Born to privilege. Trained for war. When disaster threatens the realm, will she risk everything to save her homeland? Swordplay. Spycraft. As the sole heir to one of the kingdom’s Great Houses, these are the skills Elivya has studied all her life - skills she must keep secret at all costs. The time has come for her debut at court, and one whisper of her unorthodox training could ruin her prospects and spell the end of her ancient bloodline. Under the watchful eye of her father’s deadliest - and most irritating - guard, Elivya joins the nobility’s vicious game of gossip, seduction, and ambition. But the stakes are far higher than she ever imagined. A shadow grows in the East, a ruthless empire bent on domination. When a foreign agent infiltrates the royal court, whispering in the king’s ear and sowing the seeds of war, Elivya knows that exposing him will take every one of her carefully-hidden skills. A single misstep could destroy her House - or doom her nation. A voracious reader from her youth, Melissa Ragland has spent her life absorbing stories. In libraries and bookstores, she devoted three decades to the study of fiction, dissecting the weave and weft of good storytelling. ​Now, after a long stint in the much-beloved heat of Austin, Texas, Ragland has returned to the Midwest woodlands of her youth to pursue her lifelong passion for writing. Her lush and unapologetic debut fantasy series has earned accolades from readers and fellow authors alike, with book one ('Traitor') being selected as a Page Turner Awards finalist and earning a Reedsy Discovery five-star review.