Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses anti-Black racism, violence, rape, and enslavement.

Bloodmarked is the second book in The Legendborn Cycle after 2020’s Legendborn. Legendborn starts with 16-year-old Bree learning about her mother’s death before starting an early college program at the University of North Carolina, her mother’s alma mater, with her best friend Alice. Bree begins early college lost in grief. She sees monsters no one else can see. She later discovers these are Shadowborn, and she can see them because of her ancestor Vera’s Bloodcraft pact to help her ancestors sense danger. By happenstance, Bree’s early college peer mentor is Nick; she pieces together his involvement with the Order of the Round Table and, thinking the Legendborn have answers about her mother’s death, convinces him to reclaim his inheritance as the Scion of Arthur and sponsor her as a Page.

The Legendborn are made up of “Scions” who are “Awakened” and inherit the power of their Round Table ancestors. Scions are always born into their positions. When a Scion ages out of their inheritance at 22, they become “Lieges” and the inheritance passes to the next in the bloodline. Each Scion has a “Squire” selected from a group of “Pages” who compete for the honor.