Ten lives to save. An orchard to catch. A love neither planned.

Sabine Merrow has a trade she loves, friends she trusts, and no intention of trading her independence for a quieter life. Then Briarwake Orchard walks away with her former apprentice and nine other adults.

Finding them means sharing the road with caravan captain Bastian Holt. Hired to transport the rescuers, he has a company to protect, horses with limits, and a firm belief in departure times. Sabine has changing samples, unanswered questions, and an increasingly inconvenient appreciation of his smile.

Across autumn markets, flooded approaches, and ground that won't stay still, their disagreements begin to produce better plans?and reasons to linger over supper. He likes her appetite for the world. She likes the man beneath the careful arrangements. But the orchard's trail is growing stranger, and its owner's account leaves too much unsaid.

To bring ten people home, they'll need her knowledge of living magic and his hard-earned command of the road. To build something lasting between them, they must make room for more than one person's plans.