In a kingdom built on conquest and revenge, a princess without magic must become something far more dangerous than the power she was born without. Emelina Flores watches her homeland fall to an enemy king who slaughters those with magic—the Ruined—and she survives only because she was born powerless, a shame in a family defined by their abilities, but now her greatest disguise. She infiltrates the palace by taking the place of the prince's bride-to-be, a girl she's never met, with a singular mission: get close enough to destroy the royal family from within. But the prince is not the monster she expected, the court is more treacherous than any battlefield, and Em finds herself caught between the vengeance that has fueled her every breath and a growing connection that could unravel everything. Amy Tintera crafts a fantasy where survival demands ruthlessness, where a girl who was once considered weak must wield deception as her weapon, and where the line between justice and destruction blurs with every choice. This is a story of what we become when everything is taken from us, and whether love can grow in soil poisoned by hate.