1Ingerval is the Country of the Dead. Despised by the wider world, blighted by history, since the beginning of time it has honored one law: the Dead rule, and the Living submit. No one remembers why Ingerval nobles return as ghosts after their deaths. To enjoy a brief life of pleasure and plenty, followed by an eternity of reigning from beyond the grave, is the fate of all Ingerval lords. All but one. As the youngest son of the King's third wife, Syphax never thought he would amount to anything. He is content to live out a contemplative life free from the scourges of power and politics until, after receiving a summons to the Palace, he finds himself at the heart of a dynastic struggle centuries in the making.Funerals are happy occasions in Ingerval, and the King is planning for his to be the most decadent in the country's long memory. But when history itself goes awry, Syphax is thrust into the unlikeliest of roles: spy, detective, traitor, and champion of the light. Let the games begin.