de Midenzi, as well as Aeduan, and Viva Hihari. As the story
picks up, Merik has somehow managed to survive his ship being blown up. He is burned & badly scarred, and ends up back in Nubrevna where some call him the Fury who fights for the weak. Merik truly believes his sister Viva is to blame for what happened to him, his ship, and his crew. Especially since she's
had no regrets in making it known that Merik is too weak to lead their country.

Merik's only real companion is Cam who stayed behind and lived. Merik is an angry character for most of this story. He tries so hard to pin his anger on Viva, that he becomes blinded by his rage. I liked Cam and Merik's relationship. Iliked that he let Cam be who she wanted to be, and made no comments about who she should be. Cam has her own baggage, but Merik never once thinks about leaving her to her own devices.

Meanwhile, Safiya and Vaness find themselves in a similar situation to Merik's. The ship they are on is blown up. They find themselves at the mercy of the Hell-Bards & in the middle of Pirates who are coalescing to form a huge enough force to invade other countries. If that weren't enough, Safiya has to face someone from her past who helped start her entire journey rolling. Safiya's choice in joining Vaness, the Empress of Marstok, and a powerful Ironwitch, has separated her from Iseult. Vaness is the youngest, most powerful Empress