In the smog-choked city of Ironspire, justice has no heart... but Mercy never needed one. As one of the twelve members of the Family, Mercy has spent years building order from the shadows; protecting her own, eliminating threats, and ensuring the powerful learn there are consequences for preying on the vulnerable. Cold, calculating, and ruthlessly practical, she has little use for feelings and even less for complications. Then Cillian arrives with a mysterious gold coin. He's a charming liar, a reckless con man, and a Word Weaver who has survived by making sure no one ever discovers exactly what he can do. When his mysterious Contract Coin binds him to Mercy, his problems abruptly become hers. His pain becomes her pain. When he falls unconscious, she follows. And if he dies, Mercy may die with him. Breaking the contract should be simple: determine the debt, repay it, and get Cillian out of her life. Except the coin doesn't seem to want money or things. Cillian is running out of time. Mercy is beginning to feel things she buried long ago. And the longer they're forced together, the harder it becomes to tell where contractual obligation ends and genuine choice begins. Because the coin has secrets. So does Mercy. And neither of them realizes that their meeting may not have been an accident.