Handler Apprentice Alex Croft is invited by Sunniva, the Council's Head Healer, to accompany her on a journey across the Realms as she seeks out an exiled Voror. Along the way, Alex encounters old friends, new enemies, and discovers a growing attraction to the hauntingly beautiful Niobe of Ryncheon. Yet the threat of Belial of Rastaban's forces shadows their every move as they race to uncover a truth that many have desired to conceal - a truth Rastaban has killed for in order to obtain. Past grievances come to seek vengeance as Rastaban's rebels seek to set up their own regime. And the only way Alex can hope to stop them is to make the ultimate sacrifice. In this second installment of "The Guardian Trilogy," Alex Croft learns what it means to fulfill his destiny as a Guardian, which may cost him everything.