Derek didn't really think being a mage would turn out this way. No real prospects, no courtly position. Instead he's a "Wizard for Hire" and he's tired of taking jobs to find proof that some noble is having an elicit affair with another noble. Where's the danger, or the adventure? Until one such case goes absolutely sidewise. Now they're after his life and the life of his client a young pretty noble who's in over her head. Or is she? Regardless it's not like Derek doesn't have secrets of his own. He might be a wizard for hire now and he definitely didn't get the cushy court position he was looking for. But as his enemies are about to learn there's a reason a staff and sword hang over his desk in his office and it isn't just to impress clients.  There's a long history between the kingdom and the former Gray Warden that now goes by the name of Derek Walden and if this shadowy group keeps pushing him they're going to find out why you don't cross the former head of the mage special forces.