Sacrifice. The single act capable of bringing both death and life simultaneously. Thannuel Kerr is handsome, young and brash, fumbling through childhood toward his inevitable inheritance: the next Lord of the Western Province. He struggles to accept his arranged marriage and to grow into the man he must become. The journey toward that end, however, is fraught with more peril than he could possibly imagine. In the remote reaches of the Realm, an unknown, silent threat is growing. The Thoulden-sha of Mari-shaden is gathering his disciples, those who have relinquished their bloodlines to the Ancients and embraced Those Not Remembered, a forgotten race that inhabited V�leira long before the Age of the Ancients. As Thannuel learns more about his heritage, he begins to understand why powers that seem greater than anything the world of V�leira has ever seen are targeting him. As a young man, he and his beloved intended, Moira, will face assassination attempts, civil war, and foreign invasions that could tear the Realm-and V�leira itself-apart. Sacrifice. It is what the Thoulden-sha demands. It is what the world desperately needs. To save all he loves, Thannuel will be called upon to lay himself upon the Altar of Influence.