Solitary and reclusive since the murder of his closest friend and ally, Lord Nicholas Gray, Hawk Huntersmoon, Lord of the Shape-shifting Hunter clan, keeps to his lands in the southern province of the Rivenden borderlands. But a distress call from the Queen of Gaunt herself propels Hawk back into the long-simmering tensions between the Two Kingdoms. Farallon Sibelle, Lady Tirat, a member of the Queen's personal guard, dispatched from the warrior-monks of the Aegis Garnet Guard, has seen much of the war in her young life. Charged with a suicide mission, Farallon's party is attacked and left for dead, with only Lord Hawk to depend upon to aid her quest. Confronted by the secrets of his past, Hawk's only recourse is to bring Farallon—and their charge—back safely. But will his redemption come too late? Or will he pay for his past sins the only way he knows how—by his own blood, at his own hand—making this mission his last?