The keening sound filled the air once again. It deepened into a crescendo that brought tears to Ileana’s eyes. She covered her mouth to hold back her sobs.

 

Was it happiness or sorrow that filled her chest?

 

She could not tell.

 

Ileana d’Amanova, a highly regarded member of the Guild, has lived most of her life sticking to the shadows. Her career? Obtaining items of utmost value and secrecy for only the highest pay. She is one of the best in her field, mainly because she has never been caught.

 

Until now.

 

Imprisoned by the king’s guard and her life on the line, Ileana is given one last chance to earn her freedom. The king himself seeks her services. And so she is given a choice: take a contract for King Bel and obtain the strangely ambiguous relic for which he so desperately hungers...or refuse him, and spend the rest of her life, or whatever is left of it, in the dungeons.

 

Her choice is easy. Or, at least, she thinks it is at first.

 

For as Ileana embarks on a journey to find the mysterious Ombrian—an ancient book that might just hold the power to pull the very stars from the sky—she realizes that this is a much larger, more ominous scheme than she could have ever imagined. King Bel isn’t the only one seeking the Ombrian and its dark potential. And Ileana finds herself caught in the middle of a centuries long battle of lost power, fallen kingdoms, and a secretive faction of people whose biggest objective is to regain the power that was stolen from them so long ago.

 

She is joined by two duty-sworn knights and a mysterious guide to lead them—Peregrine, a wandering soul that may know far more about the Ombrian’s lost power than he first lets on. 

 

Their journey is one with deep, emotional consequences, and with choices that can either lead toward destruction...or redemption.

 

“It seems that it always comes down to a choice, doesn’t it?” he asked softly.