Magic keeps the kingdom of Coronnan peaceful and prosperous. The Commune of Magicians keeps magic under control by combining powers and overwhelming any solitary, or rogue, magician. Dragons are the source of this form of magic. So why is someone killing the dragons? And why has Crown Prince Darville suddenly disappeared?

Journeyman magician Jaylor can't complete a communal spell, but he can work wonders on his own. He is given the journeyman's quest to go see an invisible dragon. How is that supposed to help?

With the help of Brevelan, an outlawed witchwoman, with a mysterious golden wolf at her side and a strangely sentient multi-colored cat for a familiar, he discovers layers of conspiracy that could plunge Coronnan into civil war and murder the crown prince, Jaylor's best friend from childhood. But saving the prince and restoring the crown will cost him Brevelan, the love of his life.