Everyone believed Princess Seraya Elvaris died the night Aeloria fell.They were wrong.Years ago, Valtherian soldiers stormed the Aelorian palace, slaughtering the royal family and leaving the kingdom in ruins. Before Queen Isadora was killed, she gave her daughter a mysterious blue stone and whispered three words:“We did not betray Valtheris.”The stone saved Seraya, sending her far from the burning palace and into the care of the only person who knew who she truly was.Now, living under the name Violet Noctis, she enters Crownspire, the elite grand academy of Valtheris, determined to uncover the truth behind her parents' deaths and the mysterious stone they've entrusted to her.But Crownspire has its own rules.Students are divided according to magical ability, and Violet is classified as Unbound—the lowest and most ridiculed classification, with seemingly no magical ability at all.Then the ancient seals hidden beneath the academy begin to awaken.And Crown Prince Cassian Vanderpool notices something that no one else does.Violet isn't simply an Unbound girl who doesn't belong at Crownspire.She's hiding something.And the closer Cassian gets to discovering who Violet really is, the closer she comes to uncovering the truth about the kingdom that erased her family.Because Aeloria may be dead.But its lost princess is still alive.And the truth was never buried with the kingdom.

LIORA I am going to be executed for saving a seven-year-old. My sword is still warm. I had just split the training dummy in half when the scent hits me. Damp earth. Sweat. A Werewolf. Past the ward stones in hunter territory. The law is simple. Kill any non-hunter who crosses our borders. I push through the bushes. He is not a threat. He is seven. Mud-caked, tears on his cheeks. His fangs haven't even come in. He looks up at my sword. "Are you going to kill me?" Twelve years of training screams at me to do it. Asterfall's law. My father's law. Kill him. But I don't. I grab his small hand. His claws are soft. "Stay close. Don't make a sound." I lead him back to the main road, to his parents waiting at the border. They don't thank me. They stare at my sword like I am the monster. Then they leave. That is when Ozai's blade stops a hair from my forehead. "You spared a werewolf who crossed our borders." My heart slams. "He was a pup." His brow lifts. "And that changes the law?" I have known Ozai since i was a child, he devoted and loyal to my father and to the clan. He will jot lie for me. He will not spare me, nor will my father. He signals his guard to bind my wrists. Iron bites into my skin. They march me through Asterfall. The chief's daughter, paraded like a criminal. Everyone stares. I see the questions and doubt in their gazes. In his chamber, my father doesn't shout. That is worse. Draco Oakheart looks at me, his bound daughter, his eyes are cold. "You saved a dog." Then he hits me with back of his hand. That's the first time in my life. Pain explodes across my cheek. I taste blood. "You know the law," he says. "You were raised to understand it." "He was only a pup," I whisper. "That pup grows into a wolf who will be taught to kill us. You. Me. Your sisters and brothers. Your kind." "Forgive me, father—" "The law remains the law." he groans. "I will not compromise my words. I will koy appear weak before my people." His gaze holds mine like he wants me to see the disappointment in his eyes. He unsheathes his dagger. For a second, I imagine my my body in the pool of my own blood. He sheathes the dagger. He is not going to kill me here, it's not out of mercy. That look? it's something more horrific than his dagger cutting across my neck. He leans in. "Take her to the Sanctum." He orders Ozai. "Tonight, you will be offered to the sun god." Why? For a child. For mercy. What I don't know is that someone is already coming to stop my sacrifice. The werewolf Queen, touched by the moon goddess. Evyths Belmont. Yet, my father has a different plan for my death. I will not die on an altar, he says. He will send me into the heart of the vampire kingdom. To kill the two princes everyone fears. Darian and Caelen. The hybrids.