Mevraen stai-Charesti is a career civil servant recently appointed to the position of Queen's Sorcerer for the realm of Darthen. He's in charge of regulating the practice of sorcery in the city of Darthis and the realm at large, supervising the use of the dangerous and complex sorcerer's tongue Nhàired, and working closely with Firebearers and other magic-users whose talents are vital to the smooth everyday operation of the city and the Kingdom.

It's prestigious work that takes skill and smarts. There's no question of Mev not being able to handle the job. Yes, he's got some concerns about his predecessor's rather sudden and unexpected demise... but he assumes he'll find out whatever he needs to know about that as he settles into his new job.

Then one afternoon, when on what should be a boring run to pick up a grimoire loaned from the Throne's collection to one of the city's wealthiest sorcerers, Mev stumbles into part of the truth. Now the only question is... will he survive long enough to find out the rest?