Jake Paynter is a doomed man. Haunted by an abusive childhood and his participation in atrocities of the Civil War, he seeks the isolation of the Plains Cavalry as a white officer for an all-Black buffalo soldier troop. Now, he is in irons and certain to be hanged for killing his captain after refusing an inhumane order. Despite his best efforts to maintain isolation, he starts to make friends on his journey to trial. The people of the wagon train...

"King Midas made me the woman I am today. Notorious. Unattainable. His. The thing about being confined is that you believe it's to keep the bad out. ...Until you realize it's about keeping you in. I'm now in a strange kingdom surrounded by liars, with no allies of my own, but I won't sit idly by and let myself wither. No, there's something that's bloomed from the pit of my repression. Something dark. Something angry. But the last thing I expected...