Released from the wisery school where she failed at every lesson, Zyla Powerbane's melder magic is unbound, and she is shoved onto a horse behind the schoolmaster's pet enforcer.

She has questions; he's not sharing answers.

She thought her role as Master Canderbury's untalented ward was lonely and fraught with tribulations. At least she had been warm, fed, and had a safe place to hide.

So far she was hungry, shivering, and far too close to a man capable of her worst nightmares. Even sleep promised destruction on a monumental scale.

Zyla Powerbane: orphan and outcaste under the care of the School Master of Wisery Towers, she has lived years training as a caster, but she cannot cast more than a tiny flame at her fingertips.

Seguin Duon: the mysterious caster who takes his directions from School Master Canderbury of Wisery Towers. When he walks through the corridors, people step aside, giving far more room than the sway of his dark cloak requires.

Dragons: in two sizes.

The world of Rigaria contains the non-magical, magic casters, and magic melders. It is ruled by a class of casters. Rigaria has been losing magic over the years and has reached a point of destabilization. Some believe this could have been prevented; even more hold the melders responsible.

When a melder child is identified, the child's magic is bound as it is believed melders go mad and burn anything and anyone close to them.

Are melders as lethal as the Caster Council asserts? Do Lynkyn Forests only exist in fairytale imaginings? Can melders create dragons out of thin air? Who will defy the status quo?