Before the night of the winter solstice, Brygida has everything: her mothers, a full heart, and possibly a place in two worlds. But between those worlds is the darkness, and when it comes time to make the offering to the dark god, the lady of Rubin falls in . . . and so does Brygida. The land of Rubin is caught in a wolf's maw. As a smaller, weaker region, it relies on Lady Rubin's gift of diplomacy to stave off ruin. But as the heavy snows appear, she disappears without a trace. And Brygida, true to her ill-made offering, becomes the village's prime suspect--along with her mothers. When she's attacked by a demon and marked, she believes the same demon may have taken Lady Rubin. To defeat it before the mark reaches her heart and kills her, and to avoid a clash between her mothers and the village, she agrees to help Lady Rubin's son Kaspian find her. As the winter deepens and the search stretches, however, demons and spirits begin to emerge in great numbers . . . with great hunger . . . Plagued by strange creatures and malevolent foes, Brygida and Kaspian search for Lady Rubin, praying to find her alive. If they succeed, it could balm the divide between the witches and the village, as well as that between Rubin and the bloodthirsty land at its border.