Dishonored and heartbroken, Lieutenant Agkar the orc has just transferred to the inhospitable desert of the Hazrain—a neutral zone between human and trollkin—to work in the city guard. But he despises his new superior officer, Captain Zirelle Mastair, a human woman who gets to boss him around day in and day out. It's humiliating. The tough-as-nails Captain Mastair doesn't care much for the new lieutenant either, or his impertinent attitude, which gets in the way of her all-important work. Yet she senses a deep wound underneath his hard exterior that speaks to her own. What scarred him so much that he came to the barren desert to escape it? While on a mission to track down a fugitive, the captain and the lieutenant are stranded in a cavern hideout. Will all of their pent-up frustration with one other finally burst?