Mira is a Scale, one of the people tasked with sending the souls of the dead to rest, but she operates outside the confines of the Sanctuary and is in constant danger from the Hunters that seek her. Kiran has been ordered to find and bring in the Scale that is upsetting the balance of the city, even though he wishes for nothing more than to allow them to continue. When Mira is brought in, when she is forced to face the Trial of the Pit utterly unprepared and survives, she puts the man now devoted to her service in dire danger. When Mira is faced with the Way of Thorns, will she do the will of the Goddess, or turn from her duty and doom them all?