The Final Strife

In the Wardens' Empire, blood color decides your fate. The red-blooded Embers command and wield blood magic, the blue-blooded Dusters serve them, and the clear-blooded Ghostings have their tongues and hands cut out and are enslaved. Sylah was stolen as a child and raised by rebels to infiltrate the ruling class and end the empire, but the plot collapsed and left her adrift and grief-stricken. When a chance to compete in the deadly trial that selects the empire's next rulers appears, she takes it, hiding her true blood and her true purpose. Her path crosses two other women, and together they begin to pull at the threads holding the whole rotten order together.