What can endure when the cost is unveiled? Trust is a commodity in short supply. Still searching for Ruben and determined not to lose hope, Donovan and Whitman combine forces once more, revealing a pattern neither anticipated. Determined to gleam information about life mages from the source, Whitman leads them deeper into hostile territory even as the Retrievers unite into an army of their own. Ruben continues to learn the joys and challenges of life magic and struggles to understand his place in the new world he is shown. The true threat of blood mages is revealed and war looms overhead even as it is battled