When child soldier Silvie loses her magic and part of her hearing, her life as she knew it is over.

Sent to the far-away canal city of Arteria to be an alchemist's apprentice, she is forced to begin again. Azura, the alchemist's daughter, lives among Arteria's wealthiest and most comfortable. She and Silvie couldn't be more different, and yet the two are drawn to one another, each trapped by the circumstances of their birth.

But Arteria is plagued by the high cost of its magic use: the cadaveri - walking corpses that prey on the living.

When the city comes under unprecedented threat, can Silvie and Azura save it? Do they even want to?

"This is a wild, magical, powerful story. Our queer disabled heroine lives in a world of zombies and witches... Can love, friendship and hope survive in such a place?" - Jess Walton, Stars In Their Eyes