Might an ancient text hold the answers needed to save the man Riparia Dellbane loves, the man who'll hate her if he survives?

That question begins the second of seven books in The Kovenlore Chronicles, an otherworld historical fantasy flavored with women's fiction. Its pages are rich with adventure, romance, suspense, and a diverse cast navigating friendship, love, magic, and the frailties that make saving a nation that much harder.

A healer returned from the wizard city to dystopian Carrdia with two unwelcome companions, Riparia enters Sprawn beneath a driving rain while her past searches for her.

And then it arrives.

Oh how she knows what it is to be haunted. Lacking trust placed Maniff in a tormented coma. And why is Mama's voice in her head asking for the unknown? Mama, who died twenty-eight years ago. Meanwhile, a ghost's words continue to haunt, insisting she'll understand everything "in Meldenphire."

Problem is, as the Keeper's royal figurehead, she isn't going anywhere.

So long an anxious recluse, she's gained a voice, but no one wants to hear it. So often the outsider, she questions, and asks questions, and still lacks answers because wizards don't share.

Might there exist an Old Empire codex with the answers to her questions? Could answers save the man fighting for his life? Might they help save a nation? Does a codex hide in deadly Meldenphire? Would it solve the "special issue" that has frustrated leaders for centuries?

What is she willing to do to answer that question?

Sorceress Crimson knows lies. She wields them with such delicious skill within the walls of Knoss Citadel where death thrives. Scrumptious is the lie that she endowed dear Mazatta with speech. Her enable a crow to speak his mind?

Lethal is the lie that Fermtem won't end her life when it suites his purposes. Sorcerers can't abide a woman with sorcery, especially one who can Calm.

Painful is Uncle's lie of omission, like withholding her origins. Except for the fact that she's the monster who murdered her parents.

A sorceress who doesn't consume lifeforce is condemned to death. What if a different solution existed? What of experiences? What of freedom?

Can she find answers before one of Fermtem's experiments finds her?

Glistenelle Primara knows the heartache of bitter betrayal. Born into wealth and destined to marry well, betraying fate inflicted the cursed seeker gift on her. To protect the family, she accepted an arrangement with the Keepers.

The agreement? Aid them, but spend winters in sophisticated Barnavava. At last, close to remaining in the wizard city all year, manipulative Wizard Argus pulled her back to Carrdia one more time. Must the mission include strange Riparia, the woman who verbally attacked her in Barnavava?

Can she avoid the most honorable man in Carrdia, the man with the power to make her servile, the man who could steal her freedom forever?

Might she, possibly, return to Barnavava before her gift detects that which would change her life forever—or end it?

The fractures in dystopian Carrdia are widening, the rebel Keepers growing irrelevant, and the number of victim's fed to the Dioptric Ministry's crypt vessel increasing. There, within Knoss Citadel, Radru believes himself divine while, in the background, Sorcerer Fermtem prepares to remake Carrdia to suit his needs, or use it to bargain with Kurozum.

While the corrupt government crumbles, magic hating Purists rise, as does a renegade wizard. The ora'ean of Forstava, wizards of Barnavava, and the ancient evil in Kurozum all have parts to play.