Public alliances secret lovers.

Once upon a time yet to come, creatures of myth and fairy tale gained entry to the human realm and were expelled with extreme prejudice. Banished Underground, they carved out two kingdoms: the Lightworld of the Fae and their kin, and the Darkworld of demons, werewolves and their ilk. But the boundaries between these Worlds and the Upworld are about to be redrawn...in blood.

At a Lightworld royal gala, Queene Ayla announces the betrothal of her daughter, Cerridwen, to a high-ranking councilor. Though strategically brilliant, the engagement comes as a shock to Cerridwen especially. Infuriated by her mother s high-handedness, ignorant of her own true origins, she flees the court leaving herself vulnerable to those who would see the Lightworld destroyed. Amid burgeoning unrest, desperate desires become divided loyalties and terrifying mercenaries lurk in the shadowy space between rebellion and anarchy.