Introduction: Valera Drake has spent her life surviving in the shadows, stealing to stay alive, and avoiding the cruel grasp of those who would turn her in for a pretty penny. But when she steals something important to the king and crosses paths with Osric Fenrir, a Phantom Guild assassin, her life changes. Secrets long buried claw their way to the surface. A kingdom hungers for power. And Valera, bound by something not even she can comprehend, is caught between those who would help her... and those who would rather see her dead....