For the Darkborn, sunlight kills. For the Lightborn, darkness is fatal. Living under a centuries-old curse, the Darkborn and the Lightborn share the city of Minhorne, co-existing in an uneasy equilibrium, but never interacting. Lady Telmaine Hearne has been condemned to death for sorcery. She's escaped, but is now bound to her mageborn allies. Meanwhile, her husband, Balthasar, has learned of his family connection to the Shadowborn - and is fighting for survival and sanity as magic turns him against everything he holds dear.