The monsters don’t hunt North Hill. Not where the lights never go out. Not where the streets glitter with emerald warding gems. But in the alleys of the lower city, children vanish, screams echo, and blood slicks the cobblestones. Conell knows—he’s seen the price of darkness firsthand as a child of the slums. Riona, meanwhile, safe behind a wealth of green gems, turns mangler fangs into ornaments for the wealthy, an openly detestable enterprise but secretly the talk of the town. Unfortunately, her supplies are running low, if only she could find some poor soul to risk life and limb to stock her lucrative endeavor.