The King's magic vanished in the mist. Ora tumbles back into the life of a settled townswoman. Whatever her feelings, the snow is finally melting... and crime is booming. She turns her eyes to the mountains and spots smoke rising from the Blue Vaults: the home of the elves known as Fates. The Fates are true Strangers to mankind and none are more perilous than the King. Would criminals dare strike at them? And are those sometime allies of mankind faring well? When Ora is hired into the Master of Boat's caravan headed North toward the smoke, the King reports something dark moving through the land. Ora has felt it too -- not only in the King's Halls, but in the distant North where she had a brush with death. It left its mark. But is it coming for her? Yet why attack a Northern courier and Outrider Chief? It makes no sense. But, more and more, her voice shuts down and she struggles to breathe. Soon Ora can feel her life spinning out of her control... and into someone else's.