Winter is a young woman who lives with her aunt, uncle and younger sister, working in the kitchens of the Citadel of Willofall. She meets Prince Calix on her eighteenth birthday, who later asks for her hand in marriage. During the celebration of their engagement, a dark stranger arrives to pay his respects. Winter soon learns that the stranger is gathering followers to create an army. A few months later, he returns, demanding the prince's fiancée as ransom, or else he will destroy the world. Little does anyone know, the stranger is none other than the Unholy: the most dangerous being in the world, taking on the form of a man, capable of immediate destruction. Winter offers herself up to him, unaware that the Unholy has feelings for her and a different plan for her future.