In a shattered kingdom ruled by fear, Gwendolyn has been trained to be a weapon. Her latest mission-spying on Vrononem's golden prince-feels like an insult. She was made for more than playing shadow to a pampered figurehead.

But as she delves deeper into the rot beneath the throne, Gwen begins to see that nothing in Vrononem is what it seems. Lies seep through every crack in the kingdom's walls, twisting truth and loyalty alike, and the prince may be the most perplexing secret of all. Power wears too many faces.

Forgetting duty and caught in conscience when every truth cuts both ways, Gwendolyn must decide what-and who-to trust before the kingdom she was made to protect fractures beyond repair.