The battle is won. A tyrant has been defeated. Now Val Arques must pay the price-in blood.

To keep his word to Roaran, Val surrenders to the Quisnaf who take him as a prized captive to their forbidding city of caves, far from Telor.

As a man in their matriarchal society, Val has no rights. A warrior must always accompany him to protect him. His skill as a bladesman is worth nothing. His only value is his beauty, his precious Caelan blood, and his role as a sire.

But Quisnaf is a city at war, a city of hidden conflicts and dangerous secrets. A city about to explode. When a charismatic warrior restores an ancient order that enslaves men, Val is a pawn in the bloody revolt.

Set up for murder, he is condemned to a mindless existence in the caverns of the sinister blood-keepers. He has no allies. No way out. Even the shunned berserker warrior who has protected him believes him guilty of treachery. All Val has is his formidable will. But in the face of unbearable loss, even that is about to shatter.

Across the sea, Genya's desire for blood magic leads her down a treacherous path which may not only cost her life, but her soul.

The fourth in the enthralling Shadow Sword series takes us into a world of obsession, jealousy and betrayal where only those with the darkest hearts survive