Synopsis: Gods and Politicians

The king of Reliand is ill and dying. Claiming familial duty, his son and heir Prince Lukas has taken control of the government, in the hopes of maintaining the stability the people of Reliad deserve. The two and a half years since Lukas' rise to power, however, have not been as stable for the magi, a religious and ethnic minority in Reliand. The magi have been rounded up and put into internment camps, and more magi are arrested every day.

Beryn d'Reliand et d'Laecian is a duchess, and the younger half-sister of Prince Lukas - with magi blood from her mother, a minor noblewoman. She knows her position in her brother's regime is precarious, and is grateful for the protection afforded her by her husband, the politically powerful Duke of Lucien. As a still young mother and wife, she would much rather concentrate on running her household than placing herself amid the dangerous politics of her country.

Morlind Sother is Vice Chancellor of Reliand's elected legislature. He has opposed Lukas' policies openly for months, and is hoping to gain support for legislation that would repeal the anti-magi laws and form a more legitimate regency until the King recovers. He travels to Lucien Province in the winter, to win the Duke to his party before the full court assembles in the spring.

The same snowy evening Sother arrives in Lucien, to find not the Duke but the Duchess, another unexpected visitor arrives on Beryn's doorstep: Andira Rictmon, a magi mysteriously escaped from a march through the mountains.