Elspeth knows when people are about to die, but can do nothing to stop it. Each time, it starts as an itch in the back of her throat. It builds into a scream that shatters windows... and brings death. She does not know what she is, until she arrives at Ravenswolde. Fresh from a nunnery, with only her faith as a comfort, she is thrust into a world full of murderous intentions and unseen adversaries. In the school's cold corridors, above a haunted wood, students learn the art of murder... seduction... betrayal... to fear and prey upon one another, in training for a future as one of Napoleon's assassins. She has three chances to refuse and resist instruction. Three. The first earns her a warning. The second, a visit with the school's mysterious Professor Hayes. The third... death. Will she choose her faith, or her life?