As an orphan ward of the Sisterhood, eighteen-year-old Kalinda is destined for only a life of seclusion and prayer. Suffering from fevers, she’s an unlikely candidate for even a servant’s position, let alone a courtesan or wife. Her sole dream is to keep living in tranquility in the Sisterhood’s mountain temple.

But a visit from the tyrant Rajah Tarek disrupts Kalinda’s lifestyle. Within hours, she is ripped in the comfort of her house, set on a desert trek, and purchased to fight for her place among the rajah’s ninety-nine wives and many courtesans. Her just solace will come in the business of her guard, the stoic but kind Captain Deven Naik.

Confronted with the danger of a tournament to the death—and her growing affection for Deven—Kalinda provides only one expect escape, and it lies in an arcane, forbidden force buried within her.

In Emily R. King’s thrilling illusion debut, an orphan woman blossoms into a warrior, summoning courage and self-confidence in her fearless goal to upend custom, overthrow an empire, and reclaim her existence as her personal.