When a series of dark rituals devastate the fledgling Church of Canta, Jane and Cinzia realise they have ignored the movements in the shadows for too long. With Knot at her side, Cinzia deals with dark beings to fight the greater evil. Meanwhile, Astrid's attempts to elude the Black Matron backfire, and she faces that which she fears above all things: her own past. Winter, in hopes of regaining something of her old life, returns to Pranna to find the village nothing like it used to be. With Urstadt the soldier and Galce the tailor at her side, she must choose how to use her still-growing, all-consuming power--if she can manage to control it at all.