How far would you go to be free-to make your own choices without being subjected to punishment for doing what you felt was right? Could you kill for it? After being abandoned by her father as a child, Aster spent ten years of her life as a servant for the leader's House in the broken city of New Bethel. She'd known, even as a child, that the cities of her world were corrupt places with human monsters-assassins-running rampant between their high walls. Thinking everything will remain the same as it always has there, Aster is startled to discover that one day . . . the cycle breaks. As a young new leader takes a strange and-at times-horrifying interest in her, will she be capable of discovering the reasons behind his actions and orders? In a world where nothing is as it seems and all things are never anywhere near as simple as they appear at first glance, will she be capable of making the distinction between what is real and what is not? Will she find anyone at all she can trust? More importantly . . . Does she have the strength to do what is necessary to survive in a world filled with evil?