From the author of the STREET trilogy and The Impostor Prince comes a dark epic fantasy in the tradition of Mark Lawrence and Game of Thrones!

Karl Byren has fallen a long way since his youth in the King's Army. Washed up, reduced to mercenary work and alcoholism, he scrapes out a living as a 'Contractor,' a kind of hired bodyguard for whom the job is more important than his life.

When a new contract falls into his lap, at first it seems like any other... Until it becomes clear he wasn't hired for his skill as a soldier, but for what he unknowingly carries with him.

It's a dangerous trip through the heart of a civil war and into places beyond Byren's wildest imaginations. Everyone knows there's no such thing as magic — but it's starting to get too close for comfort.