A young knight, surgically augmented by the secretive Council of Magi, discovers a highly placed conspiracy aimed at the heart of the Empire of Terona. Foresworn and forced to choose between his oath and his duty, he flees the capital with the king's infant daughter, the last surviving member of the dynasty. Called a traitor, and with the might of the Empire pursuing him, he must seek friends who can help him to stave the rising darkness at the heart of his home. Against the machinations of the High Houses, the metal-dark magic of the Council of Magi, and against the Empire's enemies, he must keep hope alive. This is the first in a series.

This is the story of Alton: a budding magus, a wizard's apprentice in the service of the Empire of Terona. Swept into a new life in the mad days following the death of the old king, Alton struggles with the fearsome mysteries of magic, faces treacheries small and large, and engineers a betrayal of his own to further his ambitions. But victory, as always, has a cost: a magus does not walk easily among ordinary citizens. Isolated and lonely, he seeks a deeper meaning to his life, and what begins as a petty conflict with brigands leads Alton to discover, to his horror, that the world holds more than he had ever imagined. And all his powers may not be enough to stand against a blasphemy that threatens life itself. The Magus’s Tale is the second book in the Oathbreaker series.