Sumarkesh: City of Wonders, City of Lies, City of Secrets Star-writ in the Skies. City of Dreamers, City of Veils, City of Harlots and Satisfied Males. In this bastion of decadence, a courtesan spins a tale for her naive young client, a fantastic story about the woman who sits upon the Lotus Throne, elevated there not only by her own charms, but by the greed of a sultan’s son and the magic of his pet necromancer. But as the young man – too clever for his own good – begins to question the details of his veiled companion’s tale, he soon learns that in Sumarkesh, a harlot's hungers extend far beyond the bedroom and spells cast in dark alleys often go disastrously awry....