Five months from the events that took place in 13 Curses, Rowan (Red) is now living at Elvesden Manor and trying to put her past behind her. But staying on the straight and narrow isn't as easy as she had hoped, for her past is about to catch up with her.

Hounded by fairy messengers who are trying to convince her to partake in the changeling trade, Rowan is using every magical deterrent she knows to keep the fairies away. When Tanya arrives to spend the summer at the manor, she notices Rowan's strange behavior. Rowan denies anything is wrong but Tanya is unable to shake the feeling she is hiding something, and is determined to find out what.

As Rowan sets about her dangerous secret quest, those she is working with begin to vanish one by one - each in a way that is symbolic to the thirteen treasures. Soon Rowan is left facing an old enemy she thought she would never see again: Eldritch - who she left for dead in the Hedgewitch's cellar - and who is determined to exact his revenge.