Heroes have won. Villains are captured or in hiding, leaving society safe and suffocatingly dull for nineteen-year-old Aris Shelia. After her mother's unwarranted arrest and her little brother's placement in foster care, Aris is lured into an alliance with Taavi, an old, undercover villain who offers her the control to protect her family and challenge a hero-worshiping society built on rigid notions of peace. But Taavi doesn't just feed into Aris's resentment, she uses what Aris cares about most: her little brother, warning that without change, he'll be trapped in the same lifeless future she's desperate to escape. When Taavi reveals that her success hinges on assembling an ancient crown, Aris steals the scattered jewels and unveils a terrifying vision of herself as the architect of society's downfall. And claiming the crown means betraying Malik, the only hero still tethering her to who she used to be. Aris must confront whether her bid for control is worth the devastation or if there's still time to turn back. Perfect for fans of the morally complex characters and escalating chaos of Rebecca Schaeffer's City of Nightmares and the intense, high-stakes rebellion of Deborah Falaye's Blood Scion. Between the Lines to Villainy explores a totalitarian society so terrified of disrupting its fragile peace that it suppresses progress altogether. The story emphasizes how most advancements in history have occurred during times of conflict, suggesting that challenges and even evil are necessary for civilization to evolve. After all, society needs a villain to wake it up, doesn't it?