It was never in the cards for Nerina Osanos to become queen. that was a job for her best friend, Evangeline. the “drought of the ocean,” nia remained to be the first and only daughter of the high houses to not develop silverblood abilities. she didn’t allow the scornful title to deter her though. despite her lack of the signature osanos nymph abilities, she was one of the greatest warriors among the noble descendants. Swift as a silk and shrewd as a whisper, nia manages to hold her own in court until the day the little lightning girl shatters the careful balance she worked so hard to protect and upends her entire life. The houses were never in perfect harmony, but under the bastard prince’s rule, norta becomes a divided wasteland of crumbling villages and scheming silvers, all being targeted by the radical and dangerous scarlet guard. without any leverage to defend herself, nia is suddenly thrown into a melting pot of politics threatening to erupt into war. While Nerina’s blood may be silver, she is no stranger to the atrocities that fill the darkness of norta’s shadow. she’s not blind to the strife and corruption of her home, but with no abilities to manipulate her way into power, nia struggles to find her voice in the sea of nobles she lives among. unbeknownst to even herself, she doesn’t need silver status to raise her voice— she just needs a band of unique reds and a certain Red boy with bottle-green eyes to reveal her truth (she does have hidden silver blood abilities, but they are different—more volatile, like a newblood’s: hemokinesis). Book starts at canon plot point of the Corros Prison jailbreak at the Wash, where Nerina and her sister Tirana are imprisoned.