Our Infinite Fates Summary and Study Guide | Laura Steven

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Quick Facts

Short Summary

Evelyn has lived and died hundreds of times, always killed by Arden, her immortal hunter, before her eighteenth birthday. In 2022 Wales, as her sister Gracie battles leukaemia and needs a bone marrow transplant, Evelyn races against her birthday deadline to survive long enough to save her sister. When she finally confronts Arden, she learns the truth: she is not a victim of a curse but a devil who made a bargain with Arden centuries ago. The cycle began when she reaped his soul in exchange for his sister's life, and the bargain failed. Together, they descend to the Underrealm to destroy the Mother, the devil who engineered their suffering. When the Mother tries to drain their love, the overwhelming force of it destroys her instead. The novel ends in 2054 Edinburgh, where two strangers—drawn by an inexplicable pull—meet again, suggesting the cycle of love and reincarnation continues.

Full Summary

The novel opens with a prologue set several hundred years ago. On a pebble beach, a wedding takes place between a young couple whose wrists are bound by a red ribbon woven from the groom's late mother's tunic. Instead of rings, they exchange knives engraved with the Valknut. As the elder officiates the ceremony, her eyes begin to glow and her nails blacken—she is a devil in disguise. The bride slashes the groom's throat, and both die, the red ribbon still binding their wrists.

The main narrative is set in 2022 Wales, where the protagonist lives as Branwen Blythe. She remembers her past lives and knows she is fated to die at Arden's hand before her eighteenth birthday. Two weeks before that birthday, her fourteen-year-old sister Gracie is in hospital with leukaemia. Branwen is Gracie's only tissue match for a stem cell transplant, scheduled in four days. If Arden finds her before the procedure, Gracie could die.

Branwen works at Beacon Books, a small independent bookshop, where she hopes to spot Arden, who is drawn to literature in every life. A coworker, Nia, gives her a poetry book called Ten Hundred Years of You, found in the Siberian wilderness with no known author. Branwen recognizes it as Arden's poetry.

The narrative interweaves Branwen's 2022 story with flashbacks to past lives across centuries and continents. In 2004 El Salvador, she and Arden drown together in a pool. In 1986 Siberia, Arden poisons her and they die together in a grave. In 1968 Nauru, she pushes Arden onto a coral reef. In 1932 Algeria, she begs Arden to kill her after her father's death. In 1915 France, she dies in the trenches when a white-haired woman appears. In 1898 Vienna, she shoots Arden at the opera. In 1862 Vermont, she escapes an asylum. In 1770 Batavia, the tether grows stronger at eighteen instead of breaking. In 1652 Norway, Arden rescues her from a witch trial. In 1472 Constantinople, she recognizes Arden by his notebook. In 1290 Mali, her best friend Lalla confesses she is the hunter. In 1042 Northern Song, she throws herself beneath bamboo blows.

In the 2022 timeline, Branwen suspects a stranger named Ceri Hughes is Arden. She breaks into his flat and finds evidence. When Ceri arrives for a date at the farm, she knocks him out with a shovel—but then realizes she was wrong. The real Arden is Dylan, the family farmhand who has been embedded with her family for two years. Arden agrees to give her six days to arrange an early marrow extraction before he kills her.

The marrow harvest is delayed multiple times. Dr. Chiang's wife eventually agrees to perform the procedure pro bono on the Friday before Branwen's eighteenth birthday. The procedure happens, but police arrive—summoned by Ceri—and Arden escapes. Branwen flees the farm that night, visits Gracie in hospital, and is intercepted by Arden on the street. She agrees to come willingly if he explains everything at a cliff.

On the cliff, Arden reveals the truth: Evelyn herself is the devil, not a partner in a deal. In 1006 Lundenburg, she reaped his soul in exchange for curing his dying sister. The bargain failed—the sister died anyway—and Arden spent seven days on burning coals. He killed her, and they both died, resetting the cycle. They have repeated this for centuries, with Evelyn's memory wiped each time.

Evelyn proposes they destroy the Mother in the Underrealm. On their eighteenth birthday, they are dragged into the Underrealm—a desolate landscape of bone-white trees and black glass ground. They confront the Mother, who sits on a bone throne. Evelyn stabs her with a bone shard, but the Mother is healed by Arden's suffering on the coals. The Mother offers a new deal: she will drain their love, killing them, but freeing them from the tether in their next life with no memories of each other. They accept. As the Mother siphons their love, the overwhelming force of it kills her instead. The Underrealm crumbles as they die.

A flashback reveals the original deal: in 986 Athens, Daphne's beloved Calliope dies from poisoning. A devil (the Mother) offers to reincarnate them together across infinite lives, but they must become devils and serve her. Daphne accepts.

The novel ends in 2054 Edinburgh. Fashion designer León Cazares starts working at a café and feels an inexplicable pull toward a red-haired stranger with a notebook and a copy of Ten Hundred Years of You. He approaches and asks if they've met before.

Main Characters

Evelyn (Branwen Blythe)

The reincarnated protagonist who is fated to die at Arden's hand before her eighteenth birthday in every life. She ultimately discovers she is a devil who made a bargain with Arden centuries ago. In the 2022 timeline, she lives as Branwen Blythe, working at a bookshop while trying to survive long enough to donate bone marrow to her sister Gracie.

Arden (Dylan)

The immortal hunter bound to Evelyn by a tether. He must kill her each cycle before they turn eighteen, but he loves her deeply. In the 2022 timeline, he lives as Dylan, the family farmhand, embedded with Evelyn's family for two years. He joins Evelyn in confronting the Mother in the Underrealm.

The Mother

The devil who engineered the cycle of reincarnation and suffering, feeding on Evelyn and Arden's love and pain. She is destroyed when their love overwhelms her in the Underrealm.

Gracie

Evelyn's younger sister in the 2022 timeline, whose leukaemia and need for a bone marrow transplant drive Evelyn's desperate fight to survive past her eighteenth birthday.

Themes

• The Eighteenth-Birthday Death Curse: The narrative repeatedly explores the protagonist's fate to die before turning eighteen in every life, and the modern timeline's race against that deadline to save her sister.

• The Ancient Bargain That Binds the Cycle: The origin of the cycle lies in a deal made with a devil, and the story examines how that bargain exploits love and suffering, and how it might be undone.

• Memory Erasure and the Persistence of Identity: The protagonist's fragmented memories and the erasure of her past lives contrast with the burden of remembering that the other soul carries, raising questions about identity and continuity of the self.

• Love as a Double-Edged Force: Love is both the cause of the cycle and the means to break it, as the overwhelming power of the protagonists' love ultimately destroys the entity that feeds on suffering.

• The Longing for an Ordinary Life: Throughout the centuries, the protagonist yearns for a mundane existence—family, small joys, growing old—which stands in stark contrast to the eternal cycle of death and rebirth.

Symbols

• The Red Ribbon: A red ribbon woven from the groom's mother's tunic binds the couple's wrists at their wedding and reappears as a vision, symbolizing their inescapable union and death.

• The Poetry Book Ten Hundred Years of You: The mysterious poetry collection appears across lifetimes, serving as a clue to Arden's identity and a record of their eternal love.

• Arden's Leather Notebook: Arden's leather notebook, filled with his poetry and used as a personal identifier, appears in multiple lifetimes, including the Ottoman Empire and the modern day.

• Bone Imagery in the Underrealm: In the Underrealm, trees made of bone and a bone shard used as a weapon symbolize the death and suffering that sustain the Mother, contrasting with the living world.

Ending Overview

In the Underrealm, Evelyn and Arden confront the Mother on her bone throne. Evelyn's attack with a bone shard fails, and Arden is dragged onto a bed of hot coals, where his suffering heals the Mother's wounds. The Mother offers a new deal: she will drain their love, killing them, but freeing them from the tether in their next life with no memories of each other. They accept. As the Mother siphons their love, the overwhelming force of it kills her instead. The Underrealm crumbles as they die.

A flashback reveals the original deal: in 986 Athens, Daphne's beloved Calliope dies from poisoning. A devil (the Mother) offers to reincarnate them together across infinite lives, but they must become devils and serve her. Daphne accepts.

The novel ends in 2054 Edinburgh, where fashion designer León Cazares feels an inexplicable pull toward a red-haired stranger with a notebook and a copy of Ten Hundred Years of You. He approaches and asks if they've met before, suggesting the cycle of love and reincarnation continues in some form. For a deeper analysis, see the ending explained page.

Chapter-by-Chapter Summary

| Ch. 31: Wales | 2022, Wales | The