Divina knows not all scars are created equal, there are no rules for healing, that each journey has highs and lows, just like any life-giving ocean... Yet she cannot shake the idea of health she imposes on herself. Her life and body have been marked by tragedy, from before she was even born, to her most recent trials in flesh trade with the Witches. Now she is locked in a war between her passionate desire and her aversion to touch. Something must break.

Francis is a disciplined male, fully in control of his mind and emotions, but Divina, Requiem housemaid and survivor, tests him with quiet snark and conservative beauty. She is delicate, couldn't possibly want a twisted male like him. If his age didn't turn her off, his prosthetics surely would. Except... They do both share a love of chocolate.

They can work with chocolate. Then maybe they could work toward something more. That is, if the undercurrents of Cetean politics do not bring the Houses down around their gills...