Sera Venn has spent seven years hunting the fae who use magic against mortals. Her bare touch can silence a spell, her knife is paid for one target at a time, and tonight she has crossed a royal feast to kill the prince who ordered the raid that took her brother.
Dain Aurel is already condemned. In twenty-one nights, the sentence on his body will execute him at the solstice, and the court that made him prince is content to let him die before he can expose what it has done to the people beneath its wards.
When an assassin strikes, Sera’s touch drops Dain’s shield and saves his life. It also gives the court proof that she is dangerous. To reach the prisoners Dain took and force him to answer for the raid, Sera binds herself to his protection until the execution bell. He gives her access, records and a public account. She gives him the one defense his magic cannot survive.
Every bargain between them has a rule. Every touch costs them leverage. And the closer Sera gets to the man beneath the crown, the harder it becomes to decide whether unmaking him means killing the prince, or saving the person he might become without power.
The court is trying to kill them both. The solstice is coming. Love will not make Dain innocent, but it may give them one chance to make the court answerable.
Twenty-one nights to save the man she came to execute.
