When the most powerful religious order in the Empire summons her five-year-old sister, Asha does the only thing she can—she takes her place. Armed with a whip, destructive magic that runs too hot in her hands, and a stubbornness her great uncle calls close to being well-trained, Asha leaves her sprawling Mage family behind to enter a world of soldiers, politics, and dangers far greater than she imagined.

Across the sea, Mago plays a far deadlier game. A whore master in the camp of the Dragon Riders; he witnesses atrocities he is powerless to stop. The Warlord’s army is on the move, and when their Blind Seer turns her prophetic gaze in his direction, Mago’s carefully constructed cover begins to unravel.

As Asha trains alongside Elves, Dwarves, and fellow Mages in a unit that was never meant to exist, she discovers that the bonds forged in a ballast run deeper than blood. But the Order’s enemies are not just across the sea. When the Dragon Riders come, Asha and her companions must find a way to stop the invasion and defeat the invincible, no matter what it takes.

The Chosen One’s Substitute is the first book in an epic fantasy series of war, sacrifice, and the bonds that hold when everything else breaks.