Duchess Amelia’s cutthroat “rats” have saved her hometown. But the new crown prince of the Grand Kingdom, Daven Marcus, now drags her along in a vain winter crusade into the wilderness, seeking the origin of the mysterious invaders from the West. Surrounded by the prince’s toadying lackeys and scheming nobility, Amelia has no allies. Her captain, Prentice Ash, is far away in the ruins of Fallenhill. With a handful of mercenaries, Prentice must train the convicts to be soldiers, turning a criminal rabble into a militia for the Duchess. In his dreams, he has a prophetic vision of rats becoming lions, but before the training can even begin, a traitorous baron traps the entire force in a siege. With murderous knights outside the walls and hunger and winter’s cold within, can Prentice somehow turn rats cowering in the ruins into roaring lions? If not, how can Duchess Amelia defend her lands from the venal prince who means to steal the Western Reach out from under her?