In the Kingdom of Sempera, time is money - extracted from the blood, traded in coins, and taxed to the hilt. Wealthy aristocrats like the Gerling family live for centuries, while the commoners struggle to survive. Junes Ember loathes the Gerlings. She and her father were servants at Everless, the Gerlings’ palatial estate, until a fateful accident drove them away. But now, desperate to earn time, Jules returns to Everless amid preparations for the wedding of the youngest Gerling Lord to the Queen’s daughter. Jules soon discovers that Everless holds more temptations - and danger - than she thought possible. Stories from her childhood begin to take on new significance, dragging her into a past she hardly recognises and revealing a tangle of violent secrets that could change her future - and the future if time itself - forever.