"When the time comes, I know you'll be able to do what's necessary," she said before walking away. "Maybe that's what I'm afraid of," Freya whispered. The Kade rule the Third Country through terror and unrelenting oppression. To the outside world, healer Freyanna Kuch is a member of the subjugated Pious class whose collaboration has seen her richly rewarded by the Kade. But Freya is a member of the Resistance. Her upstanding marriage, work, and conduct is a front as she works to create a better, more equal world. However, the world of intrigue and shadows requires everything of a person. If Freya is to succeed in helping the Resistance, she must sort out her complicated feelings for Ashtyn, the man who brought her to the Resistance, and try to navigate the bloodthirsty demands of rebellion despite her obligation as a healer to do no harm. As tensions rise across the Third Country, Freya must decide who she must be in order to fight for the world she wants, even if that means turning away from everything she holds dear.