Lyra has walked the Rift for seven years.
She moves through a space that isn't quite space, carrying goods between the border settlements and the domains ? the only person who can still navigate the collapsing passages.She has never asked why the Rift answers her.
She has never asked why the scar on her palm burns when the grey grows restless.Until the day the Rift opens in the middle of a market square and shows her a dead woman's face.
Until a domain lord named Kael steps out of the northern passage and tells her the truth:The Rift is dying.
And she is the only one who can stop it.Kael rules the Ash Domain ? a place of endings, ash, and careful silences. He has spent a hundred years waiting for the next Rift Walker. He has a plan. He has contingencies. He does not have a category for a woman who looks at him the way she looks at the Rift: without flinching, and without permission.As the last stable passages begin to fail and an ancient force called the Unravelling wakes in the deep channels, Lyra must decide what she is willing to become.
Kael must decide what he is willing to risk.Some boundaries are meant to be walked.
Some are meant to be held. And some refuse to stay closed.