Baru Cormorant is 7 years old when the Empire of Masks conquers her home country and irrevocably tears her three-parent family apart. As she grows up, Baru hones her genius to become an accountant, and the empire sends her to a politically fraught country. While she pretends to serve the empire, Baru has one goal in mind — revenge. However, her growing attraction to the Duchess Tain Hu puts her plans for revenge against the empire at risk. This dark political fantasy is the first book in a complex and enthralling trilogy.