...A warrior queen stood in the ruins of her enemy's hall, surrounded by darkness that her own hands had painted there. She had come here as a slave and was leaving as a god. The old gold she wore had been torn from the temple's bones, and she wore it not as decoration but as proof. Nox herself had whispered strategy into her ear during the darkest hours, when lesser mortals would have wept. Now, as the first light threatened the eastern horizon, the queen smiled at the coming day, knowing that every triumph she would win from this moment forward would taste of shadow's defeat, and it would taste very good indeed....