The Skeleton King plots to claim the Fifteen Realms for his own. With armies in disarray and the dead not staying down, Avry's healing powers are needed now more than ever. But now her heart-mate, Kerrick, is missing, and Avry fears he's gone forever.

In the far future, humans are connected by a telepathic web that is controlled by the Patternmaster, a man whose sheer mental power has made him the uncontested ruler of humankind. As strong as his mind is, the Patternmaster's body is weakening by the day, and when he dies, his people will descend into anarchy unless a clear successor steps forward. Of the Patternmaster's many children, only two have the potential strength to take the throne. Teray...

"Orphaned as a child, Octavia Leander was doomed to grow up on the streets until Miss Percival saved her and taught her to become a medician. Gifted with incredible powers, the young healer is about to embark on her first mission: visiting suffering cities in the far reaches of the war-scarred realm. But the airship on which she is traveling is plagued by a series of strange and disturbing occurrences, including murder, and Octavia herself is threatened"--...

"Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan absorbs their wounds and diseases into herself. But rather than being honored for her skills, she is hunted. Healers like Avry are accused of spreading the plague that has decimated the Fifteen Realms, leaving the survivors in a state of chaos. Stressed and tired from hiding, Avry is abducted by a band of rogues who, shockingly, value her gift above the golden bounty offered for her capture....