Picking her battles is a luxury Amber never has. Still reeling from her brutal duel with the Queen of Diamonds, Amber must win over the Assembly. The price of failure? Her own execution and the utter destruction of Emergence. Traditionalist Athanate are calling her an abomination and baying for her Blood. When those who should be her allies attack her, she must bind enemies to her cause.

With time running out to save herself and her House, she must descend into the spirit world, where she has to confront her deepest, darkest fears and understand the horrific truth of her Athanate Bloodline, before rallying her uncertain troops and assaulting the enemy's stronghold in the jungles of Yucatán, the place they call the gate of hell.

She must wield unfamiliar and treacherous weapons, she must use and deny her Blood magic... and make another deal with a Lost God to survive.

The struggle demands her unique combination of talents, but they come with a lethal weakness. Will it claim her, or can she emerge victorious, bloody and unbowed?