As the royal assassin to an evil king, eighteen-year-old Celaena Sardothien must decide what she will fight for--survival, love, or the future of a kingdom.
After she has served a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, Crown Prince Dorian offers eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien her freedom on the condition that she act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.