Villam has always ranked loyalty to the empire, to the Empress, and his career over everything else—even romance and his infatuation with Kardiell, who seems disinterested in making their relationship more serious. Unfortunately, Kardiell's soft spot for Villam is well-known, and in a plot to destroy Kardiell they attempt to take Villam hostage.

Ittuluke was born on a desert colony abandoned by the empire, leaving him with nothing but contempt for imperial soldiers. He has been raised to perform any mission for the right price, and he's good at what he does. Until the imperial soldier he's supposed to kidnap crashes their ship on a desolate planet, killing all but the two of them.

Stranded together on a wild planet, the two men stubbornly concede that the only way to survive is to call a truce. And as they learn to work together, two men against an entire world, their fragile peace begins to evolve into something more.