In a world where a god of change can incarnate, his last one was killed ages ago by the Temple, who maintains a fragile peace. Their doctrine is simple: contain the fallout, control the narrative, and never let the lusty shadows of the past override the chaste peace of the present.

Artemis is a commodity easy to come by despite the Temple's dislike of her profession - a whore whose magical ability lies in being able to absorb the worries and cares of her clients. They come to her with problems, and they leave relieved of their burdens. What they do not know is that something within Artemis hungers for the energy, the emotion, the power that a session brings, which she uses as the basis for her own abilities. Nothing special, of course, and never too much at a time, enough to make the Temple think she is just a mere sorcerer. Flashes of memory not her own have been leading her to suspect otherwise.

And the Temple has its own worries. Long ago the current avatar of the god of change, lover to seven particular lords, was murdered by the Temple who rose to prominence and whose descendants now work against the power of those same seven lords. They're having more trouble than usual so a priest is sent to ask Artemis to see to their varied needs, to soothe the savage beast as it were.

The first lord is Lydros, whose need and desire is for touch, to whom the carnal activity comes second, and Artemis wonders as she comes into his bed just what else the Temple has lied about...