Book III of The Wars of Light and Shadow.  The two curse-bound princes, Lysaer and Arithon, are locked in a deepening pattern of enmity and revenge. Tricked once more by his wily half-brother, Lysaer is delighted when his enemy’s warfleet is mysteriously torched in the shipyards of Merior.  Hoping to catch Arithon defenceless, he finds that Merior’s shipyards are destroyed and his prey has vanished. Arithon is now travelling through the treacherous Kelhorn Mountains with the Mad Prophet, Dakar, toward the Vastmark clans, to raise support for his cause. An expensive business – so is it coincidence when the beautiful, headstrong Princess Talith, en route to her husband Lysaer, is captured and held for a vast ransom by a mysterious brigand? Cover art by Janny Wurts.