The year is 1889. Jesse McCall is a cowboy, running from his past after a bounty was placed on his head for a murder he had no part in. While traveling, Jesse picks up Truth, a small town preacher literally beaten down after standing up to the sheriff. With no where left to turn, the two of them travel north, out towards Utah and away from any danger that might follow them. But Jesse underestimates just how bad people want Truth dead, how harsh the desert can be, and how much his and the preacher's relationship would change on their journey.

To the world he is the Godslayer, the beast who devoured gods and razed kingdoms. To himself he is only Bane, a dragon betrayed and entombed by the man he trusted most: his own rider. Now, centuries later, Bane is dragged back into a mortal shell and bound to a king's command to fight another war. But the rider who once caged him offers a bargain: survive four trials, and be restored to his true form. Freedom, redemption, even love, all whispered on the serpent's tongue. To follow him is to embrace the hate they share, and the ruin it promises. Yet hate runs close to love, and love close to madness. Every trial drags old sins into the light and knots their bond tighter with blood and memory. Together they could unmake empires, or unmake each other first.