Accidents happen and innocent people die. Heloise has done a bad thing but her penance is worse than any might have imagined. She's pierced with twenty-five, broken-off needles of magience and they weave a unique and unknown magic into her being. Ghosts can use her as a receptacle to complete what they lost on death. The ramifications of her new ability unravel in an unpredictable way. Ghosts have memories and powers. What happens when those memories and powers sift into the body of person who is very much alive? But Heloise is not the only one who must pay for a mistake. Her fate interlocks with that of Samos, a warrior who betrays the empire rather than abandon his wife-to-be, and of Thom Drager, the Needle Master, a man who fails everyone he's ever loved, as well as a few he once thought he hated. Sometimes, redemption must lie down with revenge. If hate doesn't destroy these three, love might step in and give them a helping hand. Magience = magic + science.