In Cantel Kingdom, the choice of a magical lifemark defines your soul's purpose. Yet Direena hates her fate as a baker and flees her overbearing family to join a wagon train heading north. Leaving her ovens cold and her lifemark behind feels like freedom at last. Meeting Bayard, the head drover, promises a bright road ahead.

But the road has other plans. As the miles mount, a mysterious fog descends on Direena's mind ? and only a renegade monk holds the answer: a lifemark as true as hers cannot be outrun. To deny it is to lose herself entirely.