Samir is a thief, a street-urchin from Yad-Sha'Rib, greatest city in the Empire. Samir, like the city itself, carries a secret. He is descended from the Heritors, who once drank from the Crystal Pool of the Ghost Archipelago. Though he dreams of one day saving his people from slavery and oppression, Samir keeps his nascent powers hidden, lest he meets the same fate as his father - a slow death in the dungeons, where the grand vizier, Zhar-Marrhad, conducts dark experiments to unlock the Heritors’ secrets for his own.

When the Ghost Archipelago appears once more, after an absence of 200 years, everything changes. Feeling the pull of the Lost Isles in his blood, Samir suddenly finds himself the centre of attention after a life of anonymity.

Befriended by a tribal warrior maiden, charmed by a self-styled Pirate Prince, shadowed by a beautiful assassin, and hunted by the ruthless Zhar-Marrhad, Sam must navigate a world of treachery and deceit as he sets sail to the Ghost Archipelago. Only there can he unlock the secrets of his Heritor powers. Only then can he answer his destiny’s call.