Gareth expected to die today…

Then the enemy vanished, leaving behind a trench of abandoned weapons and a graveyard of dusty helmets. The war is over, but he’s in no mood for a parade.

As a politician and then a soldier, he’s been fighting for change his whole life, but an indecisive victory risks letting everything return to the status quo ante, and already the ruling factions are using the news to consolidate their power. Gareth would rather die.

When he captures the sole remaining enemy soldier, blind and without her spark—the spirit companions people in his world use to communicate—she hints at much greater threats to come and much darker secrets hidden behind the city walls. That information could help Gareth finish the war and tip the political scales in his favor. But there’s more she isn’t telling, so he embarks on a secret mission to penetrate the enemy stronghold and get the answers for himself.

When his enemies find him, they’ll kill him. When his allies find out what he’s planning, they’ll destroy him. He needs to expose the truth before either happens. But the truth is not a solid and unyielding thing. If the answers he finds won’t lead to justice, how far will he go to change them?