Four years ago, the nation of Holzhyt lost two of its top scientists, Axye of None and Ihczya of Overlook, to a horrific accident. In the present day, scientist Ysa Yddgru and detective Erras of Sea-Garden—both once closely associated with Axye—receive an assignment directly from one of Holzhyt’s five high provosts: investigate the eerie letter sent by Axye that predicted her own death. The two must work together to exhume the secrets—whatever still remain—of the machine that killed both scientists and keep their increasingly vulnerable secrets from each other. All the while, they must contend with Ruby Caine (your friend and mine) forcibly making them guests of her talk show, Eye of the Storm.
Thousands of miles away, across an ocean’s worth of ideological turbulence and seawater, a senator of Adila commits suicide in the middle of a public square, leaving behind, on his desk, dozens of photos of him. Bitter, the sex worker featured in them, is rescued from a cleanup operation by a small outfit of Alpiyet nationalists. The man who commissioned the rescue, convinced the nationalists are more than they seem, forces Bitter to spy on them. Meanwhile, Eviruda De’Sanya, the private investigator who took the pictures, searches for whomever commissioned them to find out why they blackmailed the senator. Out of their depths, surrounded by danger, and unaware of the others’ investigations, both must race forward and create the leverage they need to escape before they are swallowed by perpetually-growing conspiracy. All the while, they must contend with Ruby Caine (your friend and mine) forcibly making them guests of her talk show, Eye of the Storm.
If it’s your first time, you should go to the Track Select and click entry 1.