Cadence has spent five years building a life out of the wreckage. No longer a student spy, she has become a strategist for the Ministry, dedicated to ensuring the "Double Edge of Betrayal" never cuts anyone again. She has buried her grief under layers of morality and quiet power. When Mattheo is found-wandless, scarred, and looking for a past he can't grasp-she is the only one who can navigate the jagged edges he left behind.