Reddix has managed to hide her new skill with shadows, but a force within is threatening to break free. Perhaps now that she has mastered Light, it has come time for her to do the same with her darkness.

Meanwhile, Hamlin is growing more tired of the "hero tale" that the nitwits of the Academy like to tell about the looming war. The itch to search for the truth will soon lead him to new adventures and absurdly painful discoveries. Whether he wants it or not, he will unravel all the threads behind the place he's decided to serve—a decision that reeks more like a dead rat with each passing day.

A chasm had opened in Reddix's hometown, and whether it's greed or something darker that beckons her, she knows she must return to face what she left behind. The place she feared most now seemed to guard the greatest treasure. If only her courage would prove enough.