New York Times bestselling author Maria V. Snyder brings her Poison Study series to its exhilarating conclusionDespite the odds, Yelena and Valek have forged an irrevocable bond-and a family-that transcends borders. Now, when their two homelands stand on the brink of war, they must fight with magic and cunning to thwart an Ixian plot to invade Sitia. Yelena seeks to break the hold of the insidious Theobroma that destroys a person's resistance to magical persuasion. But the Cartel is determined t