In the Southern Realm of the Sentinel, Queen Attiqah of Yorenth has a tenuous grasp on her domain. The fabric of reality is breaking down around them, manifesting as strange, unnatural blights: eternal fires, fog that never dissipates, rivers that have stopped flowing, and other bewildering accounts. The land has a will of its own. Desperate for answers from the Spirits, her court advisors grow restless.

When Kyr ap Sand, a Yoren thief, witnesses this breakdown firsthand on a heist, she finds herself the unlikely catalyst of a journey of intersecting paths, and often reckless adventure. Prince Atlan Solorien, the first Spiritsinger in the Solorien line for several generations, must navigate a web of opposing responsibilities to discover his chosen path–Spiritsinger, king, scholar, or soldier.

Far to the north, Oria of-Cailir is torn between diverging notions of duty and sacrifice, that of Whispess to her clan, and that which her visions have made clear to her. Mothril of-Arcandras finds himself as guard to the Whispess, unwillingly at the center of Wiccar clan politics, despite his inclination to stay in the shadows.

Four disparate strangers, pulled together by threads of both will and something more determined, seek answers about themselves and their place in the world. Not all that is sought will be expected, and perhaps some answers should have stayed locked away.