Daria has fled to Orindor. She's left the man she loves to accept a marriage proposal from a man she doesn't, hoping to save the people of Gaia from her tyrant uncle. She needs the forces that Lord Danton Pontefract's hand in marriage will provide, and she's running out of time. Her uncle's army of shadowguard have laid siege to the castle of Valdon--where Stefan resides. Meanwhile, Alexander Del Conte, with Thaddeus and Vera in tow, fights to rally what's left of a broken people in order to lead them in battle against Eris's shadowguard. But Gaia is just a piece of what Eris wants. And if he isn't stopped, he'll turn his armies toward Earth.