Without his Talent to foresee mortal danger, Calypto would have been dead years ago. Now a grizzled agent with The Order, he does whatever is needed to protect a homeland engulfed in a brutal and endless war. Calypto's new mission leads him to the empire's far east to retrieve a naïve recruit with a powerful Talent of her own. His routine assignment, however, takes a deadly turn when he uncovers a group of insurgents who will do anything to stop him. Pursued across the frigid countryside by ruthless killers, Calypto soon learns they may want more than to see him fail, and even his Talent may not be enough to keep him and his headstrong charge alive.