Die, die the hand is mine, to be human, is to live your life in the blind.
“There was mud in my mouth, my knees dripped blood onto the uneven pavement—little spatters of crimson rain. I bit down on my fist. I wouldn't cry, it would only distract me from running.
Ahead of me, a little girl is sleeping in the alley, her hand clenched around a bundle of forget-me-nots. The moonlight spilling on her pale skin turns her from innocent to wraith. Two days ago, I was her, a forgotten face in a sea of the living dead—yet I was different. At night I would shed my human skin and go back to my own kind. Go back to my world with wings of light to carry me through the sky, where no element, flame or weapon forged could claim my life.
That was two nights ago, I am a fairy no longer. Tonight, I am human...and if they catch me, I will die.”
On the day the god Cronus was born, it is said, the earth quaked and screamed at its core. The cliffs bordering the sea crashed together, flames shot into the open sky. Each flame carried a Seelie faerie. In their blood flowed the magic of the old worlds and the fire of immorality.
A princess of firelight and next in line for the Seelie throne. Selyara is a girl who wants only freedom. Given no protection, she must face three days as a human, alone. Lavara sits on the Seelie throne as queen regent until Selyara has completed and survived her human trial. If Selyara dies, Lavara stands to take the throne. On the first eve of her humanity Selyara stands under the moon, trying to accept the fact that, like every ancestor before her, she may not survive the hunt.
The hunters come, yet do not kill. Lore, lord of the blood hunters and consort to, Lavara the queen of the Unseelie, saves Selyara’s life the night he is sent to take it. Queen Vana covets the power of the princess's flame and means to have her blood at all costs. The court of the Unseelie is strange and terrifying, accustomed to a world of fire and light, the dark evil of this hidden world drains Selyara's life. She has no one to turn to, except the savage hunter who saved her.
Brought up in the ways of the Unseelie and trained as a blood hunter, Lore captures the faerie named Selyara. Mystified and drawn to the girl with the fire-red hair, he watches her trade her throne for the promise of her life. Faced with loyalty to his own queen and betraying everything he knows, Lore must give his sword to a kingdom he has always opposed, and a strange, magical girl—fast becoming more precious to him than any immortal blood.
Side by side, Selyara, and Lore unlock dark secrets to break a blood promise that will change their stars forever. Together, they fall into a world of fairytales and all the Theories of Magic.