Drea Kalder is the last of her noble House. Her parents murdered or dead by their own hand, her husband-to-be, the Imperator, killed in the Senate, she has no one left except her best friend Thryis. Then Drea is adopted as a ward by the influential House Syphen, by the man who orchestrated her future husband’s death and possibly her parents. Every day her life is lived on a knife’s edge.

Drea lives at the center of a vast civilization in Drith, a city that has harnessed the power of steam, electricity, and magic. For centuries, the city’s Major Houses have fought a bloody struggle for control over Drith, and Drea is now a pawn in their game. She learns of dark sorcerers, mages, and secret societies that go back hundreds of years. Then a magic-wielding gunslinger, known only as Lady Blackveil, seeks her out, and Drea learns this woman may have the answers to her family’s downfall.

The bullets fly and the blades are quick, as Drea Kalder begins to piece together what’s happened to her and her family. And she learns more about The Way, a mystical and philosophical treatise on life. Soon, she begins to grasp at something that no woman in Drith has ever sought before: Control.

Chad Huskins