The Grand Magus is dead. Under the watchful eye of the Arbiter of Succession, seven archmagi have been granted one of the powers of the Grand Magus, which they will use to battle to the death in a ritual as ancient as it is secret. But when the Arbiter is murdered, the Successors plunge the world into a devastating war. Running for his life, Tamlin, once an apprentice mage, meets a mysterious traveller who may hold the key to ending the conflict...and who carries a secret that will shake the Order of Archmagi to its foundations.