They executed my father. Now they want to see me burn on the sky pyre. But I will ally with the monster of The Below and brave the beasts above before I let them condemn me.

Oliviana Lux’s world is ruled by dangerous dragons, banishing humanity to the cavern cities below. But the sharp-tongued Master Tinkerer and daughter of a traitor carries a dangerous secret: she can wield the forbidden magic her father was executed for. Wanting to escape her father’s legacy, she hides her gift. But when a near-fatal brush with a dragon awakens a magical pull within her, she wonders if the legends her father secretly whispered to her of dragon riders were true.

But hiding her magic isn’t enough to keep her safe when she is forced into a treacherous assignment by the corrupt council. Oliviana soon discovers she is being set up to take the blame for the fading magic that fuels their cities. In a desperate quest to restore the magic and clear her name, she has no choice but to ally herself with Caius Amarala—the abrasive captain of the guard and the man responsible for her father’s execution—to reach the legendary hatching grounds in the hope that bonding with a dragon of their own will allow their people to return to the surface.

Oliviana and Caius find their fates are more entangled than either of them could have imagined. Despite doing everything in her power not to fall for him, Oliviana is inexplicably drawn to the darkness in Caius. And as they grow closer, she starts to realize that her world is not the only thing that needs saving, and that Caius is not the man he says he is.