When Ombria's prince, Royce Greve, breathes his last-in palace rooms high above the city-he leaves his young son and mistress at the mercy of his ancient and powerful great-aunt, Domina Pearl. Meanwhile, in a dreamlike underworld peopled by Ombria's ghosts, a sorceress weaves her spells and brews her potions, never revealing her real face-or true heart. And somewhere in between, the struggle to rule the whole of Ombria-both its light and shadows-will rest in the hands of those whose fractured lives align like the lost pieces of a magical puzzle....