After the upheaval in Crescent City, Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar are hoping to slow down and work out what comes next. They have made a pact to keep their relationship platonic until the Winter Solstice, even as a crackling tension remains between them.

A rebel cause and a dangerous choice

The Asteri have so far left Bryce and Hunt alone, but the rebels are chipping away at the rulers’ power, and the threat the Asteri pose is growing. As Bryce, Hunt, and their friends are drawn into the rebels’ plans, they must choose whether to stay silent while others are oppressed or to fight.

The second Crescent City novel

As the second book in Crescent City and a sequel to House of Earth and Blood, the novel brings the relationship between Bryce and Hunt into a wider struggle over power and resistance. Its premise combines romantic tension with a fast-moving fantasy conflict, without resolving the choice its characters face in advance.