Camavor is a brutal land with a bloody legacy. Where the empire's knights go, slaughter follows. Kalista seeks to change that. When her young and narcissistic uncle, Viego, becomes king, she vows to temper his destructive instincts, as his loyal confidant, advisor and military general. But her plans are thwarted when an assassin's poisoned blade strikes Viego's wife, Isolde, afflicting her with a malady for which there is no cure.
As Isolde's condition worsens, Viego descends into madness. Kalista makes a desperate gambit : she searches for the long-lost Blessed Isles, rumoured to hold the queen's salvation if only Kalista can find them.
