Sometimes patriots come together for all the wrong reasons Aila Perrin was an experiment gone right; a young teen held against her will and trained to open diplomatic relations with the Kerasi Empire, grand enemies of her Planetary Union. Four years later, Aila's eighteen and doing the impossible: after years of increasing trust, the two governments have agreed to a face-to-face diplomatic accord on Kerasím for the first time in history. Aila is thrilled to be chosen as one of the delegates, one of her old Kerasi mentor/captors along as her guard and guide - and maybe more. But as the accord begins its historic mission, Kerasím falls under a coup, and all bets are off as delegates are being assassinated under the safest conditions possible. It's a whole new learning experience when Aila finds herself on the run on a planet in turmoil, where old Kerasi enemies are turning out to be her best friends and her Union colleagues just may be the people trying to take her life. While she criticizes the Kerasi for being cold-blooded killers, will Aila be able to do the same when her own life is on the line?