Mundane baker Quinn Parry wasn't born with a Gift, unless you count her skills with a pastry bag.When she's hired into the kitchen of the magic-Wielding royal family, she thinks the most challenging part of her new routine will be hiding her position from her magic-hating mother. She certainly doesn't expect to get entangled in the affairs of the crown prince.Then Prince Evander surprises her— instead of the selfish, arrogant royal she expected, he's witty and kind and shares her love of reading. Quinn finds herself more drawn to him than she should be, especially considering he has a duty to preserve the magic of the kingdom by marrying one of the Wielders competing for his hand.But the contest is masking a darker truth, and the duo finds themselves working together to decipher a cryptic prophecy that might be their only chance of saving the kingdom. Battling a tidal wave of forbidden feelings, Quinn and Evander are left to reckon with the possibility that the mystery that binds them may also be the ruin of everything they love.
Quinn Rial's happily-ever-after is cracking like the crust of a freshly-baked loaf of bread. With a Gift she barely understands and a string of kidnappings by the iniquitous king of Falerin, being at the center of the prophecy feels less like a happy ending and more like an impossible puzzle. It's not until a group of rebels appears at the palace that she finds an unlikely spark of hope-but letting them in would mean dismantling everything Enorias was built on. ... For the first time in her life, Liang is the one thing she always swore she wouldn't be: weak. With her Gift Siphoned during the royal competition, leaving a festering pit of anger in its wake, she's made a vow to get her magic back at any cost-including working with the insufferable Separatist Galen Vanbriar. ... As unlikely allies, the group must uncover the rot at the core of both Enorias and Falerin and decide who deserves to hold the keys to power-and at what cost.