Pale Lights

In Vesper's perpetual twilight, thief Tristan Abrascal, usually protected by wit and a goddess's favor, accidentally crosses a line. An escape offered by his mentor becomes an opportunity for revenge against the oppressive infanzones. Meanwhile, Lady Angharad Tredegar flees across the world after her family's ruin, pursued by assassins. Desperate for protection, she turns to her estranged uncle, but his safety comes with a steep price. Both Tristan and Angharad, finding the Watch inaccessible, must prove themselves in the deadly trials of the Dominion of Lost Things, where survival is rare. Book II, "Good Treasons," finds the four survivors of the Dominion now students at Scholomance, a cabal united, yet their pasts haunt them. Angharad faces tempting, deadly bargains that test her honor. Tristan is plagued by mysterious enemies, a non-existent classroom, conversations with the dead, and dying carrots. Maryam Khaimov fears she is going mad, or worse, that someone else is impersonating her. Song Ren must unite the group and fend off rival cabals, vengeful countrymen, and the constant influx of dangerous enemies their companions attract. Song's family honor depends on her success, as disgrace threatens to consume them all. As they navigate Scholomance, the greater challenge of the Asphodel Rectorate looms, a weakened power harboring darker threats than mere monsters, questioning whether treason is ever truly evil with sufficient cause.