It has been fifteen years since Marguerida Alton returned to Darkover. Fifteen years since she discovered the terrifying powers of her special laran, met and fell in love with Mikhail Lanart-Hastur, heir designate to the throne of Darkover, and journeyed back in time to the Ages of Chaos to answer the call of a long-dead Keeper. Through more than a decade of instruction and support from Istvana Redenow, Keeper of Neskaya Tower, Marguerida has learned to control her powerful telepathic Gift, and to a certain extent, has managed to work with her unique shadow matrix, though its full nature still remains a mystery.

Now Marguerida’s life is more settled, more proscribed—though no less hectic. As the seconds-in-command to the aging Regent, Regis Hastur, and his consort Linnea, life in Comyn Castle for Marguerida and Mikhail is far from serene. Helping to run the government as well as managing the daily functioning of the vast castle itself, and raising three adolescent children would be enough work for anyone, but they also have taken on the challenge of fostering their tempestuous niece, Alana Alar, whose burgeoning powers are both formidable and difficult to control.

But the real root of the current tensions on Darkover has more to do with the Terran Federation than anything internal to Darkover. The once pleasant relationship between Darkover’s ruling families and the Tarran envoys to Darkover—a relationship which Regis Hastur worked decades to build—has been shattered, primarily due to the machinations of Lyle Belfontaine, the corrupt and ambitious Station Chief at Federation Headquarters in Thendara. For nearly ten years, relations between Federation Headquarters and the Comyn Council have been strained, with Belfontaine putting ever increasing pressure on Darkover to relinquish its Protected status and join the Federation as a full member planet. But this is something Comyn Council will never agree to do, for it would mean the death of their culture and the rape of their planetary resources.

But the Terran central government has become increasingly totalitarian, and with a military coup rocking the Federation, cutting off all communication with local Federation envoys, Lyle Belfontaine becomes a free agent, no longer under the control of his superiors. And when the sudden death of Regis Hastur leaves Comyn Council in turmoil, Belfontaine sees an opportunity to wrest by force what he could not gain through diplomacy, and plans a violent takeover on Darkover.

Can Makhail and Marguerida, new Regent and consort on Darkover, face the might of Terran weapons with only their combined telepathic laran powers?