A warrior princess fighting to protect her kingdom from hordes of undead.

A prince who emerges from a land long-thought destroyed.

And a secret that could change the world.

Once the world was composed of five kingdoms, but that was before red vein virus turned those it infected into monstrous Hollows. Twenty-two-year-old Mara has never known a world where the Hollows weren't a threat. The princess has been trained since childhood to protect her kingdom of Earsleh by hunting the dead creatures that feed on humans. Life is precarious, so when Mara and her half-sister are suddenly recalled from their hunt to the castle, they fear the worst.

The reality is much stranger. The kingdom of Zulen was overrun by the Hollows-at least that's what Mara had been taught. That belief is upended when a Zulenii prince arrives in Earsleh to demand the Claiming Rite. The prince will choose a princess, and if he defeats her in hand-to-hand combat, he may claim her as his own and take her back to Zulen.

Mara has little fear she will be chosen. She's nothing special among her sisters. But when she sees Taio, she almost wishes he would choose her. He's tall, tattooed, and perilously handsome. Her traitorous heart races every time she sees him, even though their interactions are laced with animosity. But when Taio's arrival reveals to Mara that everything she held sacred has been a lie, and she has the power to save the world from the monsters that ravage it, she's faced with an impossible choice.

With monsters on her every side, is there anyone or anything she can trust?