The kingdom rejoiced at the fall of Prince Dralor Tovados and the rise of High Priest Naelis. But then came Naelis’s inquisitors, and a tyranny far more insidious. The fallen prince’s black tower should have been toppled in glee. Instead, more loved ones are whisked away in the night, and a terrible ash rises above the tower.

In hiding, and princess no longer, Liraelle Tovados fights with sword and pen to raise an army in a last hope, but the oaths of once-loyal lords are easily forgotten. A gentle old knight is torn between the evils of war and the price of inaction. A forgotten foe finds the past is not easily left behind.

There was a time when Jeld would have died to bleed the kingdom. Now, he must bleed to save it. When this world offers no hope, he searches another. The lost secrets of the Idols are the key to everything, if only Jeld can unravel them.

Bloody trials push strange magics to new limits. Allies turn. Armies fall. A terrible new enemy hides in plain sight. The fate of the world hangs in the balance.