'Despite Queen Ellyria’s banishment of the Dark Spirit, the dagger of Dresnia has remained lost for over twenty years. The Northern Isles have managed to remain at peace all that time, but Ellyria knows that time is running short. When an old spell is unintentionally activated, she lives in fear of the bargain she struck with the Spirit being brought to fruition.

'When the princesses Lyrien and Milana fall in love with the wrong men, a series of events is set in motion that threatens to fracture the long-held peace within the three kingdoms. Ellyria’s fears look likely to come true. Threats from all sides bring matters to a head. Battle ensues, and lives are lost.

'Can young love, with the help of three women with a gift for magic, and a fourth trapped into committing a crime that could cost her life, be powerful enough to overcome evil from all sides?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Queen Ellyria just wants her sick triplet sons to live, each ruling over a third of the kingdom as their dying father wished. When she finds herself trapped in a deadly bargain with a Dark Spirit, she recruits a band of young mages to help – but a terrible curse takes over. The Dark Spirit befriends her enemies and seduces her friends, and Ellyria soon finds that famine, pestilence, betrayal and bereavement are all in its arsenal. Ellyria unite the elvish and mortal sides of her family and in so doing, save the kingdom? [Publisher's blurb]