The king says everyone is equal, but Nelia's life shows the opposite.Once, she'd considered herself blessed; she has the ability to see the true character of others. Envy as green slime, evil as tar. Shame as rubies sparkling bright enough that men would fight over them.

But then war took her husband's kindness. Famine took her beloved grandfather. Plague took her only son. Now an outcast in her hometown, Nelia is at a breaking point.

Her gift has brought her pain more often than not and it, like her own life, seems to have no purpose anymore. With nothing left to lose, she sets out on a journey to see the king, the man who claims she possesses the same right to a life of purpose as everyone else. Let him prove it.

But the journey itself promises hardship. And if the king can't give her the answer she needs, then the despair that threatens to consume her will finally have its victory.