On the coldest night of the year, a three-year-old barefoot girl huddled in a street corner, selling matches no one would buy. But the trembling child the world pitied was no ordinary orphan—she was the lost princess of the oldest vampire bloodline, kidnapped and discarded by her own kingdom believes she is dead. Her aunt already wears her , on the edge of freezing to death, the little girl struck her first match—and something ancient woke up inside her. She is brought home to a castle of velvet and shadows, where every smile hides a knife: a false fall from the tower, a trap into werewolf territory, a cup of poisoned the little princess no one wanted is no longer every match she lights, her flame grows—and the court that threw her away as a beggar is about to learn why she is the rightful heir to the didn't come home for charity. She came home for her crown.