Exhibitor Title

Seventeen-year-old “wave child” Nor has grown up in the shadow of her identical twin sister, Zadie. Due to a childhood accident that left a permanent scar, Nor knows her sister will be chosen as the most beautiful girl in Lakana and sent to marry the Prince of Ilara, while she remains behind in her stilt-legged home, the closest thing to land she’ll ever walk on. Just days before her departure, Zadie is nearly killed by a jellyfish, and Nor is chosen to go in her place. Having grown up listening to tales of Ilara’s wealth and beauty, she is dismayed to discover that her new home is more cave than castle, carved into a mountain and devoid of sunlight. While the Lakani live long, healthy lives, thanks to the blood coral that grows in their waters, the Ilarean royals have grown weak from decades spent in the dark. Nor is kept like a prisoner in the castle by the crown prince, Ceren, who makes it clear that he is only marrying Nor to strengthen the royal bloodlines. While Ceren is busy with an experiment that will allow him to harvest the pearls the Lakani trade for survival, Nor comes to know his younger half-brother, Talin, whose Lakani mother was killed several years ago. As she grows to trust Talin and gathers information within the castle, Nor begins to piece together the puzzle of why her own people continue to grow poorer at the hands of the Ilareans, and the truth behind the queen’s fate. But when Ceren finds the key to strengthening his blood lies within the Lakani themselves, Nor must fight for something far more important than the livelihood of her people: their lives.