Shayla Carver, master assassin (retired) and planetary governor, has made more enemies than an Imperial tax collector. To atone for her murderous past, she's now exiled and tasked with rebuilding her home planet, a planet which was burned to ashes many years before.

As if exile wasn't punishment enough, she's ordered to act as both jailor and protector of the two powerful and traitorous noblemen who destroyed her home world all those years ago.

But deadly ghosts from her past haunt her every step. One especially dangerous enemy is intent not just on personal revenge, but on assassinating her influential prisoners. While she wouldn't shed a tear for those prisoners, their deaths will topple the Empire and plunge the galaxy into a devastating civil war. Suddenly, even her own survival is the least of Shayla's worries.