The Song of Achilles meets The Power: an astonishing feminist debut fusing the Indian myth of the poison girls with the legend of Alexander the Great Born into poverty in an age of heroes and kings, a future as a courtesan is the best Eka expects in the Magadha Empire. Initiation into the service of the snake goddess gives her a fleeting glimpse of power—until the king discovers Eka's talent for poisons, and demands her services as a vish kanya, or poison girl. Eka and her childhood companion Ira are fed a diet of poison and taught in its arts. And when a young invader sweeps towards their empire in India, they are chosen to infiltrate Alexander the Great's army. In Alexander's court Eka must play a dangerous political game, all while her feelings for Ira unfurl. Raised to do the bidding of one king, and confronted with the power and destruction of another, the fate of a world will rest on the choice she makes.