Tania de Batz is most herself with a sword in her hand.
Everyone in town thinks her near-constant dizziness makes her weak, nothing but “a sick girl.” But Tania wants to be strong, independent, a fencer like her father—a former Musketeer and her greatest champion.
Then Papa is brutally, mysteriously murdered. His dying wish? For Tania to attend finishing school. But L’Académie des Mariées, Tania realizes, is no finishing school.
It’s a secret training ground for new Musketeers: women who are socialites on the surface but strap daggers under their skirts, seduce men into giving up dangerous secrets, and protect France from downfall. And they don’t shy away from a sword fight.
With her newfound sisters at her side, Tania feels that she has a purpose, that she belongs. But then she meets Étienne, her target in uncovering a potential assassination plot. He’s kind and charming, and he might have information about what really happened to her father.
Torn between duty and dizzying emotion, Tania will have to decide where her loyalties lie … or risk losing everything she’s ever wanted.
This debut novel is a fierce, whirlwind adventure about the depth of found family, the strength that goes beyond the body, and the determination it takes to fight for what you love. Includes an author’s note about her personal experience with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome.
“A thrilling mystery from start to finish … Lainoff is a fierce new talent to watch out for.”—Kerri Maniscalco, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Kingdom of the Wicked