When he returns from a trip, Prince Tahj senses unrest....... even before his best friend and captain, Radeem, warns him. Radeem heard rumors and suspects the King's advisor is planning to overthrow the crown. The darkly bitter Grand Vizier, Lord Boltar, is about to claim what he believes belongs to him, the rule of Avistad. Stolen from her home, Bashea is left bound and gagged on the prince's bedroom floor.Just as Tahj discovers a captive girl in his bedroom, left as a "gift" from Lord Boltar, fighting erupts. Tahj, Radeem, and Bashea escape the castle in a hail of arrows. The pair is drawn closer together as they face various perils, Boltar's soldiers, a screaming panther, even the scathing winds of a desert storm.Born from the fire of a coup, Tahj and Bashea's relationship burns with a passion that neither of them quite understands.After what she went through at the hands of Boltar's men, Bashea is afraid to trust. Yet it is her fiery nature that both appeals to Tahj, and drives him crazy. In fact, when Bashea's brother, Bagrat, informs Tahj that Bashea means "lips of the gods," he retorts, "Are you sure you don't mean tongue of the devil?" It takes a long separation to bring them back to each other, but when Tahj does return, it is once again during a battle with Lord Boltar. But now the overlord, who has been forced beyond reason by Tahj's success in retaking the throne, is an even more dangerous threat than before. Reunited, will Tahj and Bashea be strong enough to defeat their twisted and powerful enemy?