My mother sold me to the shifters, all in the name of peace. For more than a century, the witches and shifters have been at war. So when my mother came home with the news that peace had been struck between us, I should've known better. Warning bells should have been ringing in my head, but they weren't. It wasn't until the shifters came for me that I knew better.

No warning. No explanation. Few survivors. Now we're all trying to get by as society collapses around us. Survival is a battle and it's getting worse every day. Food is scarce and the shelves are all bare. Finding medication for my little brother is impossible, and my desperation is growing as my options narrow.

A gift bestowed. A time that is borrowed. A seed must be sowed, a strike to be sorrowed. Unveil the smoke to a world that is cloaked near a well at the end sits seven streams to defend. Nine trees of wisdom and the darkness of light. Chaos will come for all those who fight. A true death and a love that is bound by fate and fortune and all nine realms. Taint and trials, cruelty and lies. The Gods must fall before all can rise.

With Lady Sophie's husband still warm in his grave, and her reputation stained from being unable to produce an heir, the last thing she expects is her father to arrange a rushed wedding. The groom is none other than General Kasten, the illegitimate son of the King. The same man who is feared and hated by the entire realm. Still, she has been trained to be a dutiful wife and accepts her role without complaint. Yet how can she hope to be the spouse she is expected to be when the General is frequently absent and seems to be hiding dark secrets that cause her curiosity to burn?

Reyna Darragh despises the scheming ways of the fae courts—she'd rather be on the battlefield. But as the daughter of a High King, her hand in marriage can end the war faster than her sword. So, with her realm in tatters, she agrees to marry her enemy, Prince Thane. The very same prince who killed hundreds of her kind during the war. Reyna has a far greater scheme in mind. To save her kingdom from the vicious prince, she plans to marry him, make him king, and then murder him so that she can take the throne herself. But as she grows closer to securing the crown, traitorous desire stirs.