Jimra was raised to do her best, perform her duty and fight fire with her own body. When she becomes a citizen, she wants to join the fire office and finds that there is only one thing standing in her way...her own genes. Her mother got pregnant on a distant world by their Guardian, and Jimra has to face the fact that she isn't welcome on her world, but she might be welcome on her father's. Learning that he had an adult daughter had to be difficult for him, but he welcomed her to the Citadel on Ypra and her new position as a specialist. Huros was an ex-Negotiator with a talent for analysis when he lost emotional control in the healers' offices and a specialist was called in to help calm him. With one touch, she changed their fates and linked them forever.