Being the prodigy of Dictator Nicholai Cason makes Ariel a loyal ally of the Union—and that loyalty is set firmly in stone. When the Union tasks him with spying on the Liberators, he soon encounters one of their most capable members: Vivian Grant, who not only engenders trust in Ariel against all reason, but seems strangely familiar...But those who are not loyal to the Union are considered treasonous, and all traitors must die, and Ariel isn't certain one Liberator, no matter how compelling, is worth his life and the new opportunities awaiting him at the end of his mission.