Nineteen and orphaned, she has built her life on the principle that needing no one is the only safety worth having. Laverna City was made for girls like her. Abandoned by its king and carved up by four rival gangs, the city runs on weaponized botany and verbal contracts. She works alone and keeps the matches dry.

The museum job goes clean until she learns whose private collection she just torched. Cerberus commands the Hellhounds, and the whole city fears him. When Azalea finally meets the face behind the name, he sees straight through the act, and she recognizes him the same way. Neither of them was built to survive that.

Then a stranger arrives carrying blood evidence that he is her brother. A prince with a smile too easy moves pieces she cannot yet see. And the four gangs that kept Laverna balanced for a decade begin to choose sides.

Azalea is about to find out what being seen costs.