The currents sweep east, but the dead float south. This corpse laden tide carries with it the destinies of a tomb raider, a knight turned captain, and an empire fraying at the seams. A grave robber who dabbles in the alchemical arts, Edmond Mondego has spent the last seven years in search of a God Grave. He hopes to find magic within to relinquish his murdered wife's soul to the land of the living. What he finds instead is an imprisoned goddess stripped of her power but in full possession of divine secrets, including a every five years, one living soul is returned to the Emperor of the Gilded Islands. Meanwhile, the Lord Captain Augustin Mora, newly appointed commander of His Imperial Majesty's Ship Intrepid, guards the forbidden waters for his Emperor. Edmond's profane plundering of a God Grave and the machinations of the admiralty send Augustin on a quest to capture the tomb robber. But an enemy from his past muddies the waters, and Augustin is forced to reunite his old knight's guild and put hand to hilt once again. And so, Edmond sets every ounce of cunning and guile to raise himself through the ranks of nobility, evading Augustin Mora and all manner of assassins; he has only one goal—to convince the Emperor to use the magical boon for his wife's soul, and, failing that, to take the throne for himself.

The crime lords of Carabas don't take kindly to strangers meddling in their affairs. Interfering with the gangs and the guilds of Gamor is the surest way to float south.Edmond is being hunted by the fish-eyed assassin. The killer has been picking off his bravos one bloody death at a time, prompting Edmond to decide the time has come to leave Titan's Folly. Mirastious has the perfect destination in the Godforge-a powerful, magical artifact capable of creating the gods themselves. With the recent kidnapping of Isobella Morecraft—arch hellcatcher—the location of the Godforge is now compromised.But Edmond and Mira aren't the only ones seeking the threshold to the realm of the gods; Sofia Diladrion, and her Roosters are hunting it as well. Augustin and the remaining knights also set out, hired by an old acquaintance - none other than Tristan's sister, and Augustin's old Serenia. Hellcatchers, gangsters, tomb raiders, and alchemists all collide while hunted by cannibals, Signerde pirates, and Nameless Death himself. Will Edmond and Augustin survive the threshold of power, or will the Godforge and its denizens claim their souls as tribute?

Only the reckless and the foolish would attempt to assassinate the god of death. As a tide of vengeful dead sweeps over the Gilded Isles, new alliances must be forged both on the seas and in the depths of the hells. The Godforge is no more. As despair threatens to swallow Edmond, his alliance with the goddess Mirastious is put sorely to the test. Robbed of redemption, the only path left for him is vengeance. But the road to the man who killed his wife brings Edmond face to face with the one who stole his chance to bring her back. The mysterious power of the Betrayed Mother still courses in Augustin's veins as he and the Order of the Honorable Lily are forced to confront the consequences of their actions. The undead army of Nameless Death rises from the deep, and only a journey into the unholy realms of the hells can stop them. A journey so perilous, Edmond and Augustin must put aside their differences if either is to have any hope of returning alive. They must stop this deathless plague at its source. They must kill Death.