She spent her whole life craving freedom. Mariah had been preparing for this moment her entire life. Her twenty-first birthday was supposed to bring with it freedom — from expectation, from scrutiny, from the oppressive lord who reigns over her hometown. But when a letter arrives from the Queen summoning her to the capital for a ceremony that happens only once every few hundred years, she has no choice but to follow through on this final obligation before she can achieve her independence. What she did not anticipate, however, was being chosen for a future she doesn’t want or deserve. As Mariah is thrown into a world of cutthroat politics and ruthless power grabs, she is forced to come to terms with mysterious powers that both terrify her and that may hold the keys to saving a world that doesn’t even know it’s under siege. She also finds herself drawn to the brooding, disgraced son of a Lord, an unwilling member of her sworn guard, and the pull between them places Mariah in more danger than she can fathom. As they grow closer, uncovering the forgotten mysteries of their world and their gods, they begin to present a threat to the kingdom’s delicate balance of power…a threat that simply cannot be ignored. Love is a weakness. Mariah must never forget that. But will she fall prey to it, anyways?