The Midnight Wars had pitted brother and sister against each other, one loyal to a tyrannical emperor and the other fighting to bring about change and peace. After the battles had ceased over eight centuries in the past, a new pair of leaders rose to power, and the Empire of Zalyndrya enjoyed peace for hundreds of years. Within the Empire, families of Travelers roam the land, residing within its borders, but claiming loyalty to none but their own. When entire families are slaughtered in the dead of night, however, Lalasa and Lothan Konistav, the empress and emperor since the end of the wars, are prompted to take action, and their investigation leads them to the world to which Lalasa had banished her brother all those years ago. Politics is a tricky business no matter what world one calls home, and when the political tides shift on Zalyndrya, Lalasa's decision to spare her brother's life returns to haunt her, causing the turmoil to spill over onto Earth. Her investigation takes them to present-day Philadelphia, where they expect to find her brother, Seth, waiting. Instead, they find a letter with few instructions on how to get by in a world vastly different from their own. As they begin to dig deeper, they are caught in a web of deception and murder, and they soon become targets themselves. Their best chance for finding answers lies with a human accountant, her undead bodyguard, and a personal assistant who is just learning that the things that go bump in the night are real. A too-curious head of security, a vampire hunter seeking revenge, and an opportunistic assassin only add to their troubles as they struggle to figure out who they can trust in this strange world of lights and technology