Most people in the country of Saphradea admire sorcerers and dream of having magical powers. Not Merina, a young woman who detests magic because she thinks it ruined the life of her mother, a failed sorceress candidate who abandoned her in infancy. When Merina's fiancé, Trinames, announces he has decided to go for training as a Healer sorcerer, her personal world turns upside down. As heiress to a tract of rich farmland, she wants only to manage her own property and bring up a family in peace, a dream she thought Trinames shared. Yet events conspire to force her into a realm of magic and intrigue she never wanted. When Trinames gets kidnapped and she strikes out across the wilderness to rescue him, in company with a wandering trader who turns out to be more than he appears, she runs into a crisis that awakens magical powers she shouldn't even possess. Previous-generation, stand-alone prequel to the "Wild Sorceress" trilogy.