How does The Devils end?
Alex keeps the throne as Empress Alexia after the plots against her collapse, with Brother Diaz staying on as her chaplain. Duke Michael, exposed as the schemer who used her to clear away Eudoxia's sons, is tackled off the top of the Pharos by Jakob, and Baron Rikard destroys the four murderous handmaidens. Baptiste dies in the chaos, killed by accident when Vigga is forced into wolf form. The surviving Devils are repaid with chains; Cardinal Zizka refuses to free them, and they are shipped back toward their cells for the next time the Church wants its dirtiest work done.
Is Alex really the lost princess in The Devils?
No, and that is the story's load-bearing twist. Alex admits to Sunny that the genuine princess died of disease years earlier, and that she, a street thief, stepped into the dead girl's identity. Sunny refuses to run away with her but insists that her past doesn't matter, because she can choose what to become now. Alex is crowned Empress of Troy regardless, and by the end she has become someone with a conscience.
Who is the real villain in The Devils?
The climax delivers two reveals, and both villains are human. Lady Severa, the trusted contact in Troy, is Empress Eudoxia, who escaped death by transferring her soul into a fresh body; she tempts Balthazar with power and knowledge, and he turns her down out of loyalty to his family of monsters. The deeper architect is Duke Michael of Nicaea, who planned everything from the beginning: Alex was his pawn for wiping out Eudoxia's sons, after which she was meant to die and leave the Serpent Throne open for him.
How does Baptiste die in The Devils?
When the Devils see Alex's signal and turn back, Vigga is forced into her wolf shape amid the fighting and kills Baptiste by accident, apparently in the act of saving Brother Diaz. Baptiste is the only member of the core team to die, and Balthazar never even attempts a resurrection. The epilogue underlines the loss, with the Church calling in a replacement for her alongside a new Vicar.
Does Jakob of Thorn survive the fall from the Pharos?
Yes. Jakob tackles Duke Michael from the top of the Pharos, and both men plunge through the sacred flame into the sea. Since a witch's curse prevents him from dying, Jakob washes up alive in a fisherman's net and finds Baron Rikard again, whose overuse of his powers has left him an old man. Their reunion is bittersweet and lonely rather than heroic.
Do the Devils go free at the end of The Devils?
No. Alex, now ruling as Empress, demands that the Church release them, but Cardinal Zizka refuses because they are too dangerous, and the Devils end the book locked below decks on his ship for the voyage back to their cells. Sunny bids Alex a heartbreaking farewell, telling her she is the best person Sunny has ever known, before being led off with the others. Balthazar smiles in his cage, since he has carried off Eudoxia's knowledge and secretly plans another attempt to break free, while an epilogue shows a new Vicar being summoned and Baptiste's replacement called in, resetting the cycle ahead of the sequel, The Heretics.