(The final novel in the trilogy, The City in Stone, was completed by Eisenstein; when Meisha Merlin suddenly ceased operations in 2007, it was left orphaned and remains unpublished.)

Spurned by a rejected offer of marriage, the demon sorcerer Smada Rezhyk begins imagining that the sorceress Lady Delivev Ormoru of Castle Spinweb is plotting to bring him down.

He sends his most faithful demon servant, Gildrum, to take the form of a handsome knight, who has been injured in battle and comes to Castle Spinweb for refuge with the plan to impregnate Delivev with a child.

Cray gains a few clues to the real identity of his father; he eventually realizes that he will be unable to complete his quest as a knight.

Gildrum manages to twist his orders from Rezhyk and hides Cray in the demon realms and continues to teach him sorcery.