Leilani Stellarion is cursed.
 
  
 
  She’s a princess-made-pariah thanks to the volatile Starborn magic that grants her prophetic visions – and is slowly corrupting her mind. The last surviving member of a faction able to wield ancient elemental magic, she’s shunned because one of her ancestors unleashed the Sickening – a wasting curse that’s dragged the four realms of Arcelia to the brink of war and eco-geddon. 
 
  
 
  Heir to this dismal legacy, Leilani’s father, ruler of their realm, has organised an arranged marriage to wrest the line of succession away from her. Worse still, Leilani’s mother is in poor health, and getting weaker every day – a condition Leilani believes is her fault. 
 
  
 
  When a prophecy surfaces about a long-lost relic with the power to cure the Sickening (and save her mother), Leilani sees an opportunity to escape from court and atone for her tainted magic. To reach the relic, she must journey to the furthest reaches of the realm and deep into the bowels of the Astral Mountain where she will have to re-enact a dangerous blood-rite. 
 
  
 
  But the ritual requires the cooperation of representatives from Arcelia’s four bitterly-feuding realms, forcing Leilani to broker an alliance with her sworn enemies and trust those she’s been bred to hate - including her fiancé, who joins the quest at her father’s insistence.
 
  
 
  Thrust into hostile territory, Leilani must protect this fragile alliance, navigate the ireful mountain rebels opposed to it, and manage her growing feelings for a rival envoy under her fiancé’s ever-watchful eye. 
 
  
 
  And while they hunt for the sceptre, an ancient evil pursues them. A mysterious faceless woman bearing a centuries-old grudge, who will do anything to claim the relic for herself. 
 
  
 
  Leilani’s powers could be the key to saving the realms, but in Arcelia all magic has its price, and using hers could finally turn Leilani into the monster she’s always feared she’ll become.