The deadliest poisons are the sweetest . . . Auriel has spent her life indentured to a cruel hag, working as a poison maiden to do her bidding. Her sole relief is a friendship with a dashing supplier, storyteller Faolan. But then Faolan betrays her, delivering her to haughty Prince Ambrose before she can earn her freedom. Ambrose has a proposition: if Auriel pretends to be the prophesied all-powerful Khelani and helps him liberate their people from the Empire’s control, he’ll finally let her go. But Auriel is a poisoner and a witch, not a legendary warrior – and the prophecy is a fairy tale . . . isn’t it? If the war is to be won, bargains must be struck, motives hidden, friends broken and remade as lovers – meanwhile, unburied truths will shake the world to its core. Soon, Auriel is fighting not for her freedom, or her heart, but for her life.
