Magic is returning. Or so say the old prophesies cobbled from wandering soothsayers, women huffing broken gas lines, and the back of comic tomes. The Evil Empire(TM) of Avar and its perfectly sane, in no way crazy Emperor risks others' life and limb to stop it from coming to pass. Ciara, a black servant into her sixteenth year, finds herself on a quest across the countryside to get the second son and only hope of the severed Ostero line onto his throne. Along the way, she and Aldrin - the rather simple and OH GODS KEEP HIM AWAY FROM ANYTHING SHARP prince - find themselves at the mercy of assassins, witches, traveling historians, killer doctors, and the unblinkers. Can two teens survive an Empire crashing down upon them while a shambling army of corpses waits patiently in the shadows? Will the religious fight for and against magic rip apart the world they all became rather fond of? And just how can a fifteen year old take over a throne dangling precariously over the edge of war?