Mirage has returned to Coeur d'Or, triumphant in battle, and ready to claim her rightful place as the Amber Empress, and resume her tentative romance with Sunder; but the city's people are afraid and not welcoming, somebody is trying to assassinate her, the previous empress, Severine, is in a coma and not as dead as Mirage would wish, and a distant cousin Gavin d'Ars has turned up with a rival claim to the throne--and in the turmoil all her alliances...

"Since Zilan entered the world of royal alchemists, she has learned firsthand that alchemy comes at a price. She has lost her family and her beloved prince in her search for justice against the evil Empress. All Zilan wants now is to find some way to bring them back. Resurrection is her specialty, after all. In search of Penglai Island, where the infamous myth says life can be fully restored, Zilan starts a new adventure. But Penglai Island has been...