"A fantastic tapestry woven around wholly believable characters."
Fantasy Review

Enter the city of Hart's Hope, ruled by gods that are both powerful and indifferent,
riddled with sorcery and revenge. The city was captured by a rebellious lord,
Palicrovol, who overthrew the cruel king, Nasilee, hated by his people.

Palicrovol, too, was cruel, as befitted a king. He took the true mantle of kinghood
by forcing Asineth, now queen by her father's death, to marry him, raping her to
consummate the marriage. But he was not cruel enough to rule. He let her live
after her humiliation; live to bear a daughter; live to return from exile and retake
the throne of Hart's Hope.

But she, in turn, sent Palicrovol into exile to breed a son who would, in the name
of the gods, take back the kingdom from its cruel queen.

Orson Scott Card, the New York Times best-selling author of Ender's Game, has won several Hugo and Nebula Awards for his works of speculative fiction. He lives with his family in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Stefan Rudnicki has won the highest awards in the narrating industry, including a Grammy Award for production, the 2005 Audie Award for narration, and two AudioFile Earphones Awards. CARRINGTON MACDUFFIE is a recording artist and spoken-word performer whose voice acting has been featured in several independent films. She performs with her pop band, and her one-woman spoken word show has been staged at various venues across the Western United States.