A weaver of tales, a caster of spells, and a writer of rare imagination, Sarah Ash lends her unique vision to epic fantasy. In this captivating continuation to her story, the author of Lord of Snow and Shadows revisits a realm filled with spirits and singers, daemons and kings.Gavril Nagarian has finally cast out the dragon-daemon from deep within himself. The Drakhaoul is goneand with it all of Gavrils fearsome powers. Though no longer besieged by the Drakhaouls unnatural lusts and desires, Gavril has betrayed his birthright and his people. He has put the ice-bound princedom of Azhkendir at risk and lost.Emerging from his battle with the Lord Drakhaon scarred but victorious, Eugene of Tielen exacts a terrible price. He arrests the renegade warlord Gavril Nagarian for crimes against the Rossiyan Empire and sentences him to life in an insane asylumfor the absence of the Drakhaoul is slowly driving Gavril mad. But Eugene has another motive as well. He longs to possess the Drakhaoulat any cost to his kingdom and his humanity. With Gavril locked inside the Iron Tower, three women keep his memory alive. His mother returns to the warmer climes of her homeland, where she foments the seeds of rebellion. A young scullery maid whose heart is broken by Gavrils arrest sends her spirit out to the Ways Beyond. And even the emperors new wife is haunted by her remembrances of the handsome young painter who once captured her soul.The five princedoms of a shattered empire are reunited. The last of Artamons ruby tears adorns Eugenes crown. But peace is as fragile as a rebels whisperand a captives wish to be free.Glowing with the powers of light and darkness, Prisoner of the Iron Tower will astonish and enthrall you, as courtly intrigue collides with the fantasticand good and evil become as nebulous as the outlines of a dream.From the Hardcover edition.