The secret Victorian world of the Nether lies between Mundanus, the place for ordinary humans, and Exilium, the kingdom of the patriarchal Fae. William Iris, who has been consolidating his power in Nether society, must retrieve his wife, Cathy, who has left him, if he is to maintain his status. Cathy, finding that her escape from the Nether is not complete, agrees to join the sorceress Bea in her plans to unite these separate worlds. But Bea has enemies, and a final battle to control all of the Split Worlds may come at a high cost.