**In the closing installment of the Counselors & Kings trilogy, Matteo and his companions face old enemies in an explosive final showdown **Defeat breeds anger. Hatred breeds revenge. Once again, the counselors of Halruaa have beaten back an attack by the wizard Akhlaur. And once more, the kingdom has been saved from its enemies. Their victory comes at a terrible price. The aged king is weakened, his powers diminished. His chief counselor, Matteo, is torn between his duty and his heart. Tzigone, the underdog heroine of the battle of Akhlaur’s Swamp, has been hurled into a dark world from which she may never escape. And at the edge of time, Akhlaur and his ally, Kiva the Magehound, plot their final revenge.