Flickers of fallen people haunt this death mage—kings, queens, and boys buried in the blue ocean. Years ago, she fled those figures, to a house isolated in the tundra. There, she rebuilds herself from the boy she used to be—between the blood of badly done curses, the Skeleton Cook dancing in the kitchen, and the ice of darkest winters.

But in the snows of her garden one day, she finds a magical egg, the size of a skull. Journeying to discover its origins takes her to the royal city, where she must choose to aid the queen in battling for her stolen palace; or take the hatching, violent creature (wanted by enemies in the city) and vanish back into the wilderness.