After spending six months in the SpaceForce brig for the crime of saving an Allied Starship, Kacia finds herself back on Rozari, married off to a man she assumed she hated, while the one man she loved is apparently indifferent.
Well, Mish is indifferent, isn't he? Ruka is pretty sure that his former squire doesn't care about any one of them. That would include the two young boys which Ruka is raising as his own. Except there's this odd thing going on with Mish, which coincidentally happens whenever one of them is near; bloody tears that seep from his eyes.
In the meantime, Eryk is discharged from the SpaceForce and sent back to Rozari, tasked with building giant domes. Prince Dillon ponders what they are for before concluding the worst: Mish is intent on destroying Rozari and killing them all.