Jaina Creighton has always known what it means to sacrifice. When both her brothers are marked for conscription into the Dominion's wars, she makes a desperate choice-trading her own freedom to join the rangers, an ancient order bound by oath to walk the wilds and guard the people. Her decision will spare her brothers from service... but binds her to a life of duty from which there is no return.

Far to the south, Antoinette DeLuca-scion of one of Vetticci's most powerful houses-has secrets carved into her every masterpiece. An artist, a spy, and a woman trapped by her family's ambitions, she has learned to shape beauty from duty and deceit alike. When her path collides with Jaina's, the chemistry between them is as dangerous as it is undeniable.

But the Dominion is shifting. The dukes raise armies. Shadows lengthen across the land. And as the days slip away, whispers of something vast and terrible grow louder.

To protect the ones they love, Jaina and Antoinette must each come to understand the truth of who they are-and choose between loyalty and desire, between what they owe and what they yearn for.

The countdown has already begun. And when it ends, nothing will be the same.