‘Do not speak unless asked a question. And do not refer to your predecessor. At all.’

Corith Fraine is a Floodmouth – her words can control water. Yet for those born with her rare elemental ability, paths forward are few, and Corith is one of the lucky ones. She has spent most of her life in a prestigious magic institution, training to achieve the highest possible honour for a member of her kind: the chance to serve one of the hundred noble houses.

When Corith secures a post working for House Shearwater, a reclusive noble family living on a wave-battered island, she thinks her hard work has paid off. Until she discovers that their previous Floodmouth – Corith’s closest friend – mysteriously died in their service. And Corith is her replacement.

To learn the truth of her best friend’s accident, Corith must unravel the dark conspiracies at the heart of Bower Island and uncover the secrets of her enigmatic employers – including the family’s brooding youngest son, Llir. With her loyalties pushed to breaking point, these treacherous waters may well pull Corith under…