When Grolier Desius returns from a confrontation with his family’s bitter enemy aboard a jonah—one of the living starships descended from Old Earth whales—he believes the worst is behind him. But in a civilization that has achieved unprecedented gender freedom, the deepest forms of violence still flourish in the shadows of family life.

As chaos begins to consume the Messioph community, Grolier uncovers devastating truths about his family’s past—secrets so difficult they have shaped not just his own life, but the lives of countless others. When one of the victims of generational trauma strikes back with unthinkable fury, the consequences threaten to consume entire worlds.

Racing through a web of family betrayals and institutional cover-ups, Grolier must confront how the most intimate violence can metastasize into civilization-threatening catastrophe. His choices will determine whether the bonds that hold the Humanitat together—including humanity’s ancient partnership with the jonahs—can survive the deadly legacy of buried trauma.