After three years in exile Kestra Dallisor has been summoned back to Antora by her father, right-hand man of the seemingly immortal king, Lord Endrick, but she is intercepted and kidnapped by the Coracks who want to use her to get the Olden Blade, which they believe can be used to kill the despot--Simon, one of the rebels with his own grudge against the Dallisors, is assigned to accompany her, but Kestra has her own plans and she does not intend to...

The battle for control of Antora continues, and Simon and Kestra have been forced apart; Kestra is a prisoner in the cursed All Spirits Forest where Loelle wants her to use her growing power to heal the land and bring it back to life, while Simon has been made king of the Halderians, but is surrounded by men whose loyalty is uncertain and who fear his connection to Kestra of the hated Dallisor family, and the evil Lord Endrick.