Far below the desert, the Earth Dragon slumbers fitfully. From the darkness of her dreams come whispers of war… and death.

The Dragon King is dying, and with him the song that keeps the Earth Dragon from waking. His heir, Sulema, has been brought to Atualon from the desert of the Zeera to take his place. Yet soon her life is in peril, and Sulema and her mother Hafsa Azeina, the dreamshifter, must strike a pact with an old enemy to escape.

Far away, in the forbidden city of Khanbul, the emperor who rules with an iron hand is unaware of a plot to overthrow him. Among the conspirators is Jian, the half-dae prince born of a human mother and a twilight lord. But to challenge the emperor in his stronghold, Jian must secretly raise an army…