On Tharsis, power is granted rather than earned. Once, at a coming-of-age Ceremony, a chosen few receive a Blessing — and are treated as living gods for the rest of their lives.

Twin princes of Ardentis walk in together. Colin walks out with the strongest Blessing ever recorded. Cobalt walks out with nothing.

Within days, a rival king revives a long-dormant clause that throws the Ardentis succession open to any Blessed candidate from any House. The result is the Pilgrimage: a diplomatic tour of all five kingdoms carrying every young noble with a claim to the throne, their chaperones, and Cobalt — who has neither claim nor power, and refused to stay behind.

What follows is not the story of a boy catching up to his brother. It is the story of what the Blessings cost, who has been paying for them, and how long the Houses have known.

Neither of them has been told what the gift actually costs.