Her name was Kimbralin Amaristoth: sister to a cruel brother, daughter of a hateful family. That name she has forsworn: now she is simply Lin, a musician and lyricist of uncommon ability in a land where women are forbidden to answer such callings - a fugitive who must conceal her identity or risk imprisonment and even death.

On the eve of a great festival, Lin learns that an ancient scourge has returned, a pandemic both deadly and unnatural. Long ago, magic was everywhere, rising from artistic expression - from song, from verse, from stories. But in Eivar, forbidden experiments in blood divination unleashed the plague that is remembered as the Red Death. It killed thousands before it was stopped and broke Eivar's connection to the Otherworld from which all enchantment flowed.

The Red Death's return can mean only one thing: someone is spilling innocent blood to master dark magic. Now poets who thought only to gain fame for their songs face a challenge much greater. Galvanised by Valanir Ocune, greatest Seer of the age, Lin and several others set out to reclaim their legacy and reopen the way to the Otherworld - a quest that will test their deepest desires, imperil their lives, and decide the future.