Echo never questioned the monsters in the woods—or the lies that kept her caged.

Raised in isolation by parents who swore death lurked beyond the boundaries of their forest, Echo has accepted her prison as a sanctuary. When she pursues her skeptical twin into the woods after a violent confrontation with their father—forgetting to don the protective pendant she always wears outside their home—the sisters discover that the beasts their parents warned them of are deadly real and their flight into the forest will likely cost them their lives.

But as the monster lunges, shadows begin to swirl and howl around them. When they disperse, the monster lies broken and whining on the forest floor, a soldier bursts into the clearing to finish it off, and Echo discovers her sister is limp and unconscious in her arms.

When she returns home only to be banished into the very world she fears, Echo's only chance of survival comes from an unlikely witness: Prince Romulus Anastas, heir to the throne her parents taught her to hate. He promises to keep her safe, but as a mysterious blight devours the kingdom’s crops and ancient beasts return from legend, Rom has secret motives of his own. He saw something impossible in those woods that night. Something he can use. 

While fault lines fracture every truth Echo and Rom thought they knew, Echo must seek answers over safety to save herself and everyone she loves.