For a thousand years, the great city of Sund stood impregnable while its enemy, Maras, remained outside the walls. Then the Marasi harnessed the powers of magic. Erecting an otherworldly bridge whose foundations were rooted in sorcery, the Marasi overran the walls of Sund and threw them down... Now, in the city known as Maras-Sund, magic has been outlawed. Yet there are hcildren being born with raw mahical talent—and there are those who would rally behind them to rebel against their hated overlords. Issel, a young water-seller from the poorest part of the city, possesses the gift for magic. And when he is recognized for his talents, recruited, and trained in the arts, his abilities may hold the key to his people's salvation. Jendre is the eldest daughter of a general under the Sultan of Maras, but she knows her father's rise to power comes at a price—a price commonly paid by the daughters of those who serve the Sultan. She has prepared for the night the Sultan's men take her away to be one of the vanished girls who—if the whispered rumors are true—are used to preserve the magical bridge into Sund upon which rests the fate of the empire. But her fate doe snot lie in oblivion. It lies with the Sultan himself...as his wife. In the coming conflict, bith Issel and Jendre will find themselves swept into the intrigues and machinations of two cultures: one determined to hold on to power and supremacy, the other struggling for survival—and freedom...