The empire of Eirmon Omiir, king of Barr a-Dohn, couldn’t be stronger. Eirmon rules all Aralyn with an iron hand. Meridium, the metal alloy that is both the sour ce and currency of power throughout the world was discovered in Barra-Dohn, and it remains dominant because of it. The family of Eirmon Omiir couldn’t be more fractured. Eirmon cares for little beyond the power of his throne and his own personal pleasure, and the sins of the father have had generational consequences. Eirmon’s son, Kaden, has reaped their bitter harvest. His family is in shambles; a deep divide separating him from both his wife and his son. A series of mysterious visitors begins to converge on Barra-Dohn, and both Eirmon and Kaden face choices that will determine not only the fate of the Omiir family, but the future of the empire they rule.

Kaden Omiir, prince of Barra-Dohn, has survived the collapse of his city and his empire. Now he, along with his family and a small group of other survivors, have chosen to join with the nomadic Amhuru in opposing the Jin Dara, who has satisfied his thirst for vengeance against his family’s ancient enemy but found a new purpose in life – taking all six fragments of the Golden Cord for himself. Kaden and the Amhuru face a difficult choice, whether to break their own laws and risk the perilous trip across the Madri into the Northlands, where they might find aid from their Northland brothers – if they can survive long enough to explain why they have come. Meanwhile, a dangerous seed of treachery is growing in their midst.

The bold attempt on the Jin Dara’s life has failed. Meanwhile, Kaden Omiir and the Amhuru discover that a third fragment of the Golden Cord has been taken by the ferocious Graymir, and a desperate mission is launched to retrieve it, even as revelations about this strange people and their devotion to the mysterious Nekron opens a window into the darkest recesses of the world’s distant past. And yet, as the Jin Dara grows even stronger, betrayal from within threatens the security of the Amhuru as much as all these challenges from without. Will Draagan’s new plan to seek aid from the renegade Jaen’s backfire? Will division lead to the downfall of the Amhuru? Can anything stop the Jin Dara from taking full possession of the Golden Cord?