A Matter of Blood (Mark of the Least)

Every step from the path leaves another scar...

Nothing terrifies the people of Ballaslav more than a crimson cloak. It marks a blood mage, someone who cuts and even kills for a terrible type of power. Eighteen-year-old Reyna doesn't want to know why there are blood mages walking openly on the streets. She doesn't want to get involved with the ones who have traded their souls for magic. She just wants to get home before someone realizes she should be wearing the red, too.

But when Reyna joins a caravan headed toward her home, she makes friends she can't afford to keep-not with her arms covered in scars. Too bad you can't escape your past when you carry it with you. She arrives home only to discover that one of her mistakes has followed her, threatening her family and friends to bring about another bloody epoch. Now her choices might destroy everyone she loves, unless she can figure out how to leave behind the things she's done and drag her future from the grasp of the blood mages.