Exiled from her home, Dana Sinead walks alone. Her friend and savior Dana Raelin is half a world away, leaving Sinead to find her own way. But the forces that nearly killed Sinead have spread their tentacles throughout the world to threaten not just Sinead's life but the survival of her new Clan.

And Raelin's life.

Having left Atalya, Sinead needs to establish herself in Bibine's capital Lior City. Its precarious platforms set over the ever-shifting delta of the Lior River are full of threats. If the river sharks don't reach tentacles up to drag her into a bloody death in the muddy water below, the equally opaque politics of Lior City will destroy her.

For a priestess of the Temple has disappeared and Sinead has no choice but to investigate her loss. If she wants to fit in, to survive, she must find Kunzang quickly. If she fails, the stakes are deadly high for the Delbhana who nearly killed Sinead, who took her eye and crippled her leg, is behind Kunzang's disappearance.

If Sinead can't rescue Kunzang, it's not just her life on the line. The Dana, and especially Raelin, may fall if Sinead can't solve the mystery of the missing Guardian of the Temple of Lior City.