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Matilde of House Svanaten has spent her life in training for when she will ascend the Turasi throne.

If, in a nation balanced on a knife’s edge, she can survive long enough to do so.

With the annual conclave fast approaching, the Houses are jockeying for position, and there are plenty who would not grieve to see Matilde dead before she can inherit. Considered a barbarian because her mother was a nomad from the wild eastern steppes, her reputation also carries the taint of a father executed for treason. With her coronation two years past due, speculation abounds that she is unfit to rule. And now, with the unexpected return of Matilde’s exiled aunt, the increasingly powerful empire to the south look to be massing for an invasion. It is more likely the conclave will bring Matilde an assassin’s tender attentions instead of a suitor’s.

Appearances, however, can be deceptive. Young and untested though she may be, Matilde is more than simply the sum of her parents’ disparate cultures, and the rumours have fallen short of her true capabilities.

The story of an unbreakable young woman, The Binding is a study of what defines us, what binds us, and what sets us free.