Ainsley is a dragonblood princess, powerful but constantly restrained by her duties and her oppressive father, the king of Ellay. When a pirate crew makes a shaky truce with the king and asks for a guarantee of their safe travels around his country, he offers up Ainsley as an unwilling hostage and a show of good faith on his part. Ainsley suddenly finds herself powerless and trapped on a pirate ship, but the crew is nothing like what she expects, and neither is the lady captain, Gael, who defies every expectation and leaves Ainsley curious and unsure of where her loyalties lie. She tries her best to hate Gael and the pirates, but slowly, they're winning her over, and she must face the awful truth: to follow her heart will bring about catastrophic consequences, and she will need to be prepared to fight fire with fire.

The Ashborne's and Price's had hated each other since the beginning of time. At least that's what Vera Ashborne's mother had told her. With no explanations, no lengthy tales, Vera could only wonder if the Price's were as evil as the images in her head, or bad enough to be hated forever. Following a tragic accident, she journeys to the place where it all began to find out the mystery of their clan. There, she will uncover the answer to these questions; How soon can you love? How long can you hate?