Katherine Barnes knows what it means to have unsettled magic, the tragedy and the scars that come along with discovering you have magic when no one around you does. She's now the enforcer for Aestas, the coven that rescued her when she was at her lowest, and loyal to the core to Sylvia Page, the coven leader who saved her life. When Silas Khatri, heir to the most powerful coven in the world, arrives to stir things up at Aestas and pressure Sylvia for her unconventional practices, Katherine feels an instant dislike for him. But that's not all that brews between them, and the dangerous threat that arises will push both to do things they never thought possible.

It's a pretty straightforward story, with the reveals never being as surprising as I suspect Bianco was hoping for. But it more than makes up for it in the emotional punch it carries. No one gets through this book without something truly major happening to them, and Bianco does the work of making you care for them, so it hits every single emotional button. The magic is cool and the political machinations and power moves are interesting, but what kept me turning pages were the emotional connections.

Sign me up for whatever comes next in this series!

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the excellent read.