They are not alone. Jingjing must contend with a rival he could never have anticipated, while Xanther must relinquish all she thought she knew as a far greater responsibility is set before her. Light wavers and pomegranates reveal their price as the effects of a great transition start to reverberate around everyone, Shnorhk's efforts to resume playing music cannot escape history's ghosts. Cas, in upstate New York, comes face-to-face with her lifelong nemesis in a candlelit rendezvous that presages the international crisis soon to come. As more lines tangle, Ozgur and Luther brawl with a future that may have chosen them long ago, and Isandorno crosses a line that will force him over the border into a country he has until now steadfastly refused. All the while, a terrible power roaming the world continues to grow...