Xai’andra has been summoned by the Oracle to return to Messim, the planet of her ancestors. Her family would rather see her dead.

One of the last surviving members of the noble families exiled from her home planet, Xai has been imprisoned, along with the remains of the Ke’i-ze clan, in a Prima star base since she was a child. But Xai holds a contentious and extremely lonely place in her family. Her uncles allow her to live, but only as a subservient, as a symbol of their moral superiority over the rebellion and as a reminder of her mother’s treachery. Meanwhile, for the emancipated Messinians, Xai is nothing more than an aristocrat, a member of an oppressive, deposed order. Neither nobility nor commoner, Messinian or Primer, Xai does not belong anywhere.

When the Oracle of Messim summons her to return to the planet to perform an ancient ritual, Xai’s uncles are furious. For her part, Xai is confounded and conflicted. The Summons is a rare and sacred obligation of an ancient culture. However, that culture revered by her uncles has brought her nothing but misery. In any event, to comply with the Summons she would have to escape her imprisonment, an unattainable goal. That changes when Fleet, a crumbling militaristic empire, destroys the Prima star base in a surprise attack. Xai narrowly escapes on a fast ship she does not know how to pilot, accompanied only by a snarky AI. She soon learns that Fleet has its sights set on Messim, a protectorate of Prime, from which it can rekindle its imperial ambitions. Xai must now choose between her newfound freedom and duty to a world that has only shown her disdain.