An innkeeper's son takes a dead man's armor and weapons, only to find
himself enmeshed in a magical conspiracy. After his life is saved by a
mysterious noblewoman, she promises him answers and more - but Falorn soon
finds himself betrayed and on the run instead, chased by her father and fiance
and other, unknown attackers. Among the dead man's possessions is a mysterious,
otherworldly piece of ivory with an almost-living green lion on it. The card
gives Falorn strength, but also brings him enemies, and it makes him a part of a
mysterious fellowship that he doesn't understand. The key to understanding
- and survival - lies with Sera, the young noblewoman who saved him,
and who he in turn rescues from her abusive family. But Sera vacillates between
loving and secretive, between caring and betrayal - either because of her
own cards or because of her abused childhood. And in a world where Falorn's life
is threatened every day, and in which the card he carries is drawing him into
politics and war, he may not live long enough for her to tell him the
truth.