Introduction: Killing people is an ethical doctrine for Akumu. Her entire life, death was never her enemy but a tool she sharpened to aid her family. There was never misery or hurt behind it: death is business. Yet when she spars with a foe who contests all her assertions of humanity, life, death, and adoration, Akumu finds a relationship that rescues her life. Despite their stormy beginnings, eros ignites between the two vicious contraries as she unlearns years of ritual and responsibility. Akumu''s entangled in a corporation she can''t escape, even when she comprehends its genuine nature. In a journey of love, hatred, blood, and family, Akumu must learn how to battle without employing the only pawn she''s ever understood: blood....