Fitz and his companions continue their journey on the tracks of Truth, leaving the winter and the kingdom of the mountains behind them. Queen Kettricken leads the group towards a quarry of black stone where, finally, they find the king Truth. Exhausted, completely hagard, the king hardly recognizes them. His whole mind seems to be obsessed by a single task: to sculpt his own dragon and then awaken it thanks to Art and save the Six Duchys. Divided between scepticism and despair, Fitz and his companions gradually come to see their destiny. Secrets and identities will be revealed, prophecies reveal themselves and the unthinkable will be realized...