AustLit

'How can fire quench fire?

'The Tremen are dying and Kira is in a deadly race against time to save them. Somewhere deep in the Warens’ labyrinth of underground tunnels, lies the answer to a riddle and the cure to Shargh wounds.

'To find it, she must defeat the tunnels’ unmapped darkness and Kest, the blue-eyed, blond-haired Commander of the Protectors. As leader of the force Kasheron established to keep the Tremen safe, Kest is sworn to protect, and everything Kira does puts her at terrible risk.

'As she fights to heal, and he to protect, they join in an uneasy alliance to save the people they love.

'When Kira is made Tremen Leader, the stakes rise even further. The Tremen are riven by division and Kira must fight to stop the Tremen community from breaking apart. Desperate to find the cause of the Shargh attacks and stop the Tremen’s suffering, she goes ever deeper into the Warens’ perilous darkness. Kest searches too, his quest in the sunlit forests above.

'When he and his men make a gruesome discovery, he realizes what drives the Sharghs’ murderous attacks, but then he makes a deadly mistake.

'As Kira learns more of her brutal lineage, she is confronted with the horrifying truth that to save her people, she must lose them forever. Can Kira preserve Kasheron’s legacy of peace and healing? Or will all he fought for be swept away by the violence he fled?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.