All her life, Vaasa Kozár has been sharpened into a blade.

She has now lost her mother – her only remaining parent – to a dark magic that has since awoken within her. Vaasa’s domineering brother, Dominik, knows Vaasa isn’t long for this world, so he marries her off to Reid of Mireh, a ruthless foreign ruler, in one last political scheme. For Dominik to invade Reid’s nation, all Vaasa has to do is die.

But she is desperate to live, and Vaasa enters her new marriage with every intention of escaping it. To her surprise, Reid offers her a deal: help him win the votes to rise in power, and she can walk free. In exchange, he will help keep the dark magic running through her veins at bay.

His proposal may be too good to refuse, yet Vaasa and Reid’s undeniable attraction threatens to break the rules of their arrangement. As Dominik’s lethal machinations take form, everything is at stake, and Vaasa must learn to trust her new husband. But how can she? Especially when their perfect political marriage begins to feel like the real thing . . .