In Calabar, power flows through ancient bloodlines, and the secrets of the Four Houses rule the unseen. The Secret Peace keeps the balance between order and chaos-but its laws may soon be broken…

Heych Henshaw, a freelancer on the run from a malevolent god, returns to a city she swore never to set foot in again. Drawn by debts and an inheritance of buried names, she’s pulled into the rising tide of conflict between the ancient Houses.

Afem Aba Ye Duop, the Hand of Death, is running out of time. The sole heir to a throne steeped in bone ash and blood, she wants more for herself than to be what her father requires her to become when she turns twenty-one. When her father offers Afem her freedom in exchange for her help, she’s forced to work with the woman she vowed, if she ever laid eyes on again, she would kill.

As the Secret Peace falters and death magic stirs in forbidden places, both women find themselves entangled in a dangerous game of legacy, betrayal, and vengeful gods.