One woman can wield the blade that will restore peace to Zaria … but first, she must survive.

Xiery, a witch-in-training, lost everyone she loves except her mother to the Imprecari King and his blighted army. A sorcerer of lethal skill, he murdered the royal family and usurped the Zarian throne—all in the name of peace. Yet one royal survived and fled the land of his inheritance. Xiery is intent on joining him and seeing him restored to his rightful throne.

She and her mother live among rebels—those who refuse to use their magic to aid the usurper king and his unholy followers. She yearns to reunite with her family, but to do so, she’ll risk all to discover a way to defeat the imposter for good. When the army attacks their ragtag camp, Xiery’s mother curses her to become a Shadow in a desperate attempt to save her. But the two are separated, and Xiery must rely on her burgeoning magic to survive the wilderness and to escape the dark warrior sent to retrieve her.

For the Imprecari King wants Xiery to accomplish a purpose of his own, and he’ll do anything to control the magic she alone possesses…