“Don’t trust anyone, Lady Caitlin. Not even me. Especially not me. You can have allies here, but this court does not allow you the luxury of friends.”

The land is dying, commoners are protesting, and workers are revolting. The king is ailing, but the crown prince is not stepping in to quell the unrest.

But Caitlin does not care—she hasn't cared about anything since that day—the day her world shattered and she lost everything. Then she befriends a rebellion leader and catches the eye of the spoiled prince. These chance encounters could make her the most powerful woman in the realm—the power to rule it as queen, or the power to tear it all down from the inside as a revolutionary spy.

Either way, all she has to do is keep the prince's interest... and ignore the tug in her heart whenever she sees a certain noble lady.

But there is much more going on at court than the revolutionaries know about. Darker forces lurk just behind the throne, and if Caitlin is to survive with her head still on her shoulders, she will need to learn the ever-changing rules of power—or make new ones herself.

Caught in a web of deception and conspiracies—militant revolutionaries, cryptic priestesses, dangerous dukes, and a secretive lady-in-waiting with a ruthless family—Caitlin must unravel the truth of a magical, long-hidden prophecy or she will become yet another pawn of an enemy far more dangerous than a tyrannical king. An enemy that has been plotting in the shadows for centuries to make its next move.

And it has its sights set on making Caitlin into its weapon.

Being one of the youngest of the Sua royals never stopped Saritrah from scheming to take the throne. But violent insurrectionists shattered those plans when they stormed the palace and decimated her family.

In the years since, she has amassed an army and will return to claim her crown. However, Ashur, her one remaining sibling, has done the same, and she must act soon if she's to secure her prize before he snatches it from her claws.

After Ashur razes the Temple of Yshuld, the surviving Seers promise her the power to ensure victory. But it will mean abandoning her legion to venture into the endless desert and locate a lost city.

Soon, however, she suspects that none of the women are who they claim to be, even to each other. One woman cryptically alludes to a paradisical past; another awakens in the night plagued by dreams of a frightening future; the last woman never speaks. But the more she questions her new companions' motives, the more she must question her own.


Is the Oracle's vision of calamity an omen of what will happen if she fails to claim her crown? Or a promise of what will come if she succeeds?

The birthright of every Ástfríður is to know each metal in the earth, command it, bend it to their desires. To hear metal singing, some of it waiting just beneath the surface, so much of it deeper in the earth. If they wanted, they knew they could pluck that metal from the earth, melt it with a thought, and shape it as they pleased with a breath of air and their will.

Each Ástfríður must choose which metal they would wear upon their heads, denoting the path they would walk. They craft beautiful horns to wear on their brow, forged with the metal they wish to identify with. But Britt does not know if they can choose the path they want, if they can overcome a past which has stolen their identity. The day has come for them to choose and they have no idea if they have any right to even try to. And Astrid has never felt the pull of the metal at all Wearing a forged circlet and horn, they try to navigate a world that they feel has rejected them, all the while fearing someone will learn their secret.


The Veil of the Ástfríður has kept them hidden from the world and safe from intruders. Yet Britt and Astrid feel they are imposters in their own homes.

Strange things can be said of the forest that spans the border of two kingdoms long at war. An evil sorcerer has made it his dominion, or an elegant enchantress has claimed it as her domain and grants wishes to those who chance upon her, or maybe the forest is guarded by an ancient and wrathful spirit. But Katya calls the forest home, living a life of magic and charms with her partner Ivan.

But a threat looms over their forest, some darkness and danger that Ivan swears to protect her from. Katya finds herself caught up in a web of grudges and deception spanning generations, but most dangerous of all is the beautiful princess who stumbled into their woods. A princess who sets Katya’s heart fluttering with both desire and fear. As forces rally to rescue the princess or go to war, Katya must take measure of her own powers and decide what she is willing to sacrifice.


Will she retreat to the safety of what's familiar or give up everything she knows to spread her wings and fly?