He was not meant to ride dragons. Not until he was willing to bleed for them.

Cyran Orendain and his dragon, Shadelmere, have been branded as outcasts and traitors to the kingdom, with a hefty price placed on their heads. Cyran begins freeing Shadelmere's kin, a crime punishable by death, and this time he goes too far. Not even his dragonknight title and magics can save him.

In the midst of his struggles, Cyran must earn vast amounts of coin—if that were possible in this world—to build a legion to confront the Harrowed and their hordes, or all of Cimeren will fall. He travels to arenas, seeking victories, and must work with the thieves' and merchants' guilds to span a chasm of distrust, deceit, and murder. Only then will he be ready to face the coming dead who yearn for vengeance five centuries in the making. But his legion falls ill, and only one can cure and ready them for battle—a legendary dragon healer, the likes of which Cimeren has not seen in an age.

In the bleak north, Jaslin and her comrades flee the aftermath of the war, hunting the Sky Sea Pearl. If the living are to stand any chance against the coming tide, she must reclaim the pearl, or all dragon bonds will be shattered.

Sirra the Dragon Queen seeks a new mount, a beast who could withstand the armies of the Harrowed. But to find such a creature, she must travel to the ends of the world, to the sky sea and beyond, to where the old gods locked away a monster so terrifying that they bound it for all eternity.

In winter's darkest embrace, the greatest of uncertainties unfolds, and all paths are precarious, each leading to an alternate but inevitable bloody end.