Brei is going up against the largest army in the world. As thousands march north to annihilate her people, she is ready to take revenge on those who have taken so much from her already. If you want to kill a snake, cut off its head. If you want to destroy a legion, kill its leader. But what if the legate she hunts is not the monster she imagined? When a surprise attack lands the young warrior in enemy hands, Brei soon realises that the only person she can trust is the man she has sworn to kill.

General Nerva Papias is fighting a war he no longer believes in. He leads his men north of the wall with orders to destroy all in their path. This is not a war against soldiers, however, but against the mountains they wade through and the ghosts that inhabit them. Then comes a warrior with eyes like two pools of fire and the face of a goddess. He should kill her like the rest of them, but his mind is tired and his heart deceitful. Now the woman he holds captive threatens to set his future ablaze…