The spectacles perched on sorceress Mara Rand's nose declare her imperfect. Mage society prizes perfection. Though Mara bucks that expectation, it's the mission of her company, Blue Light Mills, to help other mages who want to hide their deficiencies. She spins threads and weaves clothes embedded with spells that conceal their weaknesses. Her most powerful creation, a dress spun with the silk of the fairy spider, lands her in the dungeon, accused of harboring the ancient fairy spinning wheel prophesied to unravel the Republic. When a search of her factory proves fruitless, she's tasked with a new mission: find the spinning wheel or die. As she travels on her quest, she is guarded by Gregor Whitman, an ex-army captain with powers and secrets of his own...ones that could shatter the tentative trust they build between them and send Mara to the gallows of a fairy's prophecy.