Prologue: The Blood Guilt Price

The star cycle after her father is murdered as he travels home from Zanzica, Leeze am Holden must don male garb to take the road to Zanzica to pay the family's annual taxes. She is grateful that her father taught her to wield a sword so she can protect herself as she travels.

On the road to Zanzica she is discovered by Perth am Machal to be a female. He persuades her to marry his dying brother in order to protect his mother and two young sisters from an usurping uncle. When Leeze agrees to this proposal, she finds herself immersed in adventures that lead her onto dangerous and mysterious paths.