In a city where violence is currency, sometimes the most dangerous choice is to care.
Syra "The Greykiss" was once New Merserat's most feared pit fighter. Now cast out from the City Watch for the very brutality that made her famous, she serves her punishment through menial street labor, trusting no one and hoping for nothing.
Then trouble closes in from all sides.
In front of her is Lienne Blumaker, the pharmacist's daughter with more compassion than sense, her head full of stories and treatises. If Syra is a knife, Lienne is the palm that picks it up without fear of the edge. And that stubborn kindness threatens the walls Syra has spent a lifetime building.
Behind her is Lukas Vessein, an old patron from the pits, back with unfinished business, powerful allies, and an unsettling interest in Lienne.
Under all of it run the whispers: something is wrong in the Salt Field. Word is, the brine is running thin, or thickening, or singing. And when the city's lifeblood turns uncertain, the powerful seek scapegoats, the desperate seek advantage, and the demand for violence goes up.
Soon enough, Syra finds herself back in the same old business: getting paid for other people's mistakes—and paying for them in blood. But this time the cost is not only hers.
When the past steps forward smiling and the future narrows to the width of a blade, Syra must decide which side of herself will survive: the woman, or the Greykiss.
"Polished, intuitive fantasy debut driven by unforgettable characters. "
- Booklife Review (Editor's Pick)
