Painted Devils

Vanja Schmidt thinks she’s running a simple con: stage a small miracle, collect her lost rubies, and slip out of a quiet hill town before anyone notices. Instead, Hagendorn crowns her a prophet, idols bleed, and a new god rises on a rush of desperate prayers. When the Scarlet Maiden claims Prefect Aspirant Emeric Conrad—Vanja’s not-quite boyfriend—as her midsummer sacrifice, the easy lies end. To save him, the two must work with a caustic retired prefect, cross a principality of slippery merchants, outfox a gilded prince, and pry at the stitches of belief itself.

Painted Devils dances between con and confession, asking what we owe the people we love and what happens when faith is a knife. Expect sharp banter, aching intimacy, a library ghost who demands customer service, and a wild hunt across the night sky. This is a fantasy about power taken, power given, and the power to let go—of lies, of legends, and of family stories that don’t fit anymore.

• YA fantasy readers who love sharp banter, tender romance, and clever magic systems
• Fans of con-artist capers with heart, found family arcs, and haunted libraries
• Listeners who want stories about consent, faith, and unlearning inherited shame

Margaret Owen writes fierce, funny fantasy about feral girls and the soft-hearted disasters who love them. A former campaign staffer and lifelong maker, she is the author of Little Thieves and The Merciful Crow duology. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with cats, art supplies, and an appetite for morally complicated heroines.