'The Ivory Key' Book Club Readalong Day 2!

Welcome back to the second day of our book club read-along for OwlCrate's January book, The Ivory Key!

Just a reminder that this will be a SPOILER discussion for Chapters 7-14 of The Ivory Key, so make sure you read are finished this section before continuing.

Discussion questions are listed below, and anyone who participates in the comments will be entered to win a free OwlCrate box! Don't forget, you can also post about the readalong on Instagram with the hashtag #OCTheIvoryKey for another chance to win!

*Just a note that tomorrow's readalong post will be up later in the day!

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The story continues...

Chapter 7:
Vira
Vira and Amrit arrive back at the palace with Harish’s body, and immediately are greeted by Meena, the head of the Military Affairs Ministry, and a messenger summoning Vira to the Judgement Hall. The guards found Harish’s killer.

Observing the interrogation from a private balcony, Neha, one of Amrit’s trusted guards, brings them the Surya’s, the accused’s, belongings. In them Amrit finds a note dictating that once Lord Harish has been killed and his dagger brought to them, he will get his final payment. The note is only signed with the symbol of two swords over a lotus - the same symbol that is on Vira's necklace and one that only very few people know of, belonging to a secret society.

Harish’s dagger is ornate, and upon observation Vira realizes the hilt contains a secret compartment. Inside she finds a piece of a map and an indecipherable note. She demands to speak with Surya alone.

Chapter 8:
Vira
At six years old Vira's father told her the history of magic in Ashoka. He told her that there used to be a group called the Kamala Society who were tasked with protecting the quarries of magic around Ashoka. But although Ashoka had peace for a while, other people eventually began trying to use the magic, leading them to make the difficult decision to seal all the quarries, except, apparently, the one beneath the palace.

The Kamala society created a map that would lead to the Ivory Key, the only key that has the power to unlock the sealed quarries. The problem is they divided the map into three pieces, and currently they only have one of the pieces.

Chapter 9:
Ronak
Jay and Ronak descend beneath a rowdy tavern to find Ekta. She is ruthless - they observe her talking to two other men who have displeased her and with one quick twist of her ring inject cobra venom into one of them, essentially sentencing him to death. Once they flee Ronak and Jay sit with her. She tells them she wants the two pieces of the map to the Ivory Key that now are in the palace. It turns out Harish was on the way to meet Ekta to give her the piece of the map before he was murdered. They agree to get the pieces for enough money that they could start several new lives.

Chapter 10:
Riya

Riya is avoiding the Ravens until she knows what she is going to say, and to her surprise is joined by Varun. He reveals that he has known her identity the entire time, and persuades her to return to the palace to act as a spy and help the Ravens steal the raw magic that is being transported out. She agrees. Using the paper Vira gave her she is able to make contact and Vira says she will send a carriage to get her immediately.

Chapter 11:
Vira
At a meeting with her counsel Vira makes the decision to return Harish’s body to the Viceroy, and Meena seems almost too eager to do Vira’s bidding. They also propose an alliance between Ronak and the daughter of the Viceroy of Ishvat, the next best thing to an alliance with Onaar. Vira knows Ronak will not be pleased, but agrees it must be done. She also tells the counsel that her sister is back, and to make up a reason for her return for the people.

Chapter 12:
Kaleb
Kaleb reflects on how he got here. Kaleb was the son of his father’s first wife, a Lyrian woman who died shortly after his birth. After the death, his father returned to Ashoka with Kaleb and the maharani wanted to marry him. When the maharani was killed, Kaleb was immediately accused of assisting the mercenary who did the deed through communication with his family back in Lyria, and although he insisted he had nothing to do with it, they deemed him guilty.

Kaleb approaches the now imprisoned mercenary in the yard and although gets very little out of him, Surya does say he may want to look at Vira’s counsel as to who the mercenaries work for.

Chapter 13:
Riya

Riya arrived back at the palace with little fanfare, greeted by one of Vira’s guards who took her back to her former chamber which sat unchanged. After a bath maidservants took her measurements and dressed her, and when Riya looked in the mirror she looked like Vira. With an hour remaining before she had to meet with the Counsel, Riya decides to find Ronak and start searching for the entrance to the quarry.

Chapter 14:
Ronak
Ronak is woken up in his tower rooms by Vira breaking the news that he is to marry Preethi. The engagement ceremony would take place in three weeks. Pacing his room he is again shocked by someone knocking at his door, and is double shocked with it’s Riya. Vira didn’t tell him she was coming back and he’s suspicious of Riya’s motives. He tells her that whatever she is here to do, to leave him out of it.

 

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Questions:

1. Where do you think the third piece of the map is hidden?
2. There are so many secrets between the siblings - do you think there will be any sort of alliance between them?
3. Do you think the Counsel really is responsible for the former maharani's death? What do you think their motivations are?
4. Do you think that the fact Riya now looks so much like Vira will be significant? With Ronak brushing her off, how do you think she will access the quarry?

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