"Radomir handled the meeting, because Gavin wanted to kill Norian Keef. Norian sat inside Gavin's office at the palace, nervously tapping a foot. That in itself irritated Gavin to the point of red-eyed, lengthy-fanged murder. Radomir worked to calm Norian while Gavin looked on, mentally considering the many painful ways Norian might meet his end."

Assignments are handed out at the end of every Conclave, and Lissa has been given the assignment to act as Liaison for the ASD (Alliance Security Detail) - the founder and 20 charter members of the Reth Alliance have made that decision. As Lissa says, "you don't show up for the meeting, you get the assignment." She doesn't realize, at first, that the founder intends her position to be hands-on.

Norian Keef, Director of the ASD, is hot on the trail of Solar Red, which is working its way into the Alliance, posing as legitimate religions and offering payouts to kings and governors to slip past Alliance rules. Solar Red has hired Black Mist to kill Lissa, but Black Mist has its own agenda where Lissa is concerned.

Viregruz, Black Mist's founder, has a personal vendetta against Lissa and will stop at nothing to eliminate the Vampire Queen. All it will take, in his estimation, is a few unguarded words to one of the spies placed on Le-Ath Veronis.