Steel is honest. Blood is timeless. The Cycles repeat.
The Grey Army arrives without warning-silent, relentless, and leaves no dead behind. They did not come to conquer. They are here to harvest the Tithe: human lives taken to fuel a magic the world has forgotten.
While the High Marshal fights a hopeless war against an enemy led by a man that cannot exist, Knight Commander Cedrik Theramond is given a single mission: rescue the Queen.
But she is not the ruler the kingdom expects. Hunted by officers and unimaginable horrors who wield the Gift as a weapon, together they uncover the terrifying history of the First Cycle. The Queen must transform from a symbol of peace into a commander of war.
A new debt must be paid with the blood of the innocent.