Every twenty years the desert world of Anhar takes one bride from Earth. Amara Boateng volunteers because she is a hydrologist, and the river is the only thing anyone talks about. She expects a ceremony. She does not expect Khasir, an Anhari water-shaper who has spent three years dodging the tribute lottery, and whose bond ignites the moment she steps off the transport. He wants her to go home. He is too late. Under the temple, in tunnels no one shows brides, Amara finds the truth about the tribute, the river, and four hundred years of theft. She came to map an aquifer. She is leaving with a planet's confession and one very cold alien in tow.

Sasha Beaumont lost her career to a hit she still dreams about. Now she works for the league that let it happen, investigating threats against playoff teams. The first one arrives signed with her old jersey number. The second one names Dee Nakamura - the goaltender who delivered the hit, the woman who hasn't spoken to her in eighteen months, the person Sasha has spent every night deciding whether to hate. Dee says she's being framed. Sasha doesn't believe her. Then a player goes to the hospital, and the pattern stops looking personal and starts looking like a man with a betting account and a roster he controls. Nine days to the final. Two women who can barely be in a room together. One executive who knows exactly which wound to press. They're going to have to trust each other before Sunday. They're going to have to do it while somebody tries to make sure they don't.