A Healer with a telekinetic Talent, Nayla Hikaru has spent the better part of a year helping a planet of telepathic killers overcome crippling emotional damage. Nothing has gone smoothly, and she fears she's doing more harm than good. Now, with war engulfing the galaxy, she must set aside her research and answer an emergency summons for aid.

Sevan Aros has spent his life as a highly gifted telepathic killer – a trained assassin, deadly even among his own kind, and lacking the empathy to form strong emotional bonds. Nayla has the potential to help him repair his damaged soul, but doing so makes his Talent unstable. He's made the difficult choice to stay as far away from her as possible.

But when both Nayla and Ari become embroiled in a plot that threatens Talented children, they'll have to work together to save a generation of young pirates from an implacable enemy. They can't do it alone, but with the help of a kith — a highly intelligent, telepathic cat — they stand a chance at not only saving the children, but healing their own hearts.