AP

Life is simple for Vespera. Despite her family being forced into seclusion for her safety, she is thankful for the peace. If only her lifelong, debilitating headaches weren't getting worse. The last thing she wants for her twentieth birthday is to be even more of a burden on her family. When her headaches finally do begin to subside, her eerie pale eyes, blood red hair, and too pale skin are no longer the only things that make Vespera strange. Her reflexes are sharper, her vision and hearing are heightened, and her strength increases tenfold. Vespera doesn't know anything about magic.

The threat of war has arrived at Diem's doorstep, along with a new discovery that could save her people. To use it, she must survive the next thirty days by forming a devil's bargain with the people she hates most: the royal family of House Corbois. As she dives into the world of the Descended elite, Diem quickly realizes good and evil aren't as simple as they seem. Old prejudices are challenged, and new loyalties blur the line between friend and foe.