Bettina has wealth, freedom, and power as Goddess Marzanna's favored Saint. Divine influence has grown over the years as Goddess and Her consorts rebuild what Silver's vanquished order destroyed with each of their fertile joys. The early years of Bettina's immortality should be equally exalted, but there is a fly in the ointment: her daughter Cosima has been granted Godling status and eternal life. Her firstborn son Cristoval has not.

As the Bright Age luxuriates in its golden afternoon, unhallowed forces conspire to challenge Marzanna's audacious regime. Bettina returns from self-imposed exile to find Aebbenary more perilous than she remembered and her children grown almost beyond recognition. Old wonders and interest in a curiously constructed Grand Archivist both help and hinder Bettina in her plan to ensure neither of her beloved, wayward children will be lost to the grim march of time...or Goddess's gluttony.