With a wedge at last driven between Mat and Dougie Carmichael, courtesy of Nikolai Petrovic's expert manipulations, the brothers must each accept their new path forward: Dougie, a perfect slave, sweet and obedient and loving. Mat, a tightly reined dog, snarling and snapping but never allowed to bite. Unfortunately, no transformation, however well planned, is without its growing pains. Mat's leash is so tight it's choking him. Dougie is tormented by a little voice inside his head-a fragment of his former self-that he cannot silence. And Nikolai's most difficult tests for the brothers are still to come. The critical question isn't whether they can pass those tests, but whether they even want to. Without each other to lean on and live for, a bleak future has become bleaker still. But Nikolai's too good to let his slaves slip through his fingers-by death or by despair.