Hidden behind magical borders, Azara is a secret society inhabited exclusively by women, founded generations ago as a refuge from the violence of the outside world. In Azara, every woman’s pearl reveals the magic that is hers alone. Senamé’s never has. Her dull gray bead can only imitate the spells she witnesses and every borrowed miracle leaves a mark on her body.
When Hangbé, the embattled queen of Danhomè, crosses Azara’s hidden border seeking warriors, Senamé is sent into a world she has spent her life watching from the edge. At court, she finds beauty, desire, slavery, rival kingdoms, sacred beasts, and a war tightening around the throne. But the closer Senamé comes to the truth about her missing mother and the ancient serpent tied to her blood, the more dangerous her gift becomes.
To protect the women who gave her a home and the world beyond it Senamé must stop asking what magic belongs to her and decide what she can create from everything she has learned.