Annabelle Raveastre is a knight of Highwyn. She travels the country on assignments from the crown, lending her skills to communities that are too small to employ their own host of knights. She finds herself in Essmore on the trail of an arsonist. Annabelle thinks that Essmore is a miserable little town and finds that its cowering townsfolk want nothing to do with her. Her reputation for violence as a means to an end leaves for a civilian population that isn't exactly eager to work with her. When the arsonist burns down an inn, one of the employees manages to escape. He has his secrets but they don't interest Annabelle. What does interest her is that he has people skills she lacks and also possess seemingly endless motivation to assist her. She has to bend the rules a little if he is to accompany her, but no one pays much mind to her activities anymore. Her track record largely allows her to do as she pleases. Things get more complicated as the chase grows longer. The arsonist enlists an assassin to kill them and teams up with a shapeshifter to expand his reach. Annabelle is not so easily dispatched. Even if she loses her companion, even if she loses everything, she knows that this fight can only come to one end. Even if the whole country burns, she will see him dead.