Eighteen-year-old smithy Ziva is able to forge iron items and imbue them with magic. She has created many weapons including daggers that shatter anything they come into contact with, a mace that steals an opponent's breath, and a spear that always comes back to the person who throws it. Her abilities are beginning to become more widely known, and Ziva depends on her younger sister Temra to run the shop because she suffers from social anxiety and panic attacks. A warlord commissions Ziva to make her a sword, but when the sword turns out to be more destructive than Ziva thought was possible, she takes her sister and flees the town hiring a drunk mercenary to protect them. A scholar of magic joins them so that he can record details of Ziva's gift as magic was outlawed until a few years ago. As they travel, Ziva may be developing feelings for the mercenary and Temra for the scholar, but several incidents have Ziva questioning her feelings. Will they ever be able to outrun their pursuers, and will Ziva ever admit her feelings?