Calamitous menace looms over Queen Rejeena and her queen's man Aarvan. Will Queen Tabarana, their corrupt and conflict-proven mortal enemy, be chosen Great Queen of Kriiscon? This danger forces Rejeena to place her name in contention for the position. Can she defeat Tabarana? Rejeena's public stance granting men, now slaves, certain rights gravely undermines her possibilities. Radical, traditional queens, with choices to cast, view her changes as traitorous. Complicating this hazard, a coalition of mainland leaders demands the new great queen join them to discuss male slavery on the island, the men's obvious goal-end it. How can Kriiscon retain her female-dominated culture and still satisfy these leaders, whose aggregate military forces can crush them? During the required travel, Rejeena's guards must maintain diligent vigil against Ishtabarra. The queen's greedy outlaw cousin skulks always in the background, seeking opportunity to slay Rejeena and claim her queenship. Eclipsing all else, the queen's traveling contingent accidentally invades a hundreds-strong enclave of glaalets. Aggressive and territorial, the gigantic legendary monsters threaten to slaughter the entire party. Can Rejeena's queenly influence and Aarvan's fighting ability combine to avert disaster-or will their lives end and all their efforts to save their beloved Kriiscon come to naught on a treacherous snowy mountaintop?