The responsibility accepted.

Her life pledged.

The family’s protection vowed.

Tisshe-Yua has awaited her placement with aching anticipation and dwindling hope. Nurturing and guiding a family for generations is the ultimate service a Tisshe can offer their god, the One, but she has remained unplaced for far longer than normal. Then, the convent appoints her to the widowed and ill-tempered viceroy of the distant colony of Estriven.

Isolated by the equatorial storms and severed from the counsel of her Tisshe sisters, Yua finds her new home embroiled in political tension and teetering on the brink of war. Undeterred, she sets about organizing the household, winning over the father and children, and investigating the mysterious demise of their wife and mother, Lady Keeva. However, the more Yua embeds herself into this family, the more her heart and mind are pulled in unexpected directions with uncertain consequences.

When Yua exposes the unthinkable truth of Lady Keeva’s tragic death, she discovers vicious enemies already surround her family. Yua must use all her physical and mental gifts to shield the viceroy and his children, lest the looming threat that claimed his wife overwhelm them all.