At ten years old, the Heir of Jasad flees a massacre that takes her entire family.
At fifteen, she buries her first body.
At twenty, the clock is ticking on Sylvia`s third attempt at home. Nizahl`s armies have laid waste to Jasad and banned magic across the four remaining kingdoms. Fortunately, Sylvia`s magic is as good at playing dead as she is.
When the Nizahl Heir tracks a group of Jasadis to Sylvia`s village, the quiet life she`s crafted unravels. Calculating and cold, Arin`s tactical brilliance is surpassed only by his hatred for magic. When a mistake exposes Sylvia`s magic, Arin offers her an escape: compete as Nizahl`s Champion in the Alcalah tournament and win immunity from persecution. In exchange, Arin will use her as bait to draw out the Jasadis he`s hunting.
To win the deadly Alcalah, Sylvia must work with Arin to free her trapped magic, all while staying a step ahead of his efforts to uncover her identity. But as the two grow closer, Sylvia realizes winning her freedom as Nizahl`s Champion means destroying any chance of reuniting Jasad under her banner. The scorched kingdom is rising again, and Sylvia will have to choose between the life she`s earned and the one she left behind.