Edouard Severin was useless. Happily useless. The third son of Count Argus Severin he would not inherit the title of count nor the reins of House Barris. He was free to do what he liked with his life provided he didn't embarrass his family. And what he liked was to live in his ancient fort in the town of Breakwater, tinker with his machines and play with his magic. Life was good. Then the city of Theria was attacked by a herd of stampeding mammoths, his older brother Marcus turned up on his doorstep in the middle of the night demanding his help, and he suddenly had to put his skills to use in investigating the crime. Little did he know that the attack was merely the first step in a plan to seize control of the Kingdom of Therion, or that the one responsible would be a member of his own family. **

Rufus Hennassy was an abused child who grew up to be a broken man. A modest man with modest dreams and a modest life. But at least it was a life. Then came the crash. A nearly impossible car crash that should never have happened and that should have killed him, but which he walked away from almost unscathed. That was the first miracle. But it was barely the begining of the series of all but impossible events that began to turn his quiet well ordered life upside down. Murderers and assassins lay around every corner, determined to catch him, find the location of the lost Rembrandt through him, and then kill him. And yet every time they caught him, fate stepped in in the most improbable of ways, and he escaped. Then again what else could you expect when the ancient Greek gods were toying with you? Of course the gods had their reasons for using him, and even as they toyed with him they knew that he would one day hold their own futures in his hands. His destiny would take him from pawn to kingmaker, or breaker. But which path would he choose?