Aboard the star vessel Sunlace, Dr. Cherijo Torin and her husband have found refuge from the Hsktskt, the League, and her half-mad creator. Now they intend to find Cherijo’s foster mother—and the truth behind the subliminal messages she left in Cherijo’s brain. But first they have some promises to keep—promises that put them in the middle of an interstellar war. Everything Cherijo ever fought for is put on the line—including her solemn oath to protect life. Beginning in Stardoc—a novel hailed as one of the best science fiction books of the year by Science Fiction Chronicle—S. L. Viehl’s smart, savvy surgeon, Cherijo Torin, has ventured across the universe in and out of danger and love, driven by two great forces—her sworn duty to heal the sick and her constant fear of the demented man who created her.