17-year-old Zayla Eldabright is not the devil’s spawn, no matter what Mommy Dearest says. But as the only fire-wielder mysteriously born in 35 years—since the moon goddess Nyxas twisted the power to destroy the sun—it’s hard to plead innocent. Family and foes alike vilify her in the last sunworshipping city, deep underground, where survival hinges on hiding her deadly skill as much avoiding the monsters above.

But when the city’s relic sun-magic starts to die, its protective wards fail, and Nyxas’s moon-spirit breaks in to assassinate Zayla. Blindsided, she’s forced to flee aboveground to the eternal Night—a dark world of guillotine shops, blood bars, and monster prizefights, ruled by the very goddess who marked her for death.

Zayla better learn why Nyxas wants to kill her before she’s caught. But her search for answers leads to an unexpected discovery: her people’s only hope to reignite the sun-magic lies with her uncle, an infamous sorcerer drinking himself away in the Night. Determined to prove she’s more than the fire that brands her, she hunts him down while outfoxing the hunters on her heels.

Zayla must outrace both Nyxas’s hungry beasts and her city’s fading light if she’s to save her home. Succeed, and she might recast herself as the hero. Fail, and she risks losing her dysfunctional family to the Night. Worse, when she uncovers the secret behind her fire’s heritage—a birthright Nyxas stole and will kill her to keep—Zayla must decide what she’s willing to burn to reclaim it. And in a world with more teeth and claws than sunlight, she risks becoming the very monster her mother claims her to be.