Hynd leads a lonely life, suffering the lingering effects of a debilitating illness and rejected by most of society because of it. He has spent most of a decade investigating the disappearance of the Seventh Dragoons, content to immerse himself in the frustrating search and the book he is writing about it. When his sister comes to him about a handsome man eager to meet him, Hynd can scarcely believe his luck, unable to recall the last time somebody wanted to be near him and did not fear or revile him for his illness. But Julius has come only to see Hynd's research, hoping to learn what happened to the Seventh and prove that his great-grandfather was not a traitor. And while an assistant in his research is not what Hynd had hoped for, it's better than nothing. And maybe between the two of them the mystery of the Seventh can at last be put to rest...