Carmen is at the top of the class at the Red Assassin School. She is an expert with bladed weapons and poisons, and is perfect at riding the giant black swans that assassins use for their missions. But, in a practice sword fight, her twin brother "accidentally" blinds her in one eye. She continues to train but drops to the bottom of her class. Still, she's sure she'll graduate. Then the nearby emperor is killed by an assassin and his replacement declares war on the assassin school itself. And worst of all Carmen discovers her brother may have betrayed them all on graduation night. In her desperation, she makes a life-altering pact with a dragon to save her school.