Seventeen-year-old Tessa Ryn wants nothing more than to stay hidden - tucked away in a dusty map tower, sketching forbidden borders and keeping her flare buried deep. But when a strange map surfaces - inked on scaled parchment and glowing with ancient glyphs - Tessa is thrust into a centuries-old conspiracy the empire killed to erase.
The Ashblood Court hunts flareborns like her. The scroll she finds doesn't just record them-it awakens them.
As a forgotten fire stirs beneath the land, Tessa discovers she's one of five heirs tied to dragons long thought extinct. Her name is written in flame. And the empire is prepared to burn kingdoms to keep her silent.
To survive, Tessa must outrun inquisitors, outwit traitors, and unlock a language not spoken in a thousand years: the language of scales. But the scroll isn't just a relic-it's a key. And someone else wants to use it.
Someone who wears her face.