After her mother's death, 17-year-old Eva should have taken over as head of House Darad and commanded its great fleet. Instead, she is then summoned from her tropical home by her long-estranged father to join him in the frozen northern outpost of Winter's Crown. Despite her hatred of the place and her father, the ruins hidden deep in the mountains draw her in. But her need to discover their secrets causes her to accidentally release an imprisoned spirit, a spirit whose only goal is to consume life. And now, with the help of her estranged father, her friends, and an elf prince with secrets, Eva must find a way to destroy the spirit for good. For when she awoke the spirit, she became the unexpected inheritor to a battle over old magic, ancient armies, and the ghost of her dead mother.