The brilliant detective Ana Dolabra may have finally met her match in the gripping sequel to
The Tainted Cup— from the bestselling author of The Founders Trilogy. In the canton of
Yarrowdale at the very edge of the Empire’s reach an impossible crime has occurred. A
Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—abducted from his quarters while the door and
windows remained locked from the inside in a building whose entrances and exits are all under
constant guard. To solve the case the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial
investigator the great Ana Dolabra. At her side as always is her bemused assistant Dinios
Kol. Before long Ana’s discovered that they’re not investigating a disappearance but a
murder—and that the killing was just the first chess move by an adversary who seems to be able
to pass through warded doors like a ghost and who can predict every one of Ana’s moves as
though they can see the future. Worse still the killer seems to be targeting the
high-security compound known as the Shroud. Here the Empire's greatest minds dissect fallen
Titans to harness the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall the destruction
would be terrible indeed—and the Empire itself will grind to a halt robbed of the magic that
allows its wheels of power to turn. Din has seen Ana solve impossible cases before. But this
time with the stakes higher than ever and Ana seemingly a step behind their adversary at every
turn he fears that his superior has finally met an enemy she can’t defeat.
