The Dragon Queen is a prisoner--but no one is more dangerous when caged. A companion tale to the Memory of Flames series The dragons have escaped their centuries-long enslavement and the last few shattered humans cower in the ruins of once-proud kingdoms. Captured and kidnapped, the Dragon Queen Zafir has seen her rule fall in flames, her throne taken by her lover, and her dreams vanish into smoke. Unsure of her destiny, she can do little but prepare herself for the worst. In another world, where dragons are all but forgotten, the Sea-Lords of the Taiytakei search for weapons against a threat they barely understand. With a captured dragon, a stolen alchemist, and a Dragon Queen, they hope to discover their salvation, but neither Sea-Lords nor dragons nor their riders can be trusted. And somewhere else Berren Crowntaker, once the thief-taker's apprentice, dreams of a return to the field of battle; but the body he wears is not his own, and carries within it a secret memory that once destroyed worlds. And it dreams of dragons.