Once there was an island where the dead walked the earth, and seven noble houses ruled by the arcane secrets of necromancy.

A conquerors blade brought them low, burning their libraries, killing their lords, and extinguishing their eldritch magic.

But defiant against the new order stands the House of Teeth and its last living members: beautiful Marozia, the heiress to the House, and her cousin, the uncanny Lady Agnes.

Though she has not spoken a word in seven years, Agnes is the true carrier of the Houses legacy. And she has her orders. She must recapture the secrets of death magic and avenge her familys fallen honour. She must arrange the betrothal of her beloved cousin Marozia to Liuprand, heir to the conquerors throne, for access to the forbidden library in his grotesquely grand castle.

Revenge burns in Agness heart, but so do stranger passions and it is Liuprand, the golden prince, who speaks to her soul. This passion is as