A warrior haunted by her past and a tribe facing destruction collide in a searing tale of defiance and redemption.

The raven's cry awakens Rayl from the mists of her broken mind, piercing the veil between madness and memory. As enemy flames devour the Lateri yurts. Rayl moves without thinking, her body remembering what her mind forgot. In the turmoil, she finds Kiri, the queen of the Lateri, and hides her from the attacking wolf people. Together, they flee into the bitter night of the steppe.

Now Rayl must return Kiri to the Askuzai nation, though every step towards the tribe leads them into another danger. The Askuzai khan's towering presence and storm-grey eyes unsettle Rayl in ways her warrior instincts shy away from. With the raven hovering, the Askuzai tribe whisper that she is cursed, dangerous and touched by shadows deeper than their darkest fears. Yet Kiri looks at her as a saviour and the khan's intense gaze follows Rayl through the camp, stirring something in her blood.

The raven circles overhead, its presence both curse and compass, as treachery sneaks among the yurts of the tribe and the khan’s grip on power hangs in the balance. Rayl recognises the signs - the sidelong glances, the hushed conversations that die at her approach. War brews on two fronts: against the enemies at their gates and the traitors within their walls.

But with each dawn, something shifts. The fragments of who Rayl was begin to align with who she must become. She and Kiri, outsiders both, might just find their place in this web of loyalty and deceit - if the past doesn't destroy them first, and if the khan's growing trust in Rayl doesn't prove to be their ultimate undoing.