Welcome to the Holy City at Summer's End. The border with the Otherworld is razor thin. Shadowfest is coming. Malevolent spirits and monsters roam. Dark forces are plotting to seize power. The past has come back to haunt Brona the Apothecary and Aurelian the Investigator. Revenge can be a double-edged sword, as Morven the Mage once discovered. And Death may be the least of their worries ... Brona the Apothecary is a suspect. Someone has murdered a Temple Guard in the Holy City. Someone who looks like her. She sets out to hunt down the culprit. It's nine days till Shadowfest - the Night of the Spirits. Not the best time to be tracking a malevolent ghost. But who can match her secret powers in a City where Mages are banned? Aurelian the Investigator has his own powers. He's determined to rid the City of murderers, evil spirits - and Mages. On the same date nine years earlier, young Morven was forced to flee the Mages' Citadel. She longed for revenge. But it would come at a terrible price. Cassian also has a secret Mage identity in the Holy City. He is using dark sorcery to summon evil spirits and monsters. At Shadowfest, he will bid for supreme power and immortality. Brona is facing death. But that's not the worst of it. She may have to call on someone for help. Someone she hoped never to hear from again ...