Sixteen-year-old Aeria Morgan knows her life will be short. Since the Darkness fell two hundred years ago, brevity has staked its claim, especially on the childless. Aeria will die if she does not find love, and soon. But she and her Dviinu brother, Aeron, are outcasts, set apart from the rest of Avalon Valley because of their sordid family history and mysterious conception, and so Aeria has resigned herself to a loveless fate. It isn't until Aeria meets village newcomer Lyam Trey that she learns that love is worth hoping for after all. As trouble mounts, can Aeria hold tight to what she's found, or will she lose everything she thought she'd never have?