Having fled Balosh and the assassin Harold Red Hand for the safety of the Hidden Kingdom, Nameless settles into the Academy to catch up on his studies before the other students return for autumn classes. But things don't go as smoothly as he hoped. No one knows what skills he will develop or when but his new friends are prepared to help where they can even though his rising power proves unexpected and hard to control. While Nameless learns to trust those around him and struggles with his new identity as someone other than the Prince's assistant, he stumbles into plots and political machinations in both the Hidden Kingdom and Beyond. Suddenly lessons are the least of his worries.