Book excerpt: A thief in debt. A kingdom in crisis. Her arrest could change everything for both. Talented thief and wind-spinner Emerald has been stealing heirlooms to pay her apprentice debt to the master thief. But a chance run-in with her childhood crush, now one Knight Captain Owyn Tramaine, leads to her arrest and the revelation that she is, in fact, Lady Keira Azfarran—the eldest daughter of the noble Azfarran line. With her secret revealed and a new debt to pay to the Kingdom in penance for her crimes, Emerald must find a new way to achieve her dream of freedom. While serving as a royal maid, she is offered an opportunity to pay her debt faster by spying for the throne. But when Emerald discovers a plot against the Queen’s life, the future of the Kingdom is suddenly at stake. Battling her desire to run with her wish to be truly free, Emerald faces a bully from her past, confronts her conflicting emotions for Owyn, and endures the scorn of her family and the courts. But if the Queen’s life is taken, the Kingdom could descend into civil war, making these irritations the least of Emerald’s problems. Emerald must discover who is plotting against the Queen and why before time for both her and the kingdom runs out.