Magdalena Overmorrow is the magician that women go to when they need illegal abortions in the kingdom of Astoleyn. When she is betrayed and arrested, she is banished to the realm’s northernmost city to await her trial where she will be watched over by the pious Lord Proctor of Cair Gramora. With one word he could sentence her to death at the stake.

But when Magda arrives, she is surprised to find that the Lord Proctor isn’t the grizzled old priest she expected, but a man barely older than her; as cold and mysterious as the mountains that surround the cair’s northern border.

Magda knows she must simply stay out of trouble long enough to earn a pardon, but she finds herself drawn to the intrigues plaguing the cair, and to the mysterious Lord Proctor himself, who now holds her life in his hands…