All our scars tell a story. Eulo Juke’s gambling debts have cost him his weapons, his horses and his pride. If he doesn’t pay what he owes Iskarlia’s Scabmen soldiers in enchanted kilili silveriron, they’ll slaughter his brother. Silveriron trader Tali Sarsega offers Eulo a marriage of convenience in Vernesia, dragging him into an unfamiliar world where women rule politics, society, and commerce. The Vernese culture relies on wits and diplomacy, but the Scabmen are coming to take the kilili the Iskarlian way: with hard fists and sharp blades. Can Eulo slip behind Tali’s dedication to her horse breeding enterprise, rundown estate and dysfunctional family to find out her silveriron secrets before it’s too late for his brother? No-one is ready for what’s coming their way, because some things are not free to be taken. S. K. Neilson writes fantasy fiction in worlds inspired by Australia’s unforgiving environment and tenacious outback folklore.
