before the Ilya court. Faced with the Elite subjects, she tells herself to accept her new position as Ilya’s prospective queen and Kitt’s fiancé. Kitt repeats his proposal to Paedyn and slips a diamond onto her finger. Although shaken, Paedyn accepts the ring because she knows that marrying Kitt will finally bring peace to Ilya and save countless fellow Ordinaries.

However, the Elites lash out. They don’t think that Paedyn is a fit queen because she’s an Ordinary. Kitt decides that she will compete in her own version of the Purging Trials (a recurring series of competitions between Elites and Ordinaries) to prove herself to them.

Paedyn and Kai sneak off in secret to discuss their new circumstances. They formalized their intimate relationship just before returning to Ilya, but now, they can’t be together. They hug and kiss and swear to find time to see each other despite Paedyn’s engagement.

Paedyn’s handmaiden leads her to her new chambers. She takes a bath and reflects on her situation. She has no interest in marrying Kitt, even though they used to be friends, and longs to have Kai by her side. She’s also still grieving the deaths of her father, Adam Gray, and her best friend, Adena.

Over the following days, Paedyn and Kai can’t suppress their feelings for each other. They sneak into each other’s rooms and sometimes out of the castle to spend nights under their favorite willow tree. They make promises that they know they can’t keep, pretending they’ll always be together.

Kitt announces Paedyn’s first Trial to the court: She must brave the caves, in which the royal family is interred, to retrieve a late queen’s crown from her tomb. Paedyn is terrified but enters the caves and excavates the crown. When she resurfaces from the dark, she wards off bandits and races back to the castle. Kitt hosts a celebratory feast in her honor.

Not long after, Kitt announces Paedyn’s second Trial: She will sail across the Shallows Sea and negotiate a peace treaty with Izram’s Queen Zailah. If she can survive the voyage and convince Zailah to reopen Izram’s trade borders to Ilya, she will have succeeded. Terrified for Paedyn, Kai insists on accompanying her. The voyage is treacherous; the seas are stormy, and the crew tries to kill Paedyn. However, with Kai’s help, she safely makes it to Izram. She immediately earns Zailah’s respect and admiration, and the queen agrees to Paedyn’s proposal. On the return journey, a monster attacks the ship, but Paedyn kills it, earning the respect of the crew.

On the way home, Paedyn and Kai decide that they’ll have to let each other go once and for all. Paedyn only has one Trial left before she and Kitt marry. However, not long after returning, the two find their way back to each other. They start slipping each other love letters in an attempt to maintain their bond.

Paedyn completes her final Trial: She enters the Bowl, where Kitt announces that she’ll have to fight an Elite to the death. She is horrified to discover that the Elite is Kai. Despite her distress, she battles and kills Kai.

The next morning, Paedyn wakes up in a state of despair. She is overcome by sorrow, remembering the events of the day before. Then, Kai appears in her chambers, alive. The lovers race to Kitt’s chambers to demand an explanation. He had another Elite with Kai’s same powers pose as Kai (using his Illusionist powers). Kitt thought that the Elites would only respect Paedyn if she could defeat someone as powerful as Kai.

A day later, Paedyn and Kai spend their last night together under the willow tree before Paedyn’s wedding. After Paedyn returns to the castle, Kai stays under the tree; he is too distressed to attend the wedding. However, he soon realizes that he can’t live without Paedyn and races to the castle to stop the wedding. However, Paedyn and Kitt are already married by the time he arrives.

Paedyn and Kitt prepare for their second wedding ceremony, which they are hosting in the city for the Ordinaries. Kitt tells Paedyn to choose something to wear from his late mother Iris’s jewelry box. Inside, she finds love letters between Iris and her lover Calum (Kitt’s advisor, who also served under Edric). She then discovers a photo of Iris and is shocked to see how much Iris resembles her.

Calum enters her room to see if she’s ready for the second ceremony, and Paedyn demands answers. He admits that Iris was her mother and that he is her biological father. Iris died in childbirth, and when he discovered that Paedyn was an Ordinary, he had her banished.

Calum happily deposited Paedyn on Adam’s doorstep because he blamed her for killing Iris. Neither Calum nor Edric thought about Paedyn again until she resurfaced as an Ordinary competitor during the recent Purging Trials. Paedyn realizes that this is why Edric wanted to kill her. She and Calum get into a fight. Paedyn knocks him unconscious and races to Kitt’s chambers. Calum wakes up and follows her.

After Paedyn tells Kitt what she’s learned, Kitt stabs and kills Calum. Kai bursts in and demands to know what’s going on. They explain everything but decide that they have to go through with the second wedding because they don’t want to cause alarm.

After the second ceremony, Paedyn, Kitt, and Kai continue mulling over everything they’ve learned. Their conversation makes Kai realize that everything they’ve known about themselves is a lie. Together, he and Paedyn work out the truth. Kai is not Edric’s biological son, as his mother, Myla, married Edric a year after his birth. He and Kitt therefore aren’t related at all.

When Kai and Paedyn share this news with Kitt, he bursts out in anger, accusing Paedyn of killing his mother in childbirth, murdering his father, and ruining his relationship with Kai. He then reveals that he was only using her to spread the Plague (the disease that created the Elites and Ordinaries) to the remaining cities of Ordinaries in order to kill them all.

Kai and Paedyn are horrified and beg him to show some reason. Kitt becomes increasingly upset, and a sword fight ensues between him and Kai. Kai thinks that they’re just sparring to get out their frustration, but Kitt fails to dodge a blow, and Kai ends up stabbing him through the chest. Kai cradles his brother’s body as he dies.

After Kai and Paedyn bury and mourn Kitt, they begin making plans for Ilya’s future. Kai assumes the throne and decides to officially unite the Ordinaries and Elites. He proposes to Paedyn, and they get married under the willow. Five years later, they’re living a happy life together as king and queen and as mother and father of their daughter, Kit.