Once, telepaths almost wiped out humanity. Years later, a brotherhood called the Gentle Hand lives to keep it from happening again. But sometimes a telepath is born outside their order.

Langston Wheeler, a young Hand with a checkered past, heads to the planet Felicitas to investigate a rogue telepath. His superiors want the rogue brought in, the rules enforced, and above all else, the world kept firmly in the Gentle Hand’s camp.

Tia Dynn, the youngest person ever elected to lead Felicitas, shepherds her peaceful world into the center of the interstellar stage. On the cusp of true greatness, her people are ready for a leading role in Human Space. The only thing she lacks is someone to share it all.

But the rogue Wheeler’s hunting is not what he seems. Langston and Tia face a dark threat from the age when the first telepaths tried to rule humanity. Forced together by a danger they never imagined, the two contend with assassination, intrigue, and their growing love for each other. Langston is a Gentle Hand, though. He’s expected to marry another Hand, and bring up telepathic children.

War and survival draw them closer and closer, and Wheeler must choose between his history, the rules of his order, and a woman he can’t resist. The fate of Human Space hangs in the balance.