In a world in which magic is almost always dangerous and out of control, having Silverblood in your veins is against the laws of the kingdom and Guild. For years, the royal family and the Guild of Magic Control have been two separate but equally powerful entities, which has caused tension in the past of one overstepping the authority of the other. Silverbloods (people who are discovered to have magic inside them) are hunted down, captured, and held by the Guild for the good of everyone.

One day, formerly homeless kitchen worker Everin wakes to a dreaded discovery: she’s one of the dangerous ones. What’s more, the Guild has arrived at the castle and apparently set fire to the area from finding this infestation of magic.

Prince Alaric, youngest of the three heirs to the crown, meets Everin for the first time, and he explains that he has been watching her before today. The two of them both have Silverblood (likely causing such a strong response from the Guild’s detection meters), and he says the Guild has slit the throats of his parents and eldest brother in their zealotry.

After Alaric shows Everin their possible only hope, an ancient book with a spell to hide their Silverblood nature in it, they flee the castle together to find missing pages torn from its binding.

The two travel across the kingdom, stopping at various cities and villages in search of the two missing pages of the ritual. As they ride, they are nearly caught in the woods by the Guild’s hunters. Everin uses her magic to save them, but ends up inadvertently killing many of the hunters on their tail. She is haunted by this. Will her Silverblood magic will drive her to madness if she uses it too much?

Throughout this time, Alaric hints that he thinks Everin is attractive and might have feelings for her. But as a peasant girl born into poverty, Everin feels the differences between her and Alaric are too stark to overcome. Despite this, the two share a kiss at a festival while being hunted by the Guild. They wear masks to disguise themselves, pretending they are only two young festival attendees in love.

They don’t have much luck finding the missing pages until they reach the capital. Everin goes by herself to ask a rare books shop for the pages, but the shop worker acts strangely to her written request. He gives her two papers, one clearly torn from their ancient book and the other a handwritten note. Everin can’t read and considers that the worker might be taunting her for her illiteracy. However, she doesn’t show Alaric the handwritten note.

The two share a night together before attempting the first part of the ritual detailed in the page. After, they are nearly caught by the Guild’s hunters again. During the chase, Everin finds that the first part of the ritual seems to have worked, and she can’t manage to use her magic. Alaric saves them instead, causing terrible destruction throughout the area and killing several people, including at least one innocent. In the wake of this, Everin separates from Alaric and her horse.

As she processes what they’ve done and hides from the hunters scouring the woods for her, she discovers the page from the rare books collector is a note to her to teach her how to read. Using her new ability and a wanted notice of her, Everin discovers that the public doesn’t know Alaric has Silverblood and thinks that Everin has captured the prince. Something doesn’t add up.

Everin and Alaric meet up in the woods again and briefly form a plan. Alaric’s surviving brother, Aleksander, is hunting Everin on behalf of the Guild. Alaric says he is prejudiced against Silverbloods and would kill Alaric if he found out he was one. Thus, they craft a fake hostage situation so that Prince Aleksander lets Everin and Alaric go.

During this time, Everin has decided she will protect Alaric’s Silverblood secret even after they both stifle the magic from their blood, preserving the idea that she was the villain and his captor. This shatters the earlier possibility that they could have a future together. This way, the kingdom need never know that one of its princes had cursed magic.

Everin’s plan is to part ways with Alaric after the full ritual and hide her true identity for the rest of her days.

The two arrive at the burnt castle where Alaric has suggested the last page might remain, but Everin feels his behavior is off. He leads them upstairs to his father’s study, and he suggests she look for a hidden compartment where the last page might remain. Everin peeks out a window and sees smoke in the distance, suggesting the Guild might already be on their way.

Alaric is preparing for the ritual already, and she discovers there is no second page. Using her new—although weak—ability to read, she sees that the ritual is not what she thought it was.

Prince Alaric is intending to sacrifice Everin’s life to steal her Silverblood magic for himself. He already stole most of it from her, in fact. Before he can kill her to make this permanent, Everin slices open his throat, spilling the stolen Silver and taking back her cursed magic.

In the epilogue, soon-to-be King Aleksander has already found Alaric’s mangled body and is out for revenge on the Silverblood monster who took his younger brother from him.