When the dangerous rogue dragon Anya crash lands in an isolated mountain village during a snowstorm, Kiri saves her life. Anya awakens seemingly cured of her madness and in thanks offers to show Kiri the country outside her village. Kiri seizes the opportunity.

At the royal court, Kiri learns that the construction of the Great Mountain Road has opened the way to dangerous magic. One has already been murdered because of it—and with the murderer still on the loose, Kiri realizes Anya may be the next target.

To protect Anya, Kiri begins her own search for the murderer, and for those seeking to profit by harvesting the magic in the mountains. To find the answers, she will have to follow the trail of Pristina Aikaterine, a long-vanished member of a league devoted to the hunting of magical creatures.

Meanwhile, 200 years in the past, Pristina races to prevent a civil war.