Nhika is a bloodcarver. She has the power to alter human biology - to heal or to harm with just a touch. In Theumas, Nhika is seen as a monster who kills for pleasure, and her gift is highly prized in the city's criminal underworld. When Nhika is finally captured, she is sold to the highest bidder - an aristocratic girl dressed in white. But her mysterious buyer is not looking for an assassin. She needs Nhika to heal the only witness to her father's murder. Nhika vows to hunt down the killer and all signs point to Ven Kochin, an alluring yet entitled physician's aide. Despite Kochin's relentless attempts to push her away, Nikha can't help feeling drawn into his opulent world. But she soon finds herself in a fight for her life - and for the future of her own kind.