How do you keep going when the person you love is the same you swore to kill?

Warlord Jared Grey is left reeling with the discovery that his collared user Empress is actually Aravella Eleftheria, the Dread Queen, the Witch Queen of the elven realm Althua. He and his brother Warlord Therus Attlock and the half-elf user Dove are in Althua, at Aravella’s mercy, and Jared isn’t sure the elven Queen has much left.

Aravella faces consequences of her own, archaic laws and rules that bind the elven monarchs to the throne in full effect, her Council seeking her head. Any relief of being back in Althua, back with her Consort and friends, is quickly worn away under their oppressive oversight.

Need drives both Jared and Aravella back into Dolheim, each seeking to finish their own tasks, bound together not by a collar and bracelet set, but by something close to love. The consequences of previous actions are far reaching and they struggle together to right those wrongs, to heal the damage done to the world.

In the midst of it all, Jared has a choice: to rely on the safety that is love, or to put his trust in the gunmetal grey collar. May the Balance help him, help them all, if he chooses wrong.