When a fledgling vampire arrives at Woolworth House searching for his maker, Grier is forced to relive her time in Atramentous. Most of those years are as dark and empty in her memory as she was in her cell. She can't remember her progeny, or the night she resuscitated him, but she can protect him from the Society. As long as she's willing to barter with her grandfather to do it. But Lacroix has plans of his own. He envisions the city—her city—under his rule, and Grier under his thumb. Now all he needs is the right leverage to force her cooperation, and he has just the person in mind. Grier is ready to trade her freedom until a grim truth is revealed that splits her heart in two. Yet another person she loves has betrayed her, and Grier is left agonizing over how much of their relationship is real and how much was a lie.