After saving an illegally enslaved apostate mage from an Orlesian noble, The Iron Bull finds himself with a new member of the Chargers. Dorian, his magic and his voice bound, is a beautiful and enigmatic addition to his team, and soon finds himself close to his new family. Swept up in the Inquisition after a plea from a friend, The Iron Bull and Dorian find themselves carefully dancing around the ideas of home, family, love, and what it means to truly be free. As The Iron Bull wrestles with the Qun and what it will cost him, Dorian comes to grips with his past as both Altus and slave, and together they begin paving the way for a future neither expected.

Somewhere on the road, Mary Hatford gets pregnant with her second child. When she passes, she leaves behind not only Neil, but his toddler brother. Survival is difficult without also raising a kid. Worn out and desperate, Neil still somehow ends up at Palmetto, only this time, he brings his four-year-old brother with him.