The god-like Idols are dead. Ascended, some say, but they’d done nothing to protect Jeld anyway. Not from his father, who’d thrown him to the streets. Not from the black prince, whose oppression made life hell there. But those who broke him had at least given him the tools to survive. From enduring his father, an unnatural ability to glimpse truth beyond a man’s eyes. From the prince, a reason to survive: vengeance.

But it will take more than surviving to put a blade through the most powerful man in the kingdom. Armed with newfound magic and a talent for deception, Jeld must transform from street urchin to lordling, uncovering the secrets of the lost Idols along the way.

Yet, hatred is a blade that cuts both ways. An unlikely love cracks the darkness in Jeld’s heart, leaving him to question everything he believes. Allies and enemies blur, and he finds himself at the center of a plot to tear apart the realm. When the time comes, Jeld must decide: will he fight to save a kingdom he owes no favors-or reduce it to ashes exacting his revenge?