We can’t be monsters, Nix. We’re the good guys.

Five years before the events of Cantamen, Lilac Frazier is convicted of a crime she did not commit. Before she reaches the prison, she’s taken by a band of criminals who tell her the reason for her fate: the Council wants to eliminate all witches with dark affinities. They offer protection, and a home, in exchange for her Magic and the darkness within it. With no other options, she’s plunged into a new world of codenames, fighting, spying, broken families, and ruined futures. Revolutions are hard-won, and the lines between right and wrong, friend and foe, and even leader and lover soon blur. Someone else decided her name should go down in Cantamen’s history, but she’s going to make sure she earns more than a mention.