Several spies, undercover as merchants, have entered Dakh Hhargashian space to find out what happens to the kidnapped masses. They've ended up dead, executed by the alien government, their bodies returned to Earth as a warning. So when Jane Freeman, newly minted spy working for the Interplanetary Intelligence Agency, is offered the protection of an alien marauder named Krelg, the agency is keen to send her to the man's home world. There, she will be deposited into a strange and baffling culture, trying to learn something so secret any Dakh Hhargash would rather die than tell her. But before she can do that, she must survive another challenge, since the ceremony to confer this "protection" is actually an alien wedding ritual. And Krelg plans to kill her after their first night as man and wife.