Esper was raised to believe rebellion is a disease. Now she’s not so sure.

In the towering Citadel of Aelindor, powerful mages rule a city gripped by fear. Beneath their spiraling towers, unrest spreads. The rebels call it revolution. The mages call it infection.

Esper is the perfect weapon. Brilliant, ruthless, and daughter to the city’s most feared mage, she’s sent to infiltrate the Revolt and expose their secrets. Learn their plans. Tear them down from the inside.

But the rebels aren’t monsters. They’re messy and brave and loyal in ways Esper never learned. And one of them—a woman with strange magic and a sharper smile—makes her question everything she was raised to destroy.

As the city veers toward civil war and her lies grow heavier by the day, Esper must choose who to betray: the people who taught her how to wield power, or the one who taught her how to feel.