Baru Cormorant is 7 years old when the Empire of Masks conquers her home country and irrevocably tears her three-parent family apart. As she grows up, Baru hones her genius to become an accountant, and the empire sends her to a politically fraught country. While she pretends to serve the empire, Baru has one goal in mind, revenge. However, her growing attraction to the Duchess Tain Hu puts her plans for revenge against the empire at risk. This dark political fantasy is the first book in a complex and enthralling trilogy.