In a world where boys and girls are raised behind separate walls, curiosity is a crime. The system decides when you're ready to meet the opposite sex-once, under watchful eyes, for a purpose no one dares question. Calista Vaelor has never been good at obedience. Cruel. Brilliant. Feared even among her own. She was born carrying a secret hidden beneath white feathers-a secret that could bring an empire to its knees if anyone ever uncovered it. Then, for the first time in sixteen years... She sees a boy. His hair is as white as hers. And beneath his skin, she recognizes something impossible. Something that should have died long before either of them were born.