What would you sacrifice for the people you love?
Sarah and Dermot are determined to put the Stuarts' ambitious schemes behind them, and start a new life. They're even willing to give up their families and careers. But getting out of Scotland isn't going to be easy. There are obstacles all around them. The Stuarts have money, power and a private security force. More than that they have the scheming mind of Walter Stuart, who means to see his nephew leading an independent Scotland with Sarah by his side.
When their escape plan goes awry Sarah gambles their future on a theory she has. One that could upend all the Stuart plans. To test her theory the Stuarts agree to let her people decide using the way that they have done matchmaking for countless generations. The Nine are willing to oblige her, but the results raise more questions than they answer.
Dermot is desperate to declare independence from the Stuarts. Their agenda has governed too much of his life for too long. The more he tries to escape, the deeper into their web he is pulled. When the Auld Folk fail to provide the answer he and Sarah are looking for, he begins to doubt everything and everyone, even Sarah.
On her own and out of options Sarah must decide how she can protect herself and the people she loves.