Jae is a slave in a dying desert world.
Once verdant with water from a magical Well the land is drying up and no one remembers the magic needed to keep the water flowing. If a new source isn't found soon the people will perish. Jae doesn't mind in a way. By law she is bound by a curse to obey every order given her no matter how vile. At least in death she'll be free.
Elan's family rules the fading realm. He comes to the estate where Jae works searching for the hidden magic needed to replenish the Well but it's Jae who finds it and she who must wield it. Desperate to save his realm Elan begs her to use it to locate the Well.
But why would a slave-abused beaten and treated as less than human-want to save the system that shackles her? Jae would rather see the world burn.
Though revenge clouds her vision she agrees to help if the realm's slaves are freed. Then Elan's father arrives. The ruler's cruelty knows no limits. He is determined that the class system will not change-and that Jae will remain a slave forever.
