Kasena is a 28-year-old woman haunted by her mother’s gruesome death when she was twelve, a death that caused her to be raised by a man who turned her into a rogue—a bounty hunter with the skills necessary to keep herself alive in the medieval man’s kingdom of Ailan. She is on her way home to Oren, avoiding the authorities who have a bounty on her while at it. Luck favors her empty purse as she saves a military lord named Denier, from the southern empire of Numoria, who is left to fend for himself after mercenaries kill his guards. She coerces him to let her escort him to his home, the capital city of Noc Taura, in exchange for gold. This won’t be much of an issue as she is half-Numorian herself, and there is no bounty on her head there.
Their journey is a perilous one in which they fight for their lives between nights spent arguing morals and beliefs. And Denier comes to discover his life back home is in grave danger as the mercenaries may have been paid to kill him by a secret society he loathes. Over time, he changes his mind from one of killing her once she’s no longer useful, to falling in love with her. And in doing so he reveals his biggest secret and a life altering question—one she now must deal with as she decides to continue on with him.
This decision to escort changes the course of her life and his, and together they uncover the mystery of his near death at the hands of a trusted ally. And in doing so, Kasena nearly ends up dead herself. But, her revenge is sweet as it is one she’d dreamed of long before ever meeting Denier.