To celebrate their first year of marriage, Alistar and Saskia visit his hometown of Rillwater. For Alistar, the trip is a much-needed break from the demands of preparing for Crown Prince Filipp's Grand Exhibition, sure to be the capital's biggest event of the decade. Hopes of a relaxing holiday, however, are dashed when he learns of pirates smuggling contraband materials into their country-materials that could potentially be used to destabilize the mahiy line network that powers Lewarden. When he returns to Lewarden, Alistar learns more troubling news: Lady Sunward, the only surviving leader of a failed coup, has returned. Alistar thwarted the coup's first attempt, and he's called on to do so again. The more he learns of Sunward's intricate plans, though, the more he realizes her web stretches not only from the slums to the upper reaches of the nobility, but even into forgotten myths and lost history. Gathering allies old and new, Alistar and Saskia must stop Sunward before she condemns the entire nation to catastrophe.
