Only months ago, Hector was on his deathbed. Now, he's fled his home, abandoning everything he's ever known to protect his family.

But in Nemeda, Paris and Helena don't need their older brother to provide for them. Unmoored, Hector struggles to find his purpose until a conniving Nemedan chief questions their legitimacy in the clans. The three refugee siblings must each serve a year on the wall, fighting in the unending war with Nemeda's southern enemies. But Paris and Helena have carved a place for themselves in their new home; Hector alone is unanchored. To keep his family safe, he determines to serve all three years himself.

The chance to get close to the formidable silver-haired chief of the Crane Clan—a man who looked at Hector at his weakest and saw value still—is only a faraway dream.

Killian has led the Nemedan war effort for twenty years. Duty and fairness surpass every other concern, but with Hector of Urial stationed in his lands, he finds himself bending rules that have kept Nemeda secure for generations. While Hector tests his boundaries, he also makes Killian question his assumption that love has no place in war or in his life.

Killian will move armies to see Hector safe, but with a war looming and the threat of an illness that might steal Hector's life as easily as any enemy blade, they're on a collision course with fate that will change the whole land.