"So long as a daughter of Thelatimos' line defends and rules, Skala shall never be subjugated."
For generations Skala's queens upheld the prophecy. But then Erius seized the throne from his mother, the mad Queen Agnalain. Now the royal tomb is filled with the corpses of his female relatives, and plague, drought and famine are spreading throughout the kingdom. Not all have forgotten the prophecy, though, and when the powerful wizard Iya visits the Oracle she is given a dark vision.
"Black makes white. Foul makes pure. Evil creates greatness."
King Erius's sister, Ariani, is about to give birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Iya knows what she must do. But even her potent magic is not strong enough, and she seeks the help of a hill witch, outcast as a necromancer, to perform the abominable ceremony that will seal the fate of the newborns, joining them one to the other in an unbreakable supernatural bond.
But one twin dies, and when Ariani commits suicide the surviving child is mysteriously drawn to the sinister doll that never left the Princess's side, and haunted by terrifying visions of a doppelganger who seems bent on chaos and destruction.
