They said he was a cruel and unfair man, that he could never die, and that he had ruled over us for as long as anyone could remember. They said that he made slaves of innocents, that he hunted the magically gifted, and that he named them Cursed for the tears of blood they shed. They said he claimed the ones who lingered, and killed the ones who ran.

Eryn didn’t know why she ran, except that she had promised she would survive. She didn’t know the dangers of his roads, or of the monsters that lurked beyond her imagination. She would never have guessed how much she would lose… or how much she could gain.

Silas didn’t know who he was, except that he was a murderer. Destitute, alone, and imprisoned, he couldn’t grasp the depths of the memories he had forgotten, or understand exactly how much he had lost... or how much he could gain.

It could not have been foretold how his actions would change their lives, or how their lives would change the fate of his.

For nothing was as it would seem in his dark Empire.