After surviving battle and sorcery, the city of Kydan now faces internal division between native and Hamilayan colonist. Strategos Galys Valera and her allies must forge a new city from the old in time to face the threat of a defeated enemy intent on bloody revenge.Back in the old world, Empress Lerena of Hamilay, flushed with victory over her rivals, finds that she may yet have to go to war to finally secure her place as the most powerful Wielder of the Sefid, the great source of magic that shapes both city and empire.