Guillotines made of gold still cut off heads.
Inside the shining walls of the Civilized World, famine and disease are distant memories, beauty and riches flow freely, and pleasure is the heartbeat of life. For high-citizens, it's paradise. But for low-citizens, paradise has a dark side. You either live by the law or die by the guillotine.
The last time low-citizen Loredana Waldsten broke the rules, she was punished with a weapons restriction that destroyed her dream of fencing competitively. Now, a student at the prestigious Grandmaster University, she's determined to keep her head down and her grades up. But when her politician father defies the high-citizens by supporting a controversial new law, Loredana becomes a target. Half of her classmates want her expelled, the other half want her dead—and by law, she can't fight back.
Struggling to survive, she forges an uneasy alliance with Edmund Prew, a charming yet ruthless high-citizen student who is forced to shield her within his private entourage after losing a bet. Yet alliances built on secrets are fragile, and Loredana knows this one will only last if she can hide the truth about her weapons restriction: She killed her last fencing opponent—a high-citizen who was Edmund's cousin.
Now, the wrong move won't just destroy her future. It will claim her head.
Author's Note: This sweeping, character-driven novel is shaped as much by an intimate, slow-burn romantic arc as by its dystopian setting. Inspired by the glamour and decadence of the 1920s Jazz Age—bright, beautiful, and perilous beneath the surface—the world mirrors the story’s central tension. Readers drawn to deadly power struggles, dangerous alliances, and forbidden relationships will find the high-stakes romance at the heart of the narrative.
