Ravka Macmara was born of blood and salt, raised in the brutal sea caves beneath Varnokh. But it's the tragedy at age three, when she's orphaned and alone, that truly forges her. To survive, she learns to be ruthless. Merciless. A blade in the dark. At the orphanage, she finds an unlikely bond with Briac, another discarded girl with fire in her bones. Together, they become more than friends-they become family. But when a deadly encounter with a noble forces their hand, Ravka must do the unthinkable: enlist as a Stormblade, a soldier in the Queen's brutal army, or risk losing the only person she has left. She will rise. She will fall. Blood will crown her...and curse her. But Ravka refuses to break-not even when a staggering secret threatens to destroy everything she's fought for. And if it does? She'll carve a new world from the wreckage.