For the past two years, Commander Aiden Hill has worked tirelessly to safeguard the lives of the dimari – brainwashed Vangravian slaves living on the fringe planet of Rendol 4. So when a crate of not one but eight new dimari lands on the planet, Aiden is called in as the planet’s foremost dimari expert, to find masters for the new arrivals and settle them into their new homes.

Jai has spent the past two years being trained in the most intense circumstances a dimari could endure, and that training has taught him exactly one thing; that his intended master is a sadist who sees Jai as nothing more than a toy to be played with and tool to be used, until he finally breaks.

For all Aiden’s extensive experience with the dimari, even he is out of his depth with Jai’s deliberate defiance and open hostility. A dimari exists to please their master, but Jai seems intent on making Aiden as unhappy as possible. Will Aiden be able to get through to Jai and convince him that Aiden wants to give him a safe and fulfilling life? Or is Jai already too broken to accept a kindness that seems to have come too late?

Warning: this novel contains descriptions of military-style violence and mentions of PTSD and past sexual abuse which may be disturbing for some readers.