​Commodore Cadoc Andersyn monopolizes the seas and controls all international trade. When the chancellor's accountant uncovers suspicious inventory discrepancies, she is determined to make him pay.

Meanwhile in Gantu, where cruelty is an artform, the murder of an aristocrat results in the deepening oppression of the slaves. Nora joins the slave liberation network to vie for her freedom and a chance to be noticed by Gran Messer Marcus Regá.

And in the forest, Meela, the chief of the healing witches, yields to her secret love for the king’s huntsman, violating the rules of her sapphic order. The effects are now eating her alive, and a witch of purification is pursuing her.

In a society of greed and lust precariously balanced upon the flow of magical purification, every decision impacts others in unexpected ways, and now the rumbles of war approach.