Herald Mags, the King of Valdemar's Herald Spy, has been developing a network of young informants who operate on the streets and also in the halls and kitchens of the wealthy and highborn. His wife Amily is King's Own Herald and finds it useful to be underestimated for there are dark things stirring in the shadows of Haven. Someone has discovered many secrets of the women of the Court and the Collegia and is using those secrets to terrorize and bully them. Mags and Amily will have to track down someone who leaves few clues behind.