Imperial law enforcer Amaranthe Lokdon is good at her job: she can deter thieves and pacify thugs, if not with a blade, then by toppling an eight-foot pile of coffee canisters onto their heads. But when ravaged bodies show up on the waterfront, an arson covers up human sacrifices, and a powerful business coalition plots to kill the emperor, she feels a tad overwhelmed. Worse, Sicarius, the empire's most notorious assassin, is in town. He's tied in with the chaos somehow, but Amaranthe would be a fool to cross his path. Unfortunately, her superiors order her to hunt him down. Either they have an unprecedented belief in her skills... or someone wants her dead.

Sixteen-year-old Sawyer Satoya-Sabinsky has it all. He's a genius in the wizarding chant language Silversong and the most popular boy in Willard Academy, a prestigious school for aristocratic wizards. He can afford to hex idiots out of his way and choose the prettiest girls. When winds of change sweep over Willard and non-aristocratic students are admitted to study there, Sawyer refuses to accept it. He arranges a resistance movement, but his arrogance rapidly gains him enemies, none more dangerous than the Paraforce, a wizarding terrorist organization whose fighters use Shadowsong, a terrifying chant language that Silversong can't block, no matter how good you are at it. And the Paraforce might not even be Sawyer's greatest challenge - it might be Mia, an eccentric, crippled girl, who poses uncomfortable questions and kindles that aching secret Sawyer thought he had buried forever.