A captive warrior looking for escape. A conscript-slave hoping to buy his own freedom. The only way to survive is to trust each other—or sell the other one out first. 

Revni came for gold; Eavus came to conquer. But when their two forces clash in an unexpected skirmish, Revni is taken hostage—only in chasing down the girl, Eavus loses his cohort. If he doesn’t report in soon, he’ll be declared a deserter. If she doesn’t reach her people before they declare her dead, everything she’s earned will be forfeit.

She’ll be sold. He’ll be executed.

Can you trust a captor to protect you? Can you trust a hostage to keep her word? Because to make the journey south where they both hope to bargain for their lives, they’ll need to cross the wilds of territory their two empires have been carving up for themselves. And the capital city may be the one place that could grant them both salvation—but when they get there only of them will get it.

Inspired by Roman and Norse invasions of Celtic Britain, Cait Monroe’s immersive debut novel invites readers into a grounded fantasy adventure that pits love against honor, loyalty against freedom, and confronts the cost of being on the winning side.