From Aurealis Award–nominated author Devin Madson comes a new sweeping epic fantasy full of dragons, alchemical magic, and forbidden romance that unfolds as three people in a shattered empire become entangled in a looming revolution.
When dragons rage, chaos reigns.
Conquest built the Celes Basin, now enemies once more threaten its borders. But when the Lord Reacher declares himself supreme ruler to enforce unity, old angers erupt, threatening to tear the basin apart from within.
Tesha, a glassblower’s apprentice with a talent for poisonwork, becomes a false tribute bride as part of a desperate political plot. In the Reacher’s court, she’s perfectly placed to sabotage him, but her heart has other plans.
Naili is laundress to an eccentric alchemist, a job that has left her with strange new abilities that are slowly consuming her—and attracting the notice of the city’s underground rulers. With time running out, she’ll have to gain power by any means just to survive, let alone change the world.
And in the desolate Shield Mountains, sharp-shooting dragon rider Ashadi protects the basin from the monsters of The Sands beyond, but when an impossible shot pierces his dragon’s glass scales, he becomes the hunted one.
As chaos sweeps across the land, Tesha, Naili, and Ashadi must fight to survive political enemies, long-buried secrets, and monsters both within and without.
© 2003-2026