Your attendance to the Dance of Fates is mandated. Hide and you will be found. Resist and you shall die. It’s no surprise when Verity Kühn receives an invitation to the annual Dance of Fates from Allemagne’s Grand Captain. But a new mandate requires all paupers to perform this the best saved for an elite Troupe, and the rest sold worldwide to settle their debts to the kingdom. Verity has already lost one brother to the Grand Captain, and the mandate confirms her worst her attempts to hide her little brother have failed. Obeying the mandate means abandoning the only family she has left, but rebellion could cost both their lives. When Verity learns that her other brother may still be alive, she becomes a stowaway on the Grand Captain’s own merchant ship, determined to bring him home. But in the meantime, she discovers a mysterious rebel soldier with world-tipping news. Not only does he know her brother’s whereabouts, but he is involved with a rival kingdom’s plan to invade Allemagne and topple its twisted regime, once and for all…and he wants Verity to join his quest for justice. But it’s a dangerous dance filled with traitors and deception, and their lives hang in the balance. Trapped between generations of evil and an unknown future, the pair set out to discover the sacrifices it will take to conquer darkness, rescue those they love, and bring light to a broken kingdom. Fans of The Nutcracker will be thrilled with this new twist on a familiar story.