The Summer Kingdom has fallen to the Pale Queen, and it's Claire's fault. The Winter Kingdom faces destruction, and it's her fault. Her mother is dead. Everything is her fault.

Once the designated assassin for Queen Mab, Claire is now nothing more than a humiliated mortal, haunted by her own failures. Abandoned by her former allies and stripped of her magic, Claire is banished to the Immortal Circus.

In place of this once-vibrant show now stands an empty husk. Performers who should be tethered to it for eternity are leaving, negating Winter's last hold on the Dream. Someone is targeting Winter's power by weakening its contracts--even Claire's own. And it's not hard to guess who's behind it.

Power or no power, contract or no contract, Claire has an obligation to uphold. And with the fate of the worlds hanging in the balance, she takes on the hit she knows will be her last: the Pale Queen.