Tal Ch’kola wants to be free. Free to live her life. Free to help her people. Free from her service to the Starlan army. Unfortunately, she’s a maega, one of the rare few with innate magical ability—and she’s also Eru, one of the indigenous people in lands taken by the Starlans. No Airion maega ever gets out of the army.

Despite this truth, Tal hasn’t stopped dreaming of one day being free. Nor has she given up working to make it happen, even as each of her plans has ended in failure.

Now she’s in a small town on the edge of the Starlan Federation, home to one of the most valuable resources in all of Deseria.

Her new scheme is just starting to show promise when three Starlan matrons are found murdered. The killings reek of spirit magic, and it just so happens that Tal has a little of her own. If the Starlans find out about this, she might be blamed for the murders. Will Tal’s hope for a better tomorrow lead to her doom?