Kazi is bitten by the Ballenger’s poisonous dogs but hides it from Jase until she faints. She searches for Illarion at Tor’s Watch while Jase meets with Garvin, Kazi’s tail, who tries to recall her previous identity. Kazi finds Wren and Synové in Hell’s Mouth and makes Jase agree to lodge them and stop having her tailed. In return for the letter, Kazi forces the Ballengers to rebuild the Vendan settlement they swear they didn’t destroy.

Jase interrogates other labor hunters found in Hell’s Mouth before asking Kazi to write the Queen of Venda, asking her to visit and confirm the legitimacy of the Ballenger Empire. To cover for his absence and avoid raising suspicion, he pretends he and Kazi were simply having a romantic interlude. Jase rushes Kazi to his father’s burial at Tor’s Watch, his family’s fortress. When they reach the outpost, their shackle is removed, and Kazi realizes Jase lied to her about their destination. On the journey, they fall in love despite their differences. Jase guides them to his family’s outpost that he tells Kazi is a Vendan settlement. Kazi and Jase, still shackled together, jump off a cliff into a river and agree to a truce to survive. Before they can unlock their ankle chain, the driver discovers the escape. She steals the key from the driver Kazi was once a legendary Vendan street thief known as Ten. Kazi wakes in the back of a wagon, ankle shackled to Jase.

After learning Jase's true position, she follows him down an alley where they are captured by labor hunters (enslavers). When he confronts them, Kazi threatens him with a knife to his throat not realizing he’s the Patrei.

He is unhappy about the Rahtan investigating treaty violations. Jase Ballenger is the new Patrei (leader) of Hell’s Mouth after his father’s sudden death. On the way to Hell's Mouth, Kazi, Wren, and Synové visit a destroyed Vendan settlement, the location of which was chosen with cooperation from the King of Eislandia. Eben and Natiya, two other Rahtan warriors, inform the King of Eislandia and Griz (another of the Rahtan) rides to the King of Morrighan for reinforcements. Kazi leads her fellow warriors Wren and Synové to the captain's rumored location at Hell’s Mouth, which is run by the outlaw Ballenger Empire. The Queen of Venda sends three of her Rahtan, elite warriors, to find the Watch Captain Beaufort Illarion, called the dragon, who betrayed the kingdom of Morrighan and helped orchestrate the Great Battle six years before.

Morrighan, the origin story of the Remnant Chronicles universe, was released in November 2022. Pearson is an international and New York Times bestselling author of these two series plus the Jenna Fox Chronicles, The Mile Between, A Room on Lorelai, and Scribbler of Dreams.

A vow of thieves