A brilliant queen and a fierce warlord form a strategic marriage, meant to bring peace to both their realms. But when her sea and silk and his mountains and iron collide, they find an equal, a partner, and a fragile spark--that rivals, conspiracies, assassins, and their own pride will do anything to extinguish.

A reformed assassin, a peasant scholar, and a cursed princess conspire to kill a tyrannical king in a sageuk-inspired world. If shifting allegiances and rival factions don't destroy them, then their own secrets will, and the kingdom they plotted to save will be the cost.