In a world based on castes and predetermined position, Kira Metallurgist has always known she was meant for more. And as the world undergoes unprecedented change, Kira sets out on a new career, hoping to make her mark. But the journey is tumultuous--and leads her toward a destiny involving two men who call to her heart in different and powerful ways.

Born to a family of warriors, Tai Sentinel aspires, like his father, to the highest military position in the Realm. A man of his word with a stubborn sense of duty, he is surprised to find that the Realm is not as black and white as he thought--a surprise which pales beside the fact that the woman he's loved for years is the one to reveal it to him.

Gannon Consul knows the meaning of power. Next in line for leadership in his caste, he is well acquainted with the lengths to which the Realm will go to stop someone from reaching above their station. Gannon senses that change is coming--he just never expected that it would come in the form of a woman who calls to him like no other.