The plans of the dark sorcerer Arunis have been thwarted—for now. But the battle for control of the gargantuan ship Chathrand, on which hinges the fate of empires, is far from over. A small band of allies on board, bound together less by trust than by need, must scramble to fight an imperial conspiracy, while the sword-wielding Lady Thasha Isiq and the deckhand Pazel Pathkendle find themselves unwillingly drawn in to Arunis’s shadow games by unexpected secrets. Worst of all, in the belly of the Chathrand there lurks a festering horror, the product of a malevolent power determined to tear down the pillars of the world. Now, as the Chathrand sets course through the vast Ruling Sea—so large it has never been crossed in living memory—the fragile bonds of trust and love between the unlikely allies will be tested to the breaking point as they face unspeakable terrors, unimaginable wonders, and shattering betrayals that dwarf everything that has come before.