Finding the truth means risking everything.While trying to track down her brother, Sam discovers she isn't through with Marin quite yet. An attack proves that a traitor sympathetic to Marin remains active in the city, but training prevents Sam from finding answers. With the Thelns once more in the city, Elaine doesn't believe Sam should be involved in the search, which means she has to go off on her own. Doing so risks her position at the palace, but any other choice puts her brother in danger. Alec continues his studies and realizes how much he still has to learn at the university. Now that he knows some of the master physickers are also Scribes, he wants answers, but his search places him at odds with someone far more powerful than him. When Sam asks for his help with her quest to find the traitor, Alec has to make a dangerous decision and the fallout will change their lives in the city. Failure means more than another Theln attack upon the city-it means they might lose everything they have discovered about themselves.