Evelina belongs to a wingless underclass and endures five miserable years married to Cassian, a supreme pure-blood dragon lord afflicted with an incurable madness curse. While hiding her master craft as an alchemical perfumer, she tolerates Cassian’s frigid neglect, her own child's hostility, and constant harassment from a malicious highborn rival named Octavia.
Following a near-fatal collision, Evelina stages memory loss, burns her marriage contract, and vanishes behind a merchant veil. Operating anonymously, she crafts the only incense capable of soothing the berserk dragon blood, forcing a dying Cassian to desperately beg for healing from the very woman he abandoned.
