On a dying continent, shapeshifting dragons known as Darkhan reign supreme. Zahra’ s life is defined by Mahj, the darkhan who helped raise her after her parents’ death, and Kamar, her older brother, who maintains their farm and resents the darkhan’ s control. Everything Zahra knows is upended when two darkhan ransack the farm, and Kamar goes missing in a town fire. Mahj offers her the choice to become a paladin for the darkhan, knowing her older brother despises them, or join the rebels for a cause she doesn’ t believe in. As she grapples with the loss of her brother, Zahra unravels the truth of the world— the civil war, her parents’ death, the dying planet— but only if she can survive it first.