“What is the most powerful force in the world?”
Beatrice Harrow was raised in seclusion, separated from the Read Kingdom and protected from the mysterious mechanisms of the other four races, but they are not as blind to her as she is to them. Even before she steps foot inside the Academy, they know her name and they know the truth about her birth. She is one of the Tainted: a mixed-breed creature with the blood of a monster, clinging to legitimacy by the genes of her human father. She is more beautiful, more powerful, and more despised than any other being in the Read Kingdom.
Her life was never going to be easy, but when fate throws her together with Cale, the troublemaking son of her father’s sworn enemy, and Hazen, the intimidating crown prince of the Read Kingdom, she quickly discovers that her problems haven’t even begun.
In a world built on status, there are lines that can never be crossed.
In a time of peace, it is inevitable that war will whisper on the wind once again.
In a land of mixed blood, a Tainted Creature can either be killed … or they can be recruited.
“We were both steel butterflies, emerging from our cocoons in spiked armour, ready to tackle the skies.”
Beatrice Harrow grew up in a world where there wasn’t a single place that she belonged, but the world is changing. Now, there is an entire kingdom and an actual ghost—with possible bad intentions—under her care, and she doesn’t know what to do with either of them. Exiled and separated from her friends, she finds herself swept up in the politics of her unwanted kingdom, with mysterious forces working against her at every turn.
It will not be long until the whisperings of war on the horizon become a reality, but the question remains …
Where will she stand?
And who will stand with her?