Lord Kael Vorat, Count of Amalay in the northernmost reaches of Kiriador, stands as a reluctant guardian of the Border with the desolate Wastes. But it is not the myriad of dangers in the frontier that haunts his nights; rather, it is the vivid, disturbing dreams of a past that refuses to stay buried. His sleep is tormented by a specter from his adventurous past: a fiery, crimson-haired beauty, an immortal adversary who has relentlessly sought his demise across the years. She is his deadliest dream, a waking nightmare soon to be unleashed.

Her name is Ra’maen, an Et’eliana of terrifying power, and for a decade, her lifeless form has been sealed within the shadowed crypt beneath Castle Vorat as a grim trophy of their lethal dance, her heart pierced by his own hand—and not for the first time. But the enchantments binding her are fading. Soon, she will reawaken, her fury stoked by imprisonment, her desire for their deadly game—and for Kael himself—burning anew.

Yet, even as this inevitable confrontation looms, a more immediate crisis demands Kael’s full attention…