I've lived in the shadows all my life.

Some might even say that I am the shadows.

Undesirables are banished to the Lower City, where crime runs the darkened streets and sell-swords lurk in the underground catacombs. Those with blessings that are either too useless to be deemed worthy, or too dangerous to see the light of day. The underlord hired me when I was only a child, coveting the dark magic that makes me an undesirable of the highest risk. He took pity on the child with poison in her veins, but he made me into a monster.

The rogue prince, freshly home from war overseas, is in need of a wife before his father, the king, dies of old age. A pageant will be held at the palace, and the prince will handpick his next queen. Posing as a lady of the court, it's my job to seduce his majesty and win this pageant, all the while snuffing out my weekly marks one by one.

I might have jumped at the opportunity to play dress-up, eat fine foods, and sway the hearts of precious royalty, but my self-imposed bodyguard and fellow undesirable, Wolfe, has made it his personal mission to get in my way.