During a ceremony to determine if she can join the village, sixteen-year-old Deka's blood runs gold, the color of impurity -- and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death. Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki -- near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire's greatest threat.
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