After sacrificing her soul to save Dagen’s, another stinging betrayal from someone she trusted lands Nizzara at the feet of her father’s mortal enemy, Queen Nexia. Held hostage in a land where Dagen will never think to look, drained of all her power, and with no possibility of escaping on her own, Nizzara only has one option of survival left to her: she must make a magical bargain with the person who betrayed her to Nexia. Forced to obey this person’s every command, Nizzara’s mind, body, and freedom are at the mercy of a traitor, whose motives and loyalties are unclear. While the traitor labors to free her from the evil queen, Nizzara makes discoveries about Dagen that leave her hesitant to return to Zarr.

Back in Zarr, Lo is drowning in guilt. Weeks have passed since Nizzara’s sacrifice, and while Lo hunts for ancient vessel rings to shield her brother from rising threats, a stranger’s shadow falls over Dagen’s heart, turning his affection for Nizzara into sudden, inexplicable ice. Just as Lo begins to unravel this chilling mystery, the ghosts of her past begin to materialize at the castle gates. A powerful potion-maker has come to collect a life debt Lo has owed for years—and the price is Dagen’s hand in marriage to another. Lo faces an impossible choice: honor her debt and shatter her brother’s heart, or refuse and damn herself to ruin.