Linda is an adept, a visionary who wants to do some good in the world. But she also wants to find happiness, and to do that, she must find a man who can control her. Unable to see her own future she seeks the advice of an ancient prophet who tells her the man who can enslave her body can set free her soul. She employs the services of an armsman, Larry, as her bodyguard. Though she finds him annoying at times, she becomes strongly attracted to him and she experiences fear and lust and the lash of the quirt on her needy, squirming flesh. He is perceptive, understanding that she needs magic to constrain her magic before she can be bedded. Linda begins to realise her power can be imprisoned and she can render herself helpless and ready to be overpowered and mastered, for she seeks to maintain a balance between adept and slave. This is her destiny and she embraces it.

This volume also includes the following short stories: Interlude with a Minstrel; All the Blighted Worlds; The Need; Masterworks; Real; Strong Dreaming; Rose and Thorn; Barbie; and Interaction.