'When Robert Douglas wielded the Word, the sorcerer Nash was grievously wounded, his Malachi army destroyed and Elita almost razed to the ground. And while Robert has spent the last five years in hiding, Nash has been draining the lifeblood from magic-users to regain his own powers and to strengthen the unholy Bond that ties the usurper King Selar ever closer to him. Robert, reviled the length and breadth of the land as a sorcerer, has not been idle in his exile: he has been raiding the Guildehalls, repositories of what few texts on magic there are, to find ways to keep the Prophecy from destroying all he holds dear. And Jenn, though kept virtual prisoner by Tiege Eachern, her brutish husband, has had the solace of her son Andrew as he grows ever more in his father's image. But the usurper, King Selar plots to spread his iron rule even further, coveting Mayenne, his brother's kingdom. Eacherns plots to send Andrew from his mother so he can subdue his young, unwilling bride ... and Robert plots to raise an army and free his beloved country from the dual threat of Selar and Nash, the Angel of Darkness.' (Source: Kate Jacoby author website)