A dragon and his rider in exile. A human turned into a Shade against her will. Hal, Murtagh, and Thorn, thrust together by fate, now must decide how to pick up the pieces of their lives torn apart by Thea. From tenuous alliances with old enemies and an unstable queendom still in its infancy, Hal and Murtagh must confront an impossible reality. And hope they survive the encounter.

Five years after the war, a young woman suspects that something strange is happening on her peaceful island. Forming an unlikely partnership with Murtagh and Thorn, they'll discover a dark evil that has been brewing in the shadows, and she'll learn a startling truth about herself that could bring the world as she knows it to its knees. [Rated T for language/violence.]