An exhilarating epic fantasy featuring chaotic sentient magic, court intrigue and schemes, and found family, for fans of V.E. Schwab and Antonia Hodgson.

In the twisted city of Amaris, magic spawns from chaos. Prone to driving humans mad, it can only be wielded safely by the Wraiths—seven immortal beings magically bound to obey the king.

Esme is the most notorious Wraith. She has spent the last century forced to kill on behalf of the nation that stole her from her homeworld while building a secret life for herself and her wife away from violence.

That is, until the current king turns up murdered, and a magical will demands his successor be chosen through three trials. Esme cannot break the magical shackles that bind her, but she will suffer no more tyrants. She rigs the king’s succession trials in favour of her chosen candidate: the righteous General Balthazar, who she can’t help but fall for.

As Esme weaves together the threads of the court on Balthazar’s behalf amid a strange tide of sentient magic in the city and a growing war on the horizon, she will come face to face with Balthazar’s bloody past, troubled present, and countless betrayals.

He isn’t the man Esme thought he was—but she was born to make and break kings.