A
year ago, the March Kingdoms were at peace, the Eddon family held the
throne, and all was right in Southmarch Castle and the north of the
world.
Now the family has been shattered. King Olin Eddon is a prisoner
in a faraway land. Olin's heir Kendrick is dead – slain by treachery and
dark, bloody magic – and Kendrick's younger brother and sister have
barely escaped several attempts on their own lives.
With their father
and brother taken from them, the royal twins Barrick and Briony have
done their best to hold the kingdom together, but now Barrick has been captured in a failed war
against the immortal Twilight People and Briony has been forced to flee
the castle. Everywhere in the north the fierce Twilight People, led by
the ageless warrior-witch Yasammez, hold sway. Old magics are stirring
beneath the ancient castle and behind the Shadowline, and the
machinations of gods, fairies,
and mortals threaten to spread devastation across the entire world.
Meanwhile, the Autarch, the insane god-king of the southern continent,
has set in motion his plan to bring the entire northern world – and most
especially Southmarch Castle – under his sway.
Behind the Shadowline,
Prince Barrick Eddon of Southmarch is lost and spellbound in the land
of the fairies.
Though he has barely begun to uncover the strange secrets of his own
past, Barrick must also solve the mystery of his even stranger
destiny – a destiny which will lead him to places no man has ever gone
and force him to take on a burden even the greatest hero
couldn't bear – preserving the lives of all humans and fairy folk.
As she
flees Southmarch, Princess Briony finds both allies and deadly enemies
in unexpected places far from the land of her birth. In her quest to
survive and win back her family's throne she encounters spies and
murderers, traveling players, and ancient gods.
During their desperate
journeys the twins discover that even a land's rulers may know little
of its true history, and that both families and nations can hide dark
and terrible secrets.
But even if Barrick and Briony survive learning
the astonishing truths at the heart of their own family and of
Southmarch itself, they must still find a way to do the impossible:
they must reclaim their kingdom and rescue their home and people from a
multitude of powerful enemies – from traitors, tyrants, a god-king, and
even from the angry gods themselves.
