You were my star! Her warbled shriek pierced through that hollow space in my chest. The way she cried was like mourning a death-but I was sitting right there, next to her. Mother. You were my star! Past tense. Ever since him-the monster, the snake of my youth-I'd lost my shining, shimmering pure-white perfection. I didn't live for that anymore. Couldn't. It hadn't kept me safe. The model, rule-following daughter was out. Now, I chased distraction. I lived for a thrill. I got wrapped up in anything that might take my mind away from those scars. That's how I met James. How did it get this far? We'd agreed on boundaries. They were written into the way we'd met-an arrangement. But somewhere in those loose curls that hung below his worn out ball cap, the thickness of his old flannel, or those crinkles by his eyes that betrayed his age, I lost sight of how this had all started. The comfort of his arms was a cage I could've hidden away in for the rest of forever. Problem was, distracting myself in James meant distracting myself from precious things, too. My best friend Ariel? I missed her cries for help. My young student at school? Suffered and neglected. Mother's heart? Shattered into a million pieces. Retreating into James' safety could only keep my world from unraveling for so long. My past couldn't be outrun. And my trauma refused to be swept aside.

The Green Witches were once admired and respected members of the community. They were a bridge between the human world and the world of nature until King Roderick tried to enlist them in his war with the neighbouring kingdom of Berkanol. When they refused, the King, fearing they would use their powers against him, declared them to be enemies of the Kingdom and ordered them arrested and killed. Today, the few that remain survive by hiding, forever fearing discovery. Sixteen year old Tala Viddyr is one of those survivors. She lives alone in a cottage in the forest after her father walked out and her mother died of the fever. A young woman living alone will be sure to attract the attention of the witchhunters, though. To hide she has to appear normal, which means she has to marry someone and play the role of wife and mother. She chooses Seventeen year old Dougal Tanner, a boy she likes and who has tried to court her a number of times but for whom she has no real feelings. She hopes that love will come later, but beginning a relationship with him means she has to make a difficult choice. Should she try to hide the truth from him her entire life, or tell him what she is and take the risk that he will betray her to the witchhunters?