Tamsin learned caution the hard way, spending a year in the king's jail under suspicion of using illegal blood magic. Now she's scrounging a living as a laundress in the Narrows, the poorest ring of the three walled capital city.

When Tamsin's smuggler friend brings a badly beaten outsider to her door, compassion drives her to risk everything and heal him. But Rhys is no ordinary kingsringer dandy. An unknown blood mage stripped away Rhys's memories, he's being hunted, and he may be a traitor to the crown.

Now Tamsin must navigate the working-class streets she knows and the aristocracy she left behind to clear his name and discover the treasonous plot that someone wanted Rhys to forget. If she fails, a king will die and the Narrows will burn.