Sometimes the heart is the darkest place of all.

Gentle and perceptive, Eiren is a storyteller. She also has a gift: she can sense the emotions and thoughts of those around her. Her power stems from an incredible darkness that exists within, one that brands Eiren as an icon, the mortal incarnation of Theba, the goddess of destruction.

To save her family, Eiren surrenders to the enemy that has warred with her kingdom her entire life, unwittingly embracing that darkness and her own surprising capacity for fury and vengeance. As the icon of Theba, her captors expect her to restore their shattered kingdom at the expense of her own. As the woman Eiren, she is led by her heart to more unexpected places still: to murder, betrayal, and to the arms of another icon, the masked and enigmatic Gannet, whose secrets are not his to tell.

To know the truth of why she was taken from her home, Eiren must become one of the monsters from her stories, whether she wants to or not.