Lorness Carol, coming of age in the kingdom of her warlord father, Lord Rafel, aspires to wield magic. But sheś also unknowingly become the obsession of Kragan, an avenging wielder as old as evil itself. Heś waited centuries to find and kill the female prophesied as the only human empowered to destroy him. However, dispatching the kingś assassin, Blade, to Rafelś Keep, ends in treason. For Blade arrives not with a weapon but rather a warning for the woman heś known and loved since he was a child. With a price on his head, Blade fleesás Carol and her family are urged away on their own desperate route of escape. Now, traversing the lawless western borderlands, Carol struggles to understand the uncanny magic she possesses and must learn to master. Though separated, Carol and Blade are still unitedńot only by the darkness pursuing them both but by a quest toward destiny, revenge, and the revelations of an ancient prophecy that signal the ultimate war between good and evil.