With his Talent to foresee mortal danger, Calypto has cheated death many times. Now a grizzled veteran with The Order, he fights to win victory for his homeland in their bloody war with the Papalate. When his mission to catch a traitor takes an unexpected turn, Calypto finds himself in a secret jail and at the mercy of a sadistic tormentor who wants him to confess to a crime he did not commit. Nearing his breaking point, and with his loyalty to his homeland wavering, Calypto suspects there is more to his incarceration than he previously imagined. The only way to stay alive and learn the truth is to escape, but escape might be exactly what his captors want him to do.