"Ildrecca is a dangerous city if you don't know what you're doing. It takes a canny hand and a wary eye to run these streets and survive. Fortunately, Drothe has both. He has been a member of the Kin for years, rubbing elbows with thieves and murderers from the dirtiest of alleys to the finest of neighborhoods. Working for a crime lord, he finds and takes care of trouble inside his boss's organization--while smuggling relics on the side. But when Drothe's boss orders him to track down whoever is leaning on his organization's people, he stumbles upon a much bigger mystery. There's a book, a relic any number of deadly people seem to be looking for--a book the just might bring down emperors and shatter the criminal underworld. A book now inconveniently in Drothe's hands..."--P. [4] of cover.