As a child, Reba Kotter learns two things: First, spirits can’t be trusted. Second, neither can people. After her mother, cursed by a spirit, is killed by a mob, she grows up to secretly hunt the monstrous spirits in her city.

During one of her hunts, she crosses paths with Cen, a girl bound by a powerful shapeshifting curse. Though the cursed are seen as the evil spawns of spirits, Reba recognizes that all Cen wants… is a cure. When Reba’s suddenly chosen to compete in a trial for acceptance into the Archas Knights—a warrior group sworn to slay spirits, the two’s fates become dangerously intertwined.

Together, Reba and Cen must travel through the Immortal Spring Forest, home to the world’s deadliest spirits—Reba seeking knighthood and Cen seeking the spring that can make her normal again.

On the way, they’re forced into an uneasy alliance with a group of fellow knight candidates, and Reba must conceal Cen’s identity from those bound to destroy her—even as her bonds deepen with both sides. As friendships fracture and loyalties are tested, Reba must decide what kind of knight she wants to be: one who enforces the world’s rules… or one who sees the people underneath their curses.