Carthenne Rel survived the Hjan attack on the A’ras and has remaining the north, the just place she ever really known. Now she travels to better understand what it means that she’s darkness born.

Stranded by storms inside a dangerous slot city, she’s captured while helping rescue a young girl from slavers. Finding her mystical captor’s agenda pushes her to play his games in order to escape, and then recognize she hasn’t completed with the Hjan. The lessons her captor offers taught might just be the key to defeating them for good while protecting all the north.