Terror. Callousness. Denial. Rebellion. How the four teenage children of leaders in the duchy and the neighboring empire of Hanaobi choose to adapt to their nefarious parents’ whims is a matter of survival. Rohesia, daughter of the duke, spends her days hunting "outsiders," fugitives who’ve snuck onto her father’s island duchy. That she lives when even children who resemble her are subject to death hardens her heart to tackle the task. Fastello is the son of the "king" of the raiders who steal from the rich and share with the poor. When aristocrats die in the raids, Fastello questions what his peoples’ increasingly wicked methods of survival have cost them. An orphan raised by a convent of mothers, Cateline can think of no higher aim in life than to serve her religion, even if it means turning a blind eye to the suffering of other orphans under the mothers’ care. Kojiro, new heir to the Hanaobi empire, must avenge his people against the "barbarians" who live in the duchy, terrified the empress, his own mother, might rather see him die than succeed. When the paths of these four young adults cross, they must rely on one another for survival—but the love of even a malevolent guardian is hard to leave behind.

Impassive. Devious. Besieged. Naive. In the ashes of their parents’ cruel sovereignty, four teenagers are left holding the reins with no idea how to lead their peoples to peace and prosperity. Rohesia, told she is the true heir to Hanaobi, must choose between ruling the duchy in her father’s place and returning with her cousin to seek the throne that is more rightfully hers. Without her father figure, she has little interest in either, but there is no escape from the infamous legacy of her parents on both sides of the sea. Fastello, left to lead both his father’s people and to seek the rule of the entire duchy, has never had so much responsibility in his life. Grappling with heartbreak the likes of which he’s never experienced, he doesn’t know if he has it in him to try to fill the hole so many people so desperately want him to fill. Kojiro, adrift in a strange land and emboldened by the actions of the people he met there, is determined to find his courage and free his people from the tyranny of his mother’s reign. However, with her number one foe defeated, the empress of Hanaobi is more unstoppable than ever. Tomiko, the perfect daughter to the strict and controlling empress, is sheltered from the reality of the world but eager to discover the truth. Before the war is over, she must decide between fealty to her mother and loyalty to her brother, knowing full well that either way, her family will never be whole again. The goals of each of these four young adults are bound to clash—but there’s no escaping their destinies, no matter the destruction left in their paths.