The Empress of Blood is desperate. Despite their victory liberating the Alboran people, the progress of the revolution has slowed. To make things worse, King Verahim's forces have begun amassing at the border, and an all-out invasion is imminent. With no other options, Mara seeks the aid of an ancient evil: the dead god that she herself killed two years prior. Having escaped the Magistrate's Faceless minions and the cultists that worship them, a girl named Nadezhda arrives in the newly liberated Balgorod with a dark secret-one that could save Sangora, or leave it in ashes. Even if she fails to retake her empire, Mara knows one thing: A crown does not make a queen.