Part I of Book 5 in the Children of the Sands series! (Split in two print volumes for readability; ebook is both parts.)

A ubiquitous southern saying: "Everyone serves, in the end".

Another: "The teyanain are involved, eventually, in everything."

People rarely consider how those two statements overlap....

The Agreement, that ancient compact between humanity and ha'reye, has kept the southlands relatively stable and peaceful for hundreds of years. But as humans tend to rebel against serving invisible masters and maneuver to subvert service to visible ones, the Agreement has been fraying for a long time.

All it needed was someone obsessed with uncovering an elusive truth to break it completely. Men like Cafad Scratha and Allonin Aerthraim. A First Born ha'ra'ha like Deiq of Stass. A younger ha'ra'ha like Idisio. And women like Lord Alyea Peysimun, Lord Azaniari Aerthraim-Darden, and Riss of Obein. All bring their own overlapping secrets, truths, and fears to the unfolding disaster.

Then the teyanain's internal battles and beliefs spill from shadow to stark light ... the final push on an already teetering pillar.

The time for secrets is over, and the world will never be the same.