Sleigh lives in a city at the very tops of the age-old valor trees, where babies born defective are taken and delivered to the other defects living on the Surface. When Sleigh’s sister is born one of these 3re-breathing, earthquake-inducing monsters, she follows the transporters to the Surface in secret, desperate to learn what will become of her. There, shediscovers a new world of incredible people she’s instantly drawn to, one man in particular. Everything she’s been taught is a lie. She also 3nds out the Avarice will have her killed if her disappearance is detected, so she’s forced to return to her city after only a brief escape, feeling more like their captive than someone living under their safeguard. Four years later, the stars foretell her sister’s capture and enslavement by centaurs, along with the murder of her beloved, Gabriel. No matter the cost, she’s determined to return to the Surface and do whatever it takes, even offering herself in their place, to prevent both such disasters. If only she’d known what sort of trouble this reckless act would really get her into: putting her at the heart of a prophecy to end human slavery to centaurs, being forced to seek out and wear the lost wings of Hendraya, which makes her the leader in a massive Surface war against a most deadly race of centaurs thought to have gone extinct over a century ago.