In the city of Nostra, the dead can speak.
They can even testify at their own murder trials. And, if a murderer is convicted, the victim can be brought back to life-at the expense of the murderer's life. Briar killed a boy over a loaf of bread, but that's not her biggest problem...yet. A child in her care, Kody, has gone missing, and she is determined to find him. Larissa is an assistant to one of the city's advocates at the courthouse. When she overhears a conversation between her father (who is a city judge) and a knife-wielding man about a strange purchase, she dismisses it at first. But the next day, she stumbles upon a little boy concealed in a storeroom. He says his name is Kody. Havra wishes the dead would leave her alone. In the temple, most priests and priestesses train for years to hold their breath long enough to see spirits. But Havra was born Breathless, meaning she does not need to breathe. She is in constant communication with the dead. Her most important duty is testifying for spirits at murder trials, recounting their stories of how they were killed for the judges to hear. When a teenage boy, Seth, asks her to testify for him against his killer, a girl named Briar, Havra agrees to help. While Larissa works to uncover the truth about Kody's situation, and how it may be connected to the temple, Briar and Havra stand on opposite sides of the courtroom. If Briar is convicted, she will be executed, and Seth will be resurrected. Everyone wants to see justice carried out, but justice may not mean the same thing to each of them.
