Sapphic romance amidst a tale of palace intrigue from one of fantasy's best–and best-loved–writers.

To secure her beloved grandmother's rescue from a vindictive master, lowly servant Kyuri makes a desperate bargain with the noble Dorven. She must accompany him into the Flower Court at the heart of the imperial palace to search for his missing sister. But the fate of the sister is unclear, and seems to be bound up in a power struggle between ambitious princes.

In order to negotiate these dangerous currents, Kyuri is forced to work with Sulia, the Dowager Empress’s loveliest and most condescending servant. When the investigation leads the two women into deadly palace intrigue and exposes them to the threat of a ravenous fungal ghost plague, they must learn to trust each other in order to survive—and to have a hope of finding a future beyond servitude.