Lorelei Kaskel, a folklorist with a quick temper and an even quicker wit, is on an expedition with

six eccentric nobles in search of a mythical spring of untold power. The king wants to harness

the fabled water source from which magic flows to secure his reign, and Lorelei is determined to

prove herself and to make her dream come true: to become a naturalist, able to travel freely to

faraway lands.

The expedition gets off to a harrowing start when its leader—Lorelei’s beloved mentor—is

murdered in her quarters aboard their ship. The suspects are her five remaining expedition

mates. The only person Lorelei knows must be innocent is her longtime academic rival, the

insufferably gallant and maddeningly beautiful Sylvia von Wolff. Now in charge of the

expedition, Lorelei must find the spring before the murderer strikes again—and a coup begins in

earnest.

But other dangers lurk in the dark: forests that rearrange themselves at night, rivers with

slumbering dragons hiding beneath the water, and shapeshifting beasts out for blood. As Lorelei

and Sylvia grudgingly work together to uncover the truth—and resist their growing feelings for

each other—they discover that their leader had secrets of her own. Secrets that make Lorelei

question whether justice is worth pursuing, and if this kingdom is worth saving at all.