After entering a royal art competition to save her fading estate, a girl draws the eye of an exiled royal and unwittingly unravels a web of faerie bargains and family secrets in this Cinderella retelling from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Treachery of Swans.

Raised on the idyllic estate of Mayfly Hall, Wish Arvell knows better than to bargain with faeries. But when her father dies and her cruel stepmother begins to threaten the very faeries who bring the estate to life, Wish cuts a bargain with the most dangerous faerie of them all for a chance to enter the king's art competition?the Cinderspell Trials?and win the influential title of Royal Cinderspell.

Wish is a talented Cinderspell herself, able to coax memory and emotion with every brushstroke. The only girl to enter the Trials, the odds are stacked against her?until a mysterious stranger offers assistance. Wish soon discovers that the stranger is none other than Thomas Haunt, the king's exiled brother, rumored to eat girls' hearts. But there is more to Thomas' presence then meets the eye?after centuries of conflict, the king is planning to make peace with the enigmatic Lord of Faerieland, and Thomas?elusive, ill-tempered, following his brother like a lethal shadow?is at the center of the king's plan.

As Wish weaves magic into her art, facing rivals willing to kill for victory, she finds herself drawn to Thomas and his goals. But with the dangerous plots surrounding them both, can she trust him? Wish entered the Trials to save her family's estate?but losing this competition could cost her far more than she ever bargained for.