The Forelands have enjoyed relative peace in the nine hundred years since the Qirsi Wars, until the stability of the seven kingdoms is shaken by the brutal murder of Lady Brienne of Kentigern, newly betrothed to Lord Tavis of Curgh. Tavis, who is blamed for the crime, has escaped the dungeons of Kentigern and searches the Forelands for his love's killer. But already the Qirsi conspirators who murdered Brienne have taken their campaign of violence and deception to Aneira, Eibithar's hated neighbor, plunging that kingdom into turmoil. Now Tavis's search for redemption takes him into the stronghold of his realm's most bitter enemy.

For the first time in nine centuries, war threatens to engulf all the Forelands. And there are whispers of a new Qirsi threat. A Weaver, they say, is behind the deaths, the betrayals. Nobles who have depended on Qirsi ministers suddenly fear those they have trusted.

If the renegade Qirsi are indeed led by a Weaver, can this powerful sorcerer be found before he conquers the Forelands? And who wields magic potent enough to stop him?