Keena Listor of the Jindentors of Trezlandia is now the wife of Captain Velorian Ernaut, Captain of King Galien’s elite guards and former enemy of her people.
As she travels toward Vindor with her new family, she knows she will be hated because of the physical differences that identify her as a foreigner and because of her refusal to worship at the altar of idols, but she hopes to postpone the conflict until she is established in her new home.
Though King Galien and Crown Prince Terric honor her for her part in saving Vindorans from death by famine, she is not foolish enough to believe the king can command the hearts and minds of people whose loved ones died by Trezlandian swords.
Velorian wonders if the pressures and frustrations of living in a culture so different from her own will strain their marriage to the breaking point. Will she, as his mother fears, decide the Jindentor forests and cliffs are more suitable for raising their children and return to Trezlandia with them? Will he leave everything and go with her if she does?
