LAIA is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When
her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empi
re's greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars wh
o claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.
ELIAS is the a
cademy's finest soldier-- and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering
deserting the military, but before he can, he's ordered to participate in a rut
hless contest to choose the next Martial emperor.
When Laia and Elias's paths
cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than e
ither could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the e
mpire itself.