Princess Wanda was never meant to rule. After the violent death of her older brother, her father has forbidden her to leave the castle for the last seven years. Her only steadfast friend is her cousin Stach, who tells her tales of the sky on dragonback. When rumors spread of a sorcerer with the power to kill dragons, Wanda takes flight to capture them to prove to her father that she is worthy of being sovereign. But when she forges a friendship in the most unlikely of places, Wanda begins to see the cruelty in her father's love-and wonders if everything she knows is a lie.
Stach's satisfaction with the establishment is shaken when a diplomat is found dead under mysterious circumstances. He traverses the perilous world of court politics to investigate their death, forced to reckon with the corruption of the nobility in every coin embezzled and every law circumvented. As he uncovers a treasonous plot and a disaster brings him to his knees, he must come face-to-face with the restrictions of royal authority-and questions if there should be any limits at all.
Both cousins must grapple with decisions, loves, and betrayals that will unravel the Republic. When their land descends into war, Wanda and Stach must ask how to save their nation when its system is irredeemably broken.