54 pages • 1 hour read
Tricia LevensellerThe Shadows Between Us
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary
Alessandra Stathos recalls killing her first love, Hektor Galanis, after he responded to her admission of love by breaking up with her. She wakes up next to a boy named Myron; she casually dismisses him, but he proposes marriage. Alessandra rejects him offhandedly, annoyed that Myron has “outlived his usefulness” (9). Because they’ve had sex, Myron is astonished, and Alessandra thinks about how he is the fourth that month.
Alessandra’s father, Sergio Stathos, Lord Mathis, enters. He growls at Myron to leave. When he is gone, Sergio complains that Alessandra’s sexual exploits make it difficult to find a “suitable match” for her, but Alessandra reminds him that legally she cannot marry until her older sister, Chrysantha, has done so.
Sergio reports that Chrysantha has been dismissed from the household of the Shadow King, but that he has arranged her betrothal to a duke. Alessandra is pleased that it is now her turn to marry and announces that she intends to marry the Shadow King. Her father scoffs. Alessandra will never marry so high after consorting with so many men.
Though Alessandra likes sewing, she can’t make all the required garments for a trip to the palace, so she works with a seamstress though she makes her seductive undergarments herself. Alessandra focuses on her plan to seduce, marry, and then kill the king, taking his place as the queen.
Chapter 2 Summary
Alessandra and Sergio arrive at the palace. Sergio criticizes Alessandra for wearing black—and pants instead of a gown—when it’s well-known that the king’s favorite color is green, but her objective is to stand out, not blend in. There’s a line of women waiting to meet the king, but Alessandra refuses to wait. They enter the ballroom, passing crying girls. Alessandra likes that the king has been so openly rejecting potential suitors.
Alessandra sees the Shadow King for the first time. Shadows curl around him in a mysterious power that gives him his title. Rumors abound regarding what those shadows can do, and Alessandra hopes that the one about reading thoughts is untrue, given her murderous plan. Looking past the shadows, she looks at the man, whom she considers beautiful. He is younger than she realized, close to Alessandra’s age. Sergio reminds her to keep her distance; touching the king is punishable by death. She dances and fetches refreshments with her father (who speaks to a friend, Orrin, Lord Eliades, who expresses interest in marrying Alessandra), feeling annoyed at her father’s obvious preference for Chrysantha. Though the king watches Alessandra, she orders her father to ignore him until the king approaches himself.
When the king observes that Alessandra did not get in the greeting line, jokingly asking if the dance was more interesting that he was, Alessandra says it was. The king merely laughs. He asks her to dance, insisting there is still fun in a dance where they can’t touch.
Chapter 3 Summary
Alessandra and the king engage in a dance that requires the partners to improvise based on each other’s movements. She wonders about what it would be like to touch his shadows. They make intense eye contact as they dance; the king disappears as soon as they are done, and the guests are urged to leave. Alessandra is angry at being dismissed. Just before they depart, however, a servant brings a note: The king has changed his mind and wants Alessandra to join his court. He signs the note KM, causing Alessandra to wonder about his real name. (In Chapter 5, she learns his initials stands for Kallias Maheras.)
Chapter 4 Summary
The following morning, Alessandra’s things arrive, including many books, which she included to obscure three tomes on medicinal plants and poisons, which she plans to use to kill the king after they’re married.
The king invites her to tea. At the orchard gathering, Alessandra befriends a dog, Demodocus, and gets caught smiling by the king, Demodocus’s owner. He threw the dog’s ball near Alessandra to gauge her reaction. They discuss her attire, and the king observes she has already set trends: The ladies are all wearing black.
A group of older nobles approaches, led by Ikaros Vasco, head of the king’s council, who has researched Alessandra’s background. Lord Vasco makes vague reference to Alessandra’s reputation for having premarital sex (which is illegal for ladies). Lord Vasco suggests Alessandra make friends with women and dress more traditionally if she wants to spend time with the king.
Alessandra approaches two ladies to support her claim that she already has female friends, Hestia Lazos and Rhoda Nikolaides. They admire Alessandra’s fashion (Hestia has paid handsomely to have Alessandra’s outfit from the ball imitated) until they are interrupted by Leandros Vasco, Lord Vasco’s nephew. Alessandra flirts with him despite her plan to target the king for marriage. The group speculates that the once-close friendship between Leandros and the Shadow King ended due to the previous king and queen’s murders. The culprit was never identified though some suspect the Shadow King. Alessandra is unconcerned, considering the past murders immaterial to her plans.
Chapter 5 Summary
Alessandra, Hestia, and Rhoda head to the ladies’ sitting room to sew, accompanied by Galen, Rhoda’s manservant; Alessandra is surprised to be introduced to a servant. Rhoda discloses her past: Her elderly husband died, leaving her a fortune that means she doesn’t need to marry again. She wishes, instead, to find love, and Alessandra privately reflects that passion led her to murder. Rhoda’s honestly prompts Alessandra to confess she’d been in love before but was rejected. She cautions Rhoda against passion until she learns Rhoda is in obligatory mourning for her husband, which leads Rhoda to gossip about the men she finds attractive.
Alessandra muses on the utility of her new friends: Rhoda will give her information on the men at court while Hestia, who changed clothes to imitate Alessandra, will know all the gossip about Alessandra. Alessandra realizes that the Shadow King, by keeping all the suspects at court, is searching for his parents’ murderer. She wonders why he commanded her to stay because she wasn’t at court when his parents died. She muses on this as she sews until a dinner invitation arrives from the king.
A servant leads her to the library, where the king arrives by walking straight through a wall of books and startles Alessandra. Alessandra envies his power to command everyone around him. Though several courses were delivered, Alessandra eats chocolate cake first. The king reflects they are alike; they both go after what they want. He claims he wants to own the whole world. Alessandra truthfully says she wants “acknowledgment” though when pressed she elaborates that she wants “the power to change things” (57).
When Alessandra asks, the king admits he asked her to court to appease the council. He is 19, and until he turns 21, he needs their approval for major decisions. He wants to give the appearance of courting and is looking for a friend who will tell him the truth. He says she is beautiful, but not a temptation, which makes Alessandra both angry and attracted to him. She is pleased he believes she doesn’t wish to be queen; her plan remains hidden. He asks permission to use her first name, but she counters that they are not friends yet. Even so, he reveals his name: Kallias Maheras.
Chapters 1-5 Analysis
These first chapters establish Alessandra as an antihero, a role explored through the theme of Antiheroes and the Draw of Power. Her ambition is her key motivator, and she holds little regard for others. When she arrives at the palace, she thinks excitedly of her chance to manipulate others to her own gain: “Excitement sparks through me at the thought of all the opportunities ahead. My father isn’t here to ruin things this time, and I’m surrounded by the most influential people in the world” (34). Her ambition, disregard for others, and eagerness to manipulate others make her a prime example of an antihero.
Alessandra, long forced to live in the shadow of her sister (due to a law that dictates that younger sisters cannot marry until their elder sisters have done so, a trope reminiscent of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew), plans to draw the attention of the king by standing out at the palace ball rather than fitting in.
Due to the strict demands that her society places on women in regard to chastity, an example of Sexism and Purity Culture; however, she cannot be overt about her enjoyment of sex. This struggle—between fitting in enough to accomplish her goals and standing out enough to be noticed—pervades the novel, often in concert with Alessandra’s sexual history, which she seeks to keep secret, lest she be shunned for her lack of “purity.”
The first sections of the novel also show Alessandra’s longing for power, which leads her to her plan to marry and then kill the Shadow King. She plans to use seduction to achieve her goals, a strategy that is paralleled in the way she discusses her longing for power: “There’s something about watching him give orders that has my blood flowing faster in my veins. He has such power. Men are forced to obey him without a word of protest. They would do anything he commanded. I want that power” (55). Her characterization of her desire for power is physical, the language mimicking that which is often used to describe sexual or romantic desire. Though the Alessandra of the beginning of the novel is determined to achieve her goals without emotional attachment, this description foreshadows the ways love and power will become increasingly intertwined for her as the novel progresses.
