When Fawni Ruh, a Kin ambassador, visits the capitol planet of the empire, she meets security expert Khyff Antonello, a human. A death in her family forces Fawni to return home, but she can't bear to part with Khyff, and takes him along. Her family demands she cast out the human, or abdicate her future rule. Fawni searches for an alternative, and stumbles upon Khyff's secret. The cover-up, if exposed, will betray her world to its enemies, and bare her family to open shame. Her duty is clear. Yet how can she leave Khyff to suffer in the darkness that binds his heart? His secret truth is her people's darkest lie.