Meena is a powerful Seer on a mission to fulfill a prophecy that will save her people. Zakiah is an ambitious inventor who dreams of becoming a scholar against all odds. They are both stuck in The Dead Realms, a patriarchal empire that is literally rotting away.

When two women’s lives collide at the Citadel of the Father, they are each set on accomplishing their own goals—alone. But when Meena is overcome by a dangerous vision, accidentally revealing her identity as a Seer to Zakiah, their fates and goals become irrevocably intertwined. Now, they must work together to uncover the truths of an ancient curse that might just be the key to both of their futures.

But as Meena and Zakiah navigate their mutual attraction, a betrayal from Zakiah sends Meena running toward Lord Cessan. An adventurer, Lord Cessan is steward to the crown prince, and, most importantly, an unexpectedly progressive man on a relentless search to fix the destruction of the generations that came before him.

As tensions surrounding the worsening famine increase, the fever pitch of prejudice against Seers places Meena in unspeakable danger. The two women hurry to piece together the clues of the past in order to make different choices that, if they do it right, just might give future generations a chance at survival.