Though Isabella has managed to sidestep personal disaster with the help of the Duke of the Isles, Valerio, a national disaster still looms over the Kingdom of Dovhain. If it cannot be averted, Isabella can guarantee no one's safety, especially not her own. Her father's numerous other children have recognized the weakness of the crown, and opportunists sharpen their knives in every corner. Isabella must seize the initiative, but aristocratic politics are a raging beast that few can tame. Most that try and fail die.



Isabella knows personally that death is not always so final, and increasingly, her father's becomes the subject of her attention. There is something larger than them all lurking behind the tumult facing Dovhain. Ancient, monstrous, it whispers in the dark. As she delves deeper in, the voices clarify. She hears the conspiracy in the shadows.



Isabella might wish she'd remained deaf to them.