Kill or be killed, and keep your enemies close.

In a realm ruled by power-hungry males and dark magic wielders, it’s every fae for themselves.

Aeris Lockhart wants nothing more than to escape her father and flee her court to practise alchemy. When she’s forced to participate in The Rite, an archaic ceremony in which females must compete for the hand of a lord, her dreams of freedom are replaced with deadly games and power plays.

Raithe Windaire, Captain of the Shadow Court navy, has never wanted a wife. Especially when she must fight for her very life to win his hand. With his father holding his mother ransom, he has no choice but to play the complicit pawn in the Pentad’s cruel competition. On the surface, he is the duty-bound son, but he will stop at nothing to rip out the Pentad by its roots and bring justice to the females of Rites’ past.