The Lord Regent Gabriel Bathroy is poisoned during The Gathering at the hands of a beguiled Hart. A long battle to save him in a ritual circle ends unhappily with the ritualist, Cap’n, aberrated. Caroline Bathroy quits court, citing fear for her life and her daughter’s.
Robert Mortimer is sworn in as the new Regent, only to be slain alongside Rowena of Hereford and Saul D’Arby on the battlefield the next day at the hands of Vipers waging war over accusations of a ritual being used to send Harts forces into the Plane of Unlife.