For years, Leshi has been enthralled by her father's stories of fighting beside the great war hero Honored Master Esavas. When a malign force from the sea brings tragedy to their village, Leshi knows they need the help of a mage. Though she has untrained magical powers, she can never reveal them or else the law of the mages will tear her away from everything she knows. So she goes in search of Master Esavas, to ask him to save her village. But what she finds isn't what she expected…
After his devastating losses during the war, Esavas is broken, bitter, and without hope, burying his pain in drink and hiding from everyone who knows him. When the daughter of Baros, his captain and good friend, tracks him down, begging him to come protect her village, all he wants is for her to leave him alone. But even though he has no help to give and the hunt for the evil that threatens Leshi's home seems futile, how can he say no to his captain's daughter?
As they travel across seas of danger and magic, Leshi and Esavas discover they need each other in ways they hadn't expected. Leshi must accept the power she has always tried to deny, and Esavas must open himself to a new purpose in life - and they must both resist the love growing between them, forbidden by the laws of mage society that have laid claim on Leshi as an untrained mage.
But neither love nor laws will matter if Leshi and Esavas can't find a way to defeat the evil threatening the villagers of Leshi's little archipelago before it grows strong enough to sweep over all the Mardavian Islands.
Contains violence, strong language, and sensual content.
