It is not a peaceful time in the Algardis Empire. War is raging between the mages and seventeen-year-old Sara Fairchild will be right in the middle of it. She just doesn't know it yet. Sara is the daughter of a disgraced imperial commander, executed for desertion. Sara is also the best duelist and hand-to-hand combatant in Sandrin. She lives quietly with her family’s shame but when challenged about her family’s honor, her opponent inevitably loses. On the night she finds out her father’s true last actions, she takes the Mercenary Guilds’ vows to serve in the emperor’s army. Using her quick wits and fierce fighting skills, she earns a spot in the first division. There she discovers secrets the mages on both sides would prefer stay hidden. Dark enemies hunt her and soon it's not just Sara questioning the motivation behind this war. While fighting mages, blackmailing merchants and discovering new friends, Sara comes across something she’s never had before - passion. The question is - can she fight for her empress against a mage who might unwittingly claim her heart? This is year one of the Initiate Wars. Sara is hoping it doesn't become the year she dies.

Sara Fairchild, duelist and combatant, is out for vengeance. Her father was betrayed. Her mother is dead. All she has left is her desire for revenge and a quest for answers. Now a member of the Mercenary Guilds’ elite guard, she fights on the front lines of her empire’s first civil war. But Sara’s priority isn’t winning the war for the crown or empire. It’s finding out the true circumstances of her family’s downfall while keeping one mild-mannered scholar alive. As emotionally detached as she is from everyone around her, Sara can’t seem to shake the stubborn affection of her one friend. When she stumbles upon the secrets of the leadership of the Empress’s highest command in the field, Sara will be forced to decide how deep her loyalty is to the crown…before they kill her off and everyone else standing in their way. Secrets aside everyday on the warfront is a life under threat from the ultimate enemy and yet as Sara quickly finds out, darkness resides on both sides of the war lines.

This is year one of the Initiate Wars. Sara is hoping it doesn't become the year she dies in an adventure fantasy for the ages. The night has lifted and Sara Fairchild is out for blood. But this time, it's her own. A gifted fighter and a skilled battle mage, Sara is now fighting everything she stands for—her heritage. For too long, she has held onto the certainty that her father was an honorable man. But what does honor mean when you're at war and surrounded by corruption from all sides? As Sara Fairchild brings the Kades to their knees and manages to capture a prize that rivals Nissa Sardonien's worth to imperial intelligence, she has to wonder—how far should she go to extract the secrets her Empress and her empire needs? As she fights to outmaneuver her growing list of enemies and win a war that becomes more complicated by the day, Sara Fairchild knows that no matter what, the empire will never be the same.

Sara Fairchild was sure of two things when she killed that Kade invasion leader. The first? That it was a righteous kill. The second? That she would always be haunted by it. Now she’s shouldering the responsibilities of being a leader, not a follower, in the imperial armed forces while trying to figure out exactly what the Empress’s Representative has planned for her. Whatever the blood of the crown wants, Sara knows that she will suffer for it. As she launches a mission to re-capture Nissa Sardonien, Sara finds out that she’s not the only one playing a cat-and-mouse game. Apparently the Kades have been keeping a closer eye on her than even she knew, and when Sara meets Gabriel—their enigmatic leader with amethyst eyes—all bets are off.