Plague has ravaged the prestigious King's Cavalla of Gernia, decimating
the ranks of both cadets and instructors. Yet Nevare Burvelle has made
an astonishingly robust recovery, defeating his sworn nemesis while in
the throes of the disease and freeing himself--he believes--from the
Speck magic that infected him. And now he is journeying home to
Widevale, anticipating a tender reunion with his beautiful fiancée,
Carsina, and a bright future as a commissioned officer.
But there is no haven in the bosom of his kinfolk, for his nights are
haunted by grim visions of treachery--and his days are tormented by a
strange side-effect of the plague that shames his family and repulses
the lady of his heart. And as the still-potent magic in his blood roars
to life, Nevare realizes a terrible truth: that the enemy who seeks to
destroy everything he loves dwells perhaps not without but within him.