The third book of every series is very important because the fans are actually looking forward to this part if they are impressed with the first two. Even if it is not the concluding part then still the story takes some drastic turns in the third portion. Talia returns to Valdemar after a long time and she thinks that it might be a good time to return to the land because Elspeth has reached the age of marriage.
The queen is also interested to select a proper match for her heir. Meanwhile, something serious is going on in the court and the queen is completely unaware of everything linked to it. Talia at once starts the investigation because she happens to be the one who is most loyal to the queen. The investigation is disturbed when the queen asks Talia to go to Ancar’s realm because the prince of that realm wants to marry Elspeth.
The queen just wanted to know whether the proposal was genuine or not. So Talia goes to that realm and she gets surprised to see the things that were going on in that domain. Mercedes Lackey was superb in Beyond and Hunter but here the author has done a splendid job as well.
Talia seems to be a calm character at the beginning of the story but when she comes to know about the conspiracies and the dark magic at work against her kingdom she gets in trouble. It is her message to the queen, on which the fate of the land depends otherwise it would be all over for everyone. Narrator Christa Lewis has focused on every character individually which is a nice thing to see because it has garnished the story even more.