From a New York Times-bestselling author and beloved fantasist comes a new Valdemar tale

For the first time in over thirty years, fan-favorite Vanyel returns to the page!

Herald-Mage Vanyel has been good friends with the acerbic, take-no-prisoners Healer Vixen for quite some time, since they shared a circuit on the Pelagirs Border. He tempers her somewhat prickly demeanor; she has no patience with his Byronic Brooding. They've often run into each other out in the borderlands where he is most needed, and in a crisis, they work together like the proverbial well-oiled machine.

And a crisis is what seems to be occurring, this time in the south, in the unclaimed lands between Valdemar and with Rethwellan. Someone, or several someones, it's not clear yet, is possibly coordinating attacks both physical and magical across the border, but the attacks are seemingly at random, and without rhyme or reason.

Discovering what is truly going on will take as much spycraft as magic, and will need someone who will be welcome without question outside of Valdemar. That is where Vixen comes in: even prickly-tempered Healers are welcome everywhere. This will be the first time they have been paired up for what looks to be a long mission. Can their friendship handle that much close contact? Will they uncover what is really going on in the south?

And what if this is all a trap, designed specifically to trap Vanyel, the most powerful Herald-Mage Valdemar has to protect the Crown?