Ironhold is a city of black iron walls beneath a starless sky. Once every thirty years, on the Night of the Hunt, antlered riders descend from above and take whoever is found outside a door. This time, the one chained to the Iron Gate as an offering is Princess Linnea — pinned there by her own sister, Sabine, who escapes into the cellar and bolts the hatch behind her.
But when Linnea opens her eyes, she is back thirty days earlier, on the Night of Lanterns. In this night, the king's daughters must walk the great hall and set their lanterns at the feet of the man they choose. Where it rests, they wed. Sabine chooses Sir Lucan, the iron knight and fae-slayer. Linnea walks past lords and captains to the stable door, where a changeling crouches in the straw — silver-haired, grey-eyed, an iron collar around his neck, eating an apple. She sets her lantern at his feet.
