Deep within the imperial palace at Timbuktu, Amie has suffered a devastating loss. Once the daughter of a prosperous salt merchant Amies life was cruelly overturned in a matter of months. At sixteen, Amie now finds herself disinherited, framed for a scandalous crime, and forced to serve Princess Mariama of Mali. Her father, Emperor Sulyeman, has created a series of impossible trials for his daughters suitors. When they fail, he publicly boils them alive, littering Mariamas path to marriage with ninety-nine corpses.At first, Amies life at court is drudgery--the chores are difficult, the servants despise her, and Princess Mariama is prone to mood swings--but the more she learns about the princesss circumstances, the closer the two girls become. Amie and her intended, Kader, plan to escape Timbuktu and make a new life far away from the shadow of death that has fallen upon the emperors court, but she finds herself increasingly drawn to the princess in ways she doesnt understand.