Growing up in the famine-stricken realm of Inophe, Elodie's deepest wish was to help her people survive each winter. So when a representative from a rich, reclusive kingdom offers her family enough wealth to save Inophe in exchange for Elodie's hand in marriage, she accepts without hesitation. Swept away to the glistening kingdom of Aurea, Elodie is quickly taken in by the beauty of the realm-and of her betrothed, Prince Henry. But as Elodie undertakes the rituals to become an Aurean princess, doubts prick at her mind as cracks in the kingdom's perfect veneer begin to show: A young woman who appears and vanishes from the castle tower. A parade of torches weaving through the mountains. Too late, she discovers that Aurea's prosperity has been purchased at a heavy cost-each harvest season, the kingdom sacrifices its princesses to a hungry dragon. And Elodie is the next sacrifice.