It is the first fantasy book by Morgan, a noted science fiction author known for the Takeshi Kovacs trilogy and the standalone novels Market Forces and Black Man.

Ringil Eskiath is a war hero from a conflict between humans and the lizard-like Scaled Folk, although he is now shunned by his aristocratic family in the city of Trelayne, part of the Northern League, due to his homosexuality and cynicism.

He is contacted by his mother in his self-imposed exile after a distant cousin, Sherrin, is sold into legal slavery to pay off her husband's debt.

She is half Kiriath, a mysterious people who arrived in the world centuries ago and who aided the humans against the lizards before departing to a destination unknown.

After failing to adapt fully to his post-war position as clan-master he survives an assassination attempt by his brothers after apparent divine intervention by one of the tribal gods.