In the serpent's wake / Hartman, Rachel

Tess Dombegh joins Countess Mardou's sailing expedition as an undercover spy for the Queen to prevent war, but she is more concerned with finding the last World Serpent, the Polar Serpent, to use its magical healing abilities on her best friend Pathka. When someone from Tess's painful past returns, old wounds threaten to jeopardize the mission. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the people on the ship, another expedition led by Spira, a dragon Tess wronged in the past, tries to be the first ones to the Polar Serpent to execute its own plan.

"Tess Dombegh sails south as a spy, hunting for evidence of politically-motivated crimes, while also hunting for the last World Serpent that could save her friend, Pathka"--Provided by publisher.

Tess is a girl on a mission to save a friend. Spira is a dragon seeking a new identity. Marga is a woman staking her claim on a man's world. Jacomo is a priest searching for his soul. There are those who would give their lives to keep it hidden. And those who would destroy it. The only people who will truly find the Serpent are those who have awakened to the world around them-- with eyes open to the wondrous, the terrible, and the just.