More than two decades have gone by since Imperial Princess Jenna, broken in heart and body, fled her brutal marriageβand the land of her birth. Sheβs since become Ivariel: warrior, priestess of Danu, trainer of elephants, wife and mother. Wiser, stronger, happier, Ivariel has been content to live in her new country, to rest her battered self, and to recover from the trauma of what happened to her when she was barely more than a girl.
But magic has returned to the worldβabruptly and with frightening forceβand Ivariel takes that profound change as a sign that itβs time to keep a promise she made to the sisters she left behind. Ivariel must leave the safety sheβs found and return to face the horrors she fled.
As Ivariel emerges from hiding, she discovers that her vicious brother is now Emperor of Dasnaria, and her much-hated mother, the Dowager Empress Hulda, is aiding him in his reign of terror. Worse, it seems that Huldaβs resurrection of the tainted god Deyrr came about as a direct result of Jennaβs flight long ago.
Itβs up to Ivarielβand the girl she stopped being long agoβto defeat the people who cruelly betrayed her, and to finally liberate her sisters. Determined to cleanse her homeland of the evil that nearly destroyed her, Ivariel at last returns to face the past.