Only she can light his black hole heartA killer with a heart of goldStripped of her identity, her memories, and half her body by a cybernetic mercenary corporation, Shaxi was a mindless killer unleashed at the behest of any who would pay. When the corporation was destroyed, she was finally set free from her deadly programming. Now adrift and alone, she desperately needs to master her unlinked enhancements before she succumbs to a rogue madness. And on a desert outworld she hopes to find a second chance.A savior with a soul of iceBut the electromagnetic storms that might save her also blow in the Asphodel, a sheership with more mysteries and menaces lurking in its shadows than Shaxi has ever faced...including the enigmatic Eril Morav, a heartless assassin on a quest to save the sheerways. Eril will sacrifice anything-including Shaxi and his last chance at peace-for his noble mission... even though she is the one being in the universe who reminds him what it means to be human.