When Patricia finds a book in her father's restricted library written in her own hand that tells her how she is to die, she manages to save herself. Again. And Again. And--again. Desperate to protect those she loves from a thousand terrible futures she has avoided since her childhood, each fate more terrible than the last, she seeks the truth of the diary with words only she can see. Trained from childhood to become the emperor's ears when he comes of age, Tristan is excited to join one of the few elite of his kind to survive beyond his eighteenth year. Torn between a court of backstabbing nobles and the desire to truly make his mark on history, he meets Patricia. They are forced to both share secrets to save themselves from a grisly fate.