Disowned, stripped of her title and banished to a small cabin at the edge of Elverstone,
Siya has been living a lonely life for the past eighteen years. Her only companions are her illegitimate daughter and the injured animals she brings home for her to treat. When an unassuming ghlipon steps into a bear trap and scrambles deeper into the forest Siya takes it upon herself to track her and wrap her most likely broken leg. Even wounded a ghlipon could run miles and this one leads her deeper into Ferranti forest where peril creeps around every corner. The Death Court is more dangerous than any other predator in the entire realm. Six of their fiercest warriors, one of them being their king, find Siya cowering against a tree.