What do you do when the life they’ve planned for you feels empty—but the life you imagine could cost you everything?
With three weeks left to earn her heka or be banished, a fifteen-year-old girl uncovers a buried prophecy—and a truth that could bring down the kingdom and cost her the life that makes her feel most alive.
Imani Drake has three weeks left to claim her heka—or be banished from the kingdom forever.
As the daughter of one of The Regent’s most powerful families, she’s expected to inherit her mother’s heka—a supernatural ability that determines purpose, power, and status. Her inheritance as Keeper of Secrets would secure her future, but at the cost of spying on citizens and protecting a monarchy she doesn’t believe in.
Imani refuses to accept a future that feels inauthentic. She wants to earn a heka of her own—one that mirrors the freedom and exhilaration she feels inside the Machine, a forbidden device that immerses her in high-stakes missions and sharpens her instincts.
She’s closer than ever to breaking free—when everything crashes down.
With just three weeks left until her sixteenth birthday—the final deadline to inherit or earn her heka—Imani fails again. Before she can try again, the queen is assassinated, and in the chaos that follows, the king halts all heka assignments.
No more testing. No inheritance. No more chances.
Banishment is now inevitable.
Until she finds another way.
If she can solve the queen’s murder, the king might assign her a heka that reflects the life she’s imagined. But the deeper she digs, the more dangerous the truth becomes—and the more she realizes that what’s at stake is far greater than her own fate.
To survive, Imani must face her fears, trust her instincts, and fight for the life she’s imagined—before it’s too late to live it.
2025 Copyright © Ashley Stewart Boyd, All Rights Reserved