For eight years Caden has been in hiding. Haunted by his past and a promise to never use magic again, he has turned to the sword to make a living. As a mercenary in the mountain city of Kings Keep, he puts his talents to use hunting down the vile monsters that lurk in the shadows. No matter how much time passes, the fire continues to call out to him, urging him to take up his pyromancy once more.

When a group of bandits attack the city, murder a high lord, and ransack his palace, a large reward is offered to anyone willing to track them. Caden and his band of mercenaries, eager for their share of the gold, are the first to respond. This supposedly simple job turns into a desperate battle for survival which forces Caden to reveal his hidden magic. Saving only a few of his friends from death, he returns to the city, uncertain of what will become of him now that the secret is out.

Rumor of his pyromancy spreads quickly, especially among the powerful who drag Caden into a hunt for a creature more deadly than any he’s ever faced. As he stumbles deeper and deeper into the plots of the dominant elite who control the city, Caden begins to unravel a web of terror, and discovers that there is a more sinister evil at the heart of it all.

Though the aftermath of battle has been buried in snow, Caden knows that his fight is far from over. Having rescued his friend Kori from certain death, he must now teach her to wield her new power. But the same magic that saved her life could cost Kori her soul. Together they begin to investigate the remnants of the deathmonger’s evil and attempt to piece together the dark mystery of its origins.

As he begins to untangle the mystery, Caden is called upon to protect the Queen as well as her throne from threats both mortal and magical. Should he succeed, she has promised him everything he could ever want. Should he fail, everything he and his friends have tried to build will come crashing down around them. Unable to refuse, Caden finds himself thrown into the center of Kings Keep’s political war while being hunted by an inexorable shadow.

The pieces are in play and it’s up to Caden to decide, which to watch, which to befriend, and which to dispatch. His life and the lives of his friends hang in the balance. One wrong move, one misstep, one mistake, could spell their doom.

The final book in the Ballad of Sorrows Trilogy, coming soon!