From a critically acclaimed, UK bestselling author comes a noir romantic fantasy set in a world in which sin is a fatal disease, and the rich hire the poor to carry out their basest instincts-until the forbidden romance between a sinner and a mysterious figure threatens to destroy everything. From critically acclaimed, bestselling author MK Lobb comes a noir romantic fantasy set in a world in which sin is a fatal disease, and the rich hire the poor to carry out their basest instincts-until the forbidden romance between a sinner and a mysterious figure threatens to destroy everything. In Valestadt, anyone can be bought. Every crime-from the smallest infraction to the largest atrocity-leaves its mark in the form of Bloodrot, a wasting disease that slowly eats away at its host. For the poor, sinning is a death sentence. For the rich, it's just another expensive pastime. Talin Keller is a sinner. She relies on nothing and no one-traits that have served her well as right-hand to the holiest man in the city, the Prophet. She gets her hands dirty so the Prophet's can stay clean. And with her Bloodrot rapidly advancing, Talin knows her next job could be her last. But when a routine assignment puts Talin on a collision course with a shadowy figure known as "the Warden," she begins to see a future for herself that doesn't involve a body bag. And if she can get close enough to the Warden, she can trade his capture for her own freedom. The closer Talin gets to the Warden, though, the more she finds herself falling for his sharp edges and twisted sense of justice. And as the lines between saint and sinner begin to blur, Talin finds herself at the center of a conflict that could destroy everything.