For as long as anyone can remember, those cursed with ebb-magic have been marked for death by the gods. Sayer has always known his fate: he was given seventy-two years of life before he must become a sacrifice.

His sister was only promised ten.

Now the Blood Hours are set to begin-twenty-eight nights of slaughter, where priests on the hunt compete with the brutal elements to claim the life of each ebber mage slated to die. Sayer is determined to save his sister by entering with her and making sure they survive to see dawn on the final day.

But Sayer has done dark things to carve out a place in the Hours early, and a priestess with her own grief lurks in the winter-dark forest. Hungry for revenge and willing to do anything to hurt the man who murdered her brother, she kills his sister that very first night. With every future he dared hope for spattered in his sister's blood, there is nothing keeping Sayer from becoming the monster ebbers are thought to be; wielders of an uncontrollable, deadly power.

It's only when he meets Ever-a girl with no fear of their magic and the knowledge to help him master it-that Sayer is given one last chance. If they can survive, there may be a way to save his sister. But Ever isn't telling the whole truth, and when secrets shatter everything Sayer once believed about the gods and the Blood Hours, he must find his own way to save his loved ones-and maybe even himself.