One small woman. One supposedly powerful man... She battles a political machinery over which she has no control. He realizes he is as much a pawn of the machinery as the casteless woman he befriends. Anala Nadim is a free woman until she travels to the planet Mehtar to procure supplies for her father's mining operation on Mehtar's impoverished sister colony world, Avasa. When a twist of fate enslaves Anala to the Lord Prince Jaya Sarojin, she is thrown into a battle to free herself from slavery and her world from subjugation to a corrupt Mehtaran consortium. So begins a tale of greed, betrayal, political intrigue and love that threatens to tear Anala from her spiritual path, and introduces both her and Jaya to true darkness.