Overview

Since she was an infant, Eylsa has been trained, beaten, and deprived. Such is the life of an assassin. Now a teenager, Eylsa is owned by King Mavrin and his son, Ashlan, to whom she is forcefully betrothed. In an attempt to stage a coup, Mavrin orders her to kill Darius, a powerful member of the Tribunal and the next target in a string of murders. But when Eylsa installs herself among Darius and his men, she finds herself swayed by their strange way of life-and attracted to the freedoms that the Tribunal offers. For Brendan, Darius' right-hand man, allowing Eylsa into the folds of the Tribunal is madness. He can't understand why Darius would have pity for an assassin trained to kill him-it's like sleeping with a wolf at your throat. As he gets to know Eylsa, though, he sees her walls come down and her cold heart thaw, shedding the only existence she has known. Together, Eylsa, Brendan, and the others must defeat the very ones who are out to destroy the Tribunal-and the peace of their society. If they fail, Eylsa's-and everyone else's-life hangs in the balance.