Now that Coyolles has exposed their weakness and left themselves at Galkhein's mercy, Rishe walks a dangerously thin line as she prepares to make her case for an alliance between the two nations. Will her negotiations with Arnold be enough to save Coyolles from disaster? Meanwhile, her alchemy teacher from a previous life, Michel Hevin, is convinced no good can come from his latest experiment, gunpowder. Determined to keep this destructive power out of the hands of her fiance, Rishe will once again need to get creative and show her friend the non-lethal potential of the explosive "poison" he's created.