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Having heard Gudrum’s threats and Alys’ warnings, Reinar is desperate to head South, back to his family. Though he must be patient. His army is far behind him, and Reinar knows he’ll need every pair of hands to get their fleet back home. Waiting with his brother, Sigurd is looking forward to his reunion with Raf, unaware that she is now with Gudrum. And though Raf didn’t return to Gudrum willingly, she is still struggling, unable to decide where her true loyalties lie.

With her brother-in-law imprisoned behind enemy lines, Kari must mount a daring rescue to rival her previous forays to Mehr'Durillia. The problem is, the battles she's fought in recent weeks have left her in no condition to go anywhere....

The Following is closing in. Jael’s desperation to save Eadmund from Evaine’s spell leads her back to the place of her nightmares, where she quickly discovers that she is trapped. In Hest, Jaeger is hungry for power and vengeance, making an enemy of Berard, who is forced to confront the truth of what his brother has become as he tries to save Meena from Jaeger’s clutches. Determined to exact his long-dreamed-of revenge, Ivaar plots his return to Oss to destroy Eadmund and capture the throne at last.

Ancient powers are waking. The war with the Wasp Empire has ended in a bitter stalemate, and Collegium has nothing to show for it but wounded veterans. Cheerwell Maker finds herself broken in ways no doctor can mend, haunted by ghosts of the past. Meanwhile, the powerful Wasp Empress is regaining control over those imperial cities that refused to bow to her.