I, Irregular

Nephadsvari: First Language. A term used to distinguish those who have magic and those who don't. Meaning "blessed," "godly," "irregular."

The nephadsvari are the protectors of the people. From what is unknown, and Naja Drakea is convinced she isn't one. But even living alone in a cardboard palace can't erase the signs: her magic, however dangerous, and the purple tattoos that scroll across her skin, the ones she's had since birth. She is perfectly content with her life as it is: working at a fabric shop, holding her unpredictable magic in an inescapable grip, and uncontrollably hearing the thoughts of everyone around her. Even regarded as crazy, Naja has never wanted more.

Then they come for her.

Unwilling to leave, Naja uses more magic in a day then she ever has in her life on two nephadsvari who think her unstable. They bring her back unconscious to their mysterious city, where people with magic walk freely and train hard. Trapped between the ocean and a wall of diamond, Naja meets Abem, a man with magic just as dark and dangerous as hers who offers her protection from the prying eyes of curious others.

When people start disappearing from the city, Naja volunteers to join the search party, seeing her chance to escape. However, when Abem becomes one of the missing and leaves behind a message from the god of death, she takes things into her own hands and leads a quest to bring them all back. On the way she faces trials, errors, and the mysterious force the nephadsvari devote their lives protecting the world from, all testing the one thing she insists: she isn't one of them.