Since her abduction as a child, Kacela has learned to be a diplomat and a warrior. She trains with the best and practices politics with the worst. As the royal commander's ward, she returns to her native war camp to strike a deal with her mother's murderers. But revenge is secondary to the ploy for female equality she's bet her life on. When Kacela becomes the first female in the annual, coming-of-age sacrament in over a thousand years, she's pit against hundreds of trained warriors whose aim is to bathe the sacred mountain in her blood. Her survival of thirty-eight days would ensure females are allowed to train, while her death would blot her efforts from history. Kacela quickly learns that despite the straightforward terms of her bargain, battles are never so simple. Especially when her growing relationship with a celebrated general slights his upbringing and threatens to unveil kingdom-shattering secrets. Survive thirty-eight days of bloodshed and create a bastion for equality. Die and condemn all females to lives of servitude.