In a world where technology is magic, and war is the only way of life, Talyn is a soldier, one of thousands trained from childhood to protect her country from the monarchist Eastil, who would take away the personal freedoms of the Tonk. Talyn long ago embraced her fate: to die in battle. This is a war of magic, not of swords, and the battles are fought deep inside the View, a place where the magic inherent in everything and everyone is actualized. The soldiers--on both sides--can bring this magic to the physical plane and use it to destroy houses, fields, and people. But the Feegash came from across the world, and demanded to be allowed to negotiate peace between the Eastil and the Tonk for the sake of the rest of the world. Their success meant Talyn was out of a job, and at a loss for what to do with her life. Rather than follow most of her fellow soldiers to jobs in other parts of the world, Talyn stayed with her family in her town--and there she is seduced by a Feegash diplomat. With him she experiences a dark side of herself that she hadn't even imagined, and learns a new kind of magery. And she discovers the mistreatment of Eastil prisoners of war, still in Tonk hands, and weighs her life against saving theirs. It's a matter of honor--and her honor will be challenged again and again as she slowly discovers that what the Feegash have brought with them was not peace but an overwhelming oppression, and an evil so insidious no one noticed it until it was too late. But if Talyn can hone her use of the Feegash flesh-magery, she can turn their own magic back against them. With the help of one of the Eastil prisoners, she might be able to use it to save the Tonk and the Eastil, and defeat the Feegash once and for all... if it doesn't destroy her from the inside out first.