One was made to remember.

One was made to forget.

Every autumn the Exalted of the Mountain descend upon their subjects to take their tithe. They call it a blessing yet demand all of the young marked with magic. The children are taken, sealed behind porcelain masks and remade. None have ever returned home.

Tirain’s island rose against the tithe and lost. Now he belongs to the Mountain and they mean to hollow him out and strip him of his name, his memories, his fury. But before the Exalted came, his goddess pressed a gift into his skin: he cannot forget.

Deor is a prince of the Mountain, raised in its grandeur and faith. He believes that what the Mountain takes, it takes to save the world. Until, deep in the stillness of his meditations, something ancient uncoils to meet him and shatters his faith in the old ways.

Two young men on opposite sides of the tithe. Born enemies, they will have to defy the Mountain or break upon it.