Sair Mirk was only the bastard son of a dead guardian until he stole the wrong magic amulet. Now the dragons of Dragon Pass want him as their voice and have sent him to the capital to convince the King of Espar not to build his border towers near the Pass. In order to reach the king, Sair must convince Heir Durrek to take him seriously, a task made more difficult the farther into court politics he, an ungracious errands boy, falls. Alienating the heir seemed like the worst thing he could have done, but in doing so he also stumbled into an assassination plot against the king. Untangling the threat endangers the existence of magic in the world, and Sair is at the heart of it. Now even dragons cannot save him.