At seventeen, Mara already knows what her future will hold. She will one day be the Head Caretaker, she will marry the Caller's son, Jonah, and she will never leave the Cade: a small village where everyone has a trade and everything has a purpose, from the petals on a flower to the ashes in the fire pits.
But one day, a small envoy of visitors from the distant Citadel arrives in a flurry of gold and silk. Days later, Mara awakens to a nightmare when Jonah is kidnapped by the visitors from the Citadel.
Time is of the essence, and Mara's only option is to venture across the withered landscape outside of the Cade into a land torn apart by centuries of abuse by its former inhabitants. Because only one thing matters to Mara: getting Jonah back. And she will do whatever it takes to find him, even if that means journeying to the mysterious Citadel with Aiden — the young man who broke her heart.
