DOES THE USER SHAPE THE POWER, OR DOES THE POWER SHAPE THE USER?

Kaphri is a Highborn, destined by her Birthstar to lead, even if it’s only the last twenty-six Ly Kai refugees who cower in the tower of Kryie Karth, and even though they have never disguised their unexplained animosity toward her. On the night she is to walk the Paths of Power and gain full access to her starpower, their anger and resentment finally explode in the revelation that her whole life is a lie.

Terrified she is destined for evil, Kaphri vows never to use her starpower again and flees out into an alien world with her tiny dragon companion, Gemma.

But this may not be the best time for her to abandon her only means of defense. The Ly Kai people do not belong to this world and their previous leader, Araxis, did terrible things to prepare it for their arrival. Now its residents want revenge.

When three Geffitz warriors capture her, they believe they have the key to set things right. She doesn’t dare tell them she may be the opposite: the means for Araxis to restore his power and renew his reign of terror.     

With the help of her Geffitzi captors and Gemma, Kaphri has evaded Araxis’ evil plan to use her to restore his power, but now they are trapped on the southern side of the barrier with two new warriors, blood enemies to her own companions.

The compulsion to move southward still holds her in its unmerciful grasp, so bargains must be made and truces struck for them to move forward.

Araxis, however, is only the newest threat to this world. The Eldren, powerful ancient beings who dwell in the south, see a greater, more horrifying enemy re-emerging and they are determined to have their say in what happens next. Uncompromising and aloof, they do not consider any other issue worthy of their attention, especially if it involves the bothersome Geffitzi.

While the warriors fight for a place in the upcoming battle to reclaim their homelands, Kaphri struggles to understand and accept how much her own presence on this world threatens the survival of the things she has come to love.

She may not be the savior the Geffitzi need.

Frax warned Kaphri about the Eldren—how the ancient races did not think the same as the Kep’s Second Children. Now their troop walks a razor’s edge as Frax tries to fend off the Grimmenwood’s desire for their blood and Kaphri struggles to master her starpower under Seuliac’s supervision. The Grimmen has stolen Tobin, Gemma remains locked away in the Guardian Crystal, Uri is frustrated with Frax’s decisions, and Velacy burns with ambition at Seuliac’s control of Kaphri.

As Araxis and his Balandran forces loom closer, manipulation by ancient powers has created a misunderstanding of intent and the heart between Kaphri and Frax, and even the Grimmen has no control over some of the creatures that dwell in its realm.