Powered by clockwork and alchemy, populated by humans and shapeshifters, the City of Forest is not what it seems. Behind its majestic structures of stone and steel, the undesirable are stripped bare, and not even a blade of grass can grow.One winter's night, young Charlotte Bellamy is left as the only survivor of a brutal massacre. She carves out a new life for herself as a watch mechanic, but even as time passes, Charlotte cannot escape the attention of a dangerous society within the government. A society which will do anything to protect the status quo.An immortal feline with a sharp tongue, a conflicted police officer running from his past, an assassin as vulnerable as she is formidable - all have a part to play in the web of secrets which slowly begins to unravel. United by Charlotte, their stories come together like cogs in a machine. And from above, an all-knowing eye looks on, counting down the seconds in a way no human can...