Cardan and Jude

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May contain plot details

“	"Kiss me again,” he says, drunk and foolish. “Kiss me until I am sick of it.”	”
–Cardan to Jude, in The Wicked King

Jude Duarte and Cardan Greenbriar are husband and wife, as well as the High King and High Queen of Elfhame. Their relationship is very turbulent, with romance and betrayal.

The Cruel Prince[]

In the beginning, the pair did not get along at all. Jude hated Cardan for being spoiled, for threatening her and her sister, and for being so self-centered. She knew Cardan's hatred for her was almost equal to her hatred for him and their feud led to constant skirmishes against each other, which Taryn discouraged.

In her mission infiltrating Hollow Hall on behalf of Prince Dain, Jude witnessed Cardan being tortured and beaten by his brother Balekin and began to pity him a little. Sometimes, Jude grudgingly remarked upon Cardan's beauty and every once in a blue moon he showed a softer side for her. When he and his friends tormented Jude and Taryn, Cardan would often keep things from escalating to violence. When his friends fed Jude faerie fruit and forced her to humiliate herself by stripping, Cardan pricked Jude's finger, causing it to bleed. Human blood has salt, which counteracts the effects of everapple, so Jude came to her senses.

At the coronation, Cardan interrupted Jude's dance with Locke. While they danced, Cardan smiled when Jude said that she hated him. After Jude captured Cardan, he admitted that his hatred for her was caused by jealousy of the way Madoc treated her like a daughter even though she didn’t belong there. With a little more pushing from Jude, Cardan also admitted he desired her and how he loathed feeling that way. Cardan was also jealous of Jude because she doesn't have a brother who beat her and because Locke used Jude and her sister to make Nicasia cry after he stole her from Cardan. Jude was constantly thrown in his face by his brother, Balekin, as the mortal who bested him.

Jude kissed Cardan to torment him but found that she enjoyed it. After that, their relationship changed. They were now allies in the Court of Shadows' scheme, but neither of them admitted anything more than a passing desire for each other. At the end of The Cruel Prince, Jude betrayed Cardan by using his oath of allegiance against him, and in the epilogue, it is revealed he had yet to forgive her.

The Wicked King[]

In The Wicked King, Jude and Cardan have a stranded relationship because of Jude's betrayal at the end of The Cruel Prince. Throughout the book, Jude struggles with her feelings towards Cardan, even going so far as to think of killing Cardan before he can make her love him. Cardan also struggles with his feelings towards Jude.

Before Locke's first party as Master of Revels, Cardan tries to get Jude to go home, but she ignores him. Later she finds out why Cardan wanted her to leave. He wanted to spare her from humiliation, as she is crowned Queen of Mirth and is forced to wear rags and dance.

Cardan says in front of the revel how Jude’s face often plagues his dreams and how she often features in his nightmares. He then says that he finds Jude’s mortal beauty unique, meaning that even though she's a mortal, she is still very beautiful, which alarms and "shocks" him due to the fact that in faerie, humans are regarded as low creatures in comparison to the fae, and are not supposed to look as beautiful or unique as them. Jude later sees that Cardan secretly took her ruby ring and he now wears it on his pinkie finger.

Later, Jude asks Cardan to seduce Nicasia, so they can find out what her mother, Queen Orlagh, is planning. Cardan uses his seductive talents on Jude, asking her if this is how he should seduce Nicasia, and they end up kissing. Cardan asks for Jude to tell him that she hates him. Jude does and says she hates him over and over again. They end up in bed together, though what happened after that is unclear. Jude says later in the book that they didn’t go all the way. Later, Jude hates seeing Cardan seduce Nicasia, even though she was the one to suggest that he do so.

When Jude is captured by the Undersea, Cardan does everything in his power to get her back. During her time in the Undersea, Jude also thinks about Cardan often. When she is finally brought back, Jude is in a terrible condition and needs Nicasia‘s help to walk to Cardan. He says that she ought to need no help, and that the Undersea should have looked after her better. Queen Orlagh then asks Cardan if he does not want Jude any longer, to which Cardan replies, possessive and contemptuous, that he will have Jude.

Once Jude can walk on her own again, she sneaks into Cardan’s room in the place, because Madoc has barred her from entering. When Jude makes it to Cardan’s room, he pulls her into bed beside him and apologizes for how he treated Jude. He tells her that he hated himself for wanting her and wanted her out of his sight. But when she was actually under the waves in the Undersea, he hated himself more than ever for wishing her gone. He also says one of the only things he has done right is imagining Jude by his side while she was gone.

Later, Balekin poisons Cardan and, in his drugged state, Cardan kisses Jude on the mouth in front of the whole High Court. Jude is very worried about him and duels with Balekin to get the antidote.

Later on, Cardan asks for Jude to release him from his year and a day promise, which would give more time for Oak to mature and allow for Cardan to be accepted by the land. He then asks Jude to marry him and become Queen of Faerie, at least until Oak comes of age. Jude accepts and they exchange their vows.

The next day, Orlagh asks for an audience with Cardan. She is furious that Balekin, her ambassador to Elfhame, was killed. Jude admits to killing Balekin, and as punishment, Cardan banishes her from Faerie. Jude says he can’t do that because she is Queen of Faerie, but no one believes her. Cardan has his guards escort Jude to the mortal realm. In the epilogue, Jude is left plotting her revenge.

The Queen Of Nothing[]

At the start of this book, Jude is still in the mortal realm and plotting her revenge against Cardan. She works for a fae called Bryern, doing odd jobs. She admits to herself that she wants him, but due to his betrayal, she resents and regrets those feelings.

Later, she has a nightmare involving Valerian, Locke, and Cardan. In the dream, Cardan tells her that he will always love her but proceeds to tell her that her mortal beauty will fade and that she is nothing. Jude wakes up crying and confused.

After Jude takes Taryn's place to be questioned for Locke's death, Cardan privately tells her he recognized her the moment he saw her. He tells an angry Jude that her exile was only a trick. Before he can elaborate, Jude is taken by Madoc. Madoc later tells her that Cardan fought hard to keep her, and Vivienne tells Jude that Cardan came to the mortal world to find her. Cardan later comes with the Roach to Madoc’s camp to rescue Jude.

Jude is severely injured from a fight with Madoc but still goes to warn Cardan after she realizes his life might be in danger. However, it turns out to be a ploy and Jude suffers a fall, hurting herself more. It is then that Cardan comes to her and declares to all of Elfhame that she is his wife and the rightful High Queen, no longer in exile. Jude falls unconscious but wakes in Cardan’s bed with him sitting by her and washing the blood from her hands. They talk and he tells her about the loophole in the phrasing of the exile. She then realizes her error in overlooking the wording. Although the two don't make peace with each other immediately, they both show affection and longing towards each other.

Later, Cardan reveals that he has had fantasies about Jude and they have sex. Jude admits to Cardan that she missed him in the mortal world, even though he was her enemy.

Cardan tells Jude he loves her and that his heart is hers but walks out of the room before Jude can respond.

When Cardan becomes a serpent after incurring an ancient curse, Jude spends most of her time feeling extremely regretful that she didn't tell Cardan that she loved him. The Court of the Teeth give her a bridle that will bind the serpent to her so she will have Cardan forever in exchange for being given positions of power. When Jude is faced by the serpent, it becomes obvious to her that she can't bind Cardan to herself forever, so she cuts her sword through the serpent's neck and goes on to fight Madoc. While she is fighting Madoc, Cardan steps out from the serpent's corpse. Though he is covered in blood and not even wearing clothes, she rushes towards him and they embrace. Later, at the revel, she tells him that she loves him, but he thinks she is saying it out of pity. However, after she explains why she loves him, he realizes that her feelings are genuine and they kiss.

They end up ruling Elfhame as the High King and Queen. In the epilogue, Cardan accompanies Jude on her visit to the mortal world to see Oak and Vivienne throws them a newlyweds party.

Trivia[]

Cardan has stopped his friends from bullying Jude in the past.
Cardan wrote Jude’s name over and over again on a piece of paper, which Jude later found.
Cardan chided Locke for playing around with Jude at Dain’s coronation, though Jude didn’t know what they were talking about.
Jude and Cardan had their first kiss while Cardan was being held prisoner by Jude and the Court of Shadows. Jude kissed Cardan while she held a knife to his throat.
Cardan was the one who sent the silver dress with trees to Jude. She wore it to Dain’s coronation, not knowing it was from him until Nicasia told her in The Queen of Nothing.
Cardan chitchats with Taryn about the mortal world to impress Jude.
Cardan proposes marriage to Jude with the ruby ring he stole from her.

Quotes[]

"Most of all, I hate you because I think of you. Often. It's disgusting, and I can't stop." - Cardan to Jude, in The Cruel Prince

“Kiss me again,” he says, drunk and foolish. “Kiss me until I am sick of it.” - Cardan to Jude, in The Wicked King
“I hate you," I breathed into his mouth. "I hate you so much that sometimes I can't think of anything else.” - Jude to Cardan, in The Wicked King
"And the single last thing in my head is that I like him better than I've ever liked anyone and that of all the things he's ever done to me, making me like him so much is by far the worst.” - Jude's narration, in The Wicked King.
"How do people like us take off our armor? One piece at a time." - Jude, in The Queen of Nothing, Chapter 21.
“By you, I am forever undone.” - Cardan to Jude in The Queen of Nothing
“It’s you I love,” he says. “I spent much of my life guarding my heart. I guarded it so well that I could behave as though I didn’t have one at all. Even now, it is a shabby, worm-eaten, and scabrous thing. But it is yours.” He walks to the door to the royal chambers, as though to end the conversation. “You probably guessed as much,” he says. “But just in case you didn’t.” - Cardan to Jude, in The Queen of Nothing
"If I let myself love you, I would burn up like a match. Like the whole matchbook." - Jude to Cardan, in The Queen of Nothing