A magicless heiress is abandoned again and again by the two guardians sworn to protect her—always for another woman. When her life-saving Heartroot is destroyed, one bares his fangs at her while the other shields the culprit. She severs both bonds and walks into the Bonding Grove, choosing a stranger sleeping in a silver-bark tree. He is lazy, dangerous, and agrees to guard her for only three months. No one knows why he accepts. This time, the keeper they left behind walks away first.