Collared and conditioned to obey any male's command, Rowan remembers nothing of her life before the Hold.

When she overhears Master's plans to sell Chin Lau, she begins to think the unthinkable: escape. Then a desperate act brands her a Rebellious Slave, for which the law has only one punishment — a public impaling. She has no choice but to run.

With the assistance of Ky, an Overseer in the Hold, she must search for Chin Lau, the answers to her past, and the Key to her freedom.