When the Serpent King arrives to choose his bride, eighteen-year-old Saphira has no desire to be among the hopefuls. Once a ward of the cruel djinn Lady Incarnadine, she now hides her rare ability to weave magic into gemstones while working under the deceitful jewelsmith Galen. But Galen’s reckless boast earns them an impossible royal commission—one that could see Saphira dragged back into Incarnadine’s clutches. To escape, she strikes a bargain with Rane, the Serpent King’s enigmatic huntsman: craft a secret jewel for his master, and she’ll be granted a new life. But when the plan unravels, Saphira’s only way out is marriage to the Serpent King himself—pulling her into a perilous web of power, desire, and dangerous alliances between kingdoms.