Detrick Lismore has always considered himself a devout follower of the goddess Lilith the Begetter. But when he is reunited with his rebellious childhood friend Conner, Detrick’s entire worldview is threatened. Suddenly the Empyrean Union of Aeos isn’t the picture-perfect government he’d always seen it as. Events like Catharsis, the annual burning of heretics, no longer seem ethical. And the more time Detrick spends with Conner, the more he realizes he’s falling hard for him. Conner is the one person his parents warn him to stay away from, the one person Lilith surely doesn’t approve of, and yet Detrick can’t stay away from him. These new revelations force Detrick to question everything he’s ever known about morality, about religion, and about love. Is a heretic like Conner worth sacrificing everything for?