When Stisele of Imlen's royal cousin appoints her governor of a conquered province with brutal orders to enforce, in the hope that the locals will kill her, Stisele defects. Casting her lot with the people she was sent to rule, who are far more complicated and need her far less than she imagined, forces her to get over her vision of herself as a savior and to face what it really costs to turn on the nation and kin she used to serve.