After returning to Elaeavn from his exile, Galen is caught up in a fight he wants nothing to do with. When Lorst offers him a job that requires he leave the city, he gladly accepts as there’s no role for an assassin in his homeland.

The assignment brings him back into danger, and forces him to reconnect with a woman he’d left behind long ago, leaving him with mixed emotions and Cael with jealousy. Completing the job is only the beginning, and forces a discovery that even those who hired him hadn’t expected.

If he fails, the dangerous Hjan will gain the power of the crystal, but succeeding means that he’s brought deeper into something even his skills haven’t equipped him to face. Galen must use friends old and new to survive, but even that might not be enough to stop the Hjan.

Set during events of Rise of the Elder in The Dark Ability series.