Nathan barely finishes burying friends before he must rally a furious, discordant nation around a new empress and stem the tide of holy war. Two prophets fight for the hearts and minds of a desperate, divided populace. The Empire's greedy nobles posture for pride and territory while Traufaumh's priests dither and their inquisitors brutalize from the shadows. Amid all this, the demonic Messengers grow in power, threatening to destroy Doumahr overnight. Nathan struggles to prevent the collapse of everything he's fought to protect. While he stands at the peak of his power, he can’t bludgeon foreign rulers into submission. Saving the world requires him to work with allies he can't trust, who often come with a few skeletons in the closet. He may soon learn that even choosing the lesser evil involves paying a high price, one he may not be willing to pay.