Black hair, grey eyes; the son of Arik Shadoval and Leandra Lightbringer. An orphan who carries the Phoenix Glove and the Sword of Worlds, learning that every power demands a price in memory, name and years.
From the mountain tribes and the House of Storm. Her recklessness has a real cost. Her brother is the storm general in the imperial army, and her connection with Leo remains unresolved at the end of Book One.
Leo’s maternal half-sister, Leandra’s daughter from the House of Light behind the name Firehart. A researcher who knows the price of the final seal before Leo does and searches for another bearer, so that her brother will not have to pay everything.
He commands the emperor’s largest army and has never lost a battle. He plans battles weeks in advance: a mind that must be deceived, rather than a force that can simply be broken.
The man who killed Arik Shadoval at the threshold of Frostgard nineteen years ago. A sword without a mind, yet the shadow that follows Leo all the way into the valley.
An elderly seer in Frostgard, whose true name is Ninsa, and the last hidden guardian of the Abkallu. She concealed the glove for nineteen years and was the only kindness in Leo’s childhood. Her face was the first thing the sword took from him.