Dr. Inessa De La Cour’s research helps infertile couples create families while she carefully holds her shattered heart together with a secret. The war of 2050 is long in the past, but the devastation to Washington, D.C., even after sixty years, lingers despite efforts at rebuilding. But then, what does she know about it? She’s been on the Tokoleh’s flagship Discovery for almost seven years, running from her last mistake. She may never love again, but when a call from an old colleague in DC indicates the Separatists are using science to destroy lives again, she has a second chance to bring the man who killed Jia, the woman she loved, to justice, and she won’t fail this time. Talon is committed to surviving, but all of her skills may not be enough. The tinkering the Separatists did with her Griffon DNA means her life has an early expiration date. Now, Dr. Inessa De La Cour, the woman who left her life-companion for dead, has returned to the Hall of Justice claiming she wants to help. Talon may be a different version of herself now, but she knows Dr. De La Cour is not a woman she can trust, even if she has to work with her to save her own life. The perfect storm of change and secrets will take them through a discovery labyrinth of each other, science, and the world they thought they knew. But a twist of fate may bring love in just long enough to lose it again.