Faeren is a twisted place... Enessa Valenta is a thief. And not a particularly good one... Known for getting caught, Enessa spends most of her time in a cell in the city of Thorne, paying for her misdeeds. Until she commits a crime like no other. A crime for which there is but one punishment. Framed by a Lord who wants to see her hang, Enessa is facing the end of the rope when a mysterious man offers to take her in, and gives her an opportunity like no other. Steal for him, and she'll never see a noose, or Thorne, again. Get caught, and the Captain will be the least of her problems. Captain Thomas Adcock is probably going to die. He had one simple job: Locate a powerful artifact for the Mad King of the Faeries. Everything was going well until he was robbed and the artifact stolen by a rival King, hidden away in a place he cannot reach. Only one person can help him. When he arrived in Thorne, he wasn't planning on taking in a wayward thief with a foul mouth and distinct lack of morals. No, he wanted to get drunk, get into a senseless fight, and have his body sent back to the King in pieces before he could be executed for failing his mission. But now he's playing babysitter for the last hope his world has. And Gods, does he hate it. The Mad King has a problem. Every one-thousand years, the Magic of Faeren must be replenished, so a new generation of Faeries can be born strong and healthy. The ritual is held by the High King of Faeren on the eve of Midsummer, when the war between the Holly King and the Oak Queen reaches its peak. Failure to complete the ritual results in a thousand-year winter, with Magic-less Faeries and the Holly King taking the throne. Normally, it runs smoothly, but this year, the artifact is missing, and the Mad King is running out of time. After his Captain fails to return the artifact, he begins turning his attention to a new way of replenishing Magic. A much darker way. A way that involves a Connected.