Joan Kaas wakes up seven years after Misery took her. No one can explain why. No one has ever woken up from Misery before. She learns that while she slept, her older sister Seung-ri overthrew a corrupt regime and is now a King, possessing a rare Prodigy-Class Ash talent, all to protect Joan while she slept. Joan doesn't know why she woke up, why she knows things she never learned before Misery took her, what her Ash talent is, or whether or not she's her sister's happy ending or her sister's tragedy. But she knows Seung-ri has a lot of enemies. And those enemies all know that if you want to hurt Seung-ri Kaas, you go after her sister.

The world is at war. The Inks are unbalanced and chaos is descending. When a Darke army begins to seep into the land of Amaria, the spoiled, entitled Asan must take her place in the army to protect her country of Pardu. The country she is to inherit. But after a devastating loss on the field of Atros, she is forced into hiding, with only 2 companions that she can depend upon. She must evade not only the Darke scouts snapping at her heels, but also the schemes of the cunning Morlag, who intends to rip the throne from her hands in her absence, by any means necessary. The wellbeing of the world is in her hands - the time will come when she will have to make a decision; follow her instincts, follow her friends or follow herself. *** Kurhul is an Inkless, a runt without a destiny. He exists only as a mercenary, with no true home or fate. A Fyreborn from the mountains of Urudur, he is an outcast in both his own lands and in Pardu. His only purpose in life - retrieve Asan and bring her to Urudur. Before Morlag can get his hands on her, or before she can get her hands on the throne.