Aster, the protector Violet, the favourite Tansy, the medic Mallow, the fighter Clementine, the catalyst Sold as children and branded with cursed markings. Trapped in a life they would never have chosen. When Aster's sister Clementine accidentally kills a man, the girls risk a harrowing journey to find freedom, justice, and revenge in a country that wants them to have none of those things. Pursued by powerful forces, both living and dead, their only hope lies in a bedtime story passed from one girl to another, a story that only the youngest or most desperate would ever believe. It's going to take more than luck for them all to survive.