But the balance of magic is ever perilous, and for one city to flourish, another London must fall. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night will reappear in the morning. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games-an extravagant international competition of magic meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries-a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.Īnd while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life. Now, restless after having given up his smuggling habit, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks as she always meant to do. Four months since Prince Rhy was wounded, and since the nefarious Dane twins of White London fell, and four months since the stone was cast with Holland's dying body through the rift-back into Black London. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive. Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure. After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. Kell was raised in Arnes-Red London-and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.