What price on shame? The pawns of the Game of Kings have to answer this question and decide between fear and obedience or bravery and honour. Castle Porphyron hosts the plots of the mighty and the regrets of the low and hides in its most secret chambers the dread secrets of its Master. Meanwhile, the Bloody Hand plays his own games of dominance with the Dragoness that he has enslaved and intends to unleash on hapless Valiri anew, to burn the proud kingdom to ashes. Across both lands, in the camps of friend and foe alike, murder is the rule of the night.
The Horde's war on Valiri continues unabated while Heracleia's lions lie asleep or prove toothless, unwilling or impotent to face the horror of the Bloody Hand. All except one. Diomedes Melas finds himself in a crucible of conflicting loyalties, of shame and dishonour where his very survival is at stake. Can he meet the challenges and defeat his foes or will he lie toothless and shamed on the dirt? The blood stones of Porphyron wait for their Lion to raise his head to the sky and Roar, but to do so, he must first break all chains and do what must be done.