The government of Dabion is run by judges, schemers, and spies. Elzith Kar is a discarded spy, marked with identifying scars, yet unable to escape the grasp of her government. As she settles uncomfortably into life as a civilian, she rents a room from Tod Redtanner. Tod is a bookbinder, haunted by conflicts with his estranged family and prophetic dreams he had as a child, and he is taken with Elzith’s mystery and silence. When his cottage is targeted with a spell cast by a strange intruder, Tod is drawn into Elzith’s world. Tod is warned that with Elzith in his house, he may be in danger. Elzith has enemies—and weaknesses—that neither of them are prepared to face.

Jereth Paloman is a judge from a backwater district with a failed career, and he has illegally obtained books of philosophy from the distant country Biora. Bioran learning is in vogue in Dabion, and Jereth suddenly becomes a respected authority. He gains the favor of Varzin, a high-ranking judge in Dabion’s government. Varzin is interested in far more than Bioran learning, though. By employing Tod to bind books for Jereth, Varzin manipulates the unwitting judge into Tod’s confidence, and as Jereth moves closer to Tod, he moves closer to Elzith.

Meanwhile, Tod tries to gain Elzith’s trust. His motives are innocent. He senses that Elzith is torn by pain and guilt that she has never been able to release, and he wants to help her. Elzith knows he is sincere. Her powers of observation are not merely the skills of a spy; they derive from magic and a forgotten birthplace in the distant and obscured land of Sor’rai. She can reach into minds to read truth, and to kill. Against her better judgment, she begins to confide in Tod.

Confidence becomes Elzith's consolation, and it becomes her downfall, as Tod grows nearer and Varzin begins to close in.

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cover by John Jude Palencar