When famous human musician Melody wakes two thousand years after a nuclear winter, she thinks she's landed on the right side of a war. Fae are called the Tainted. They're warped, mutated creatures who hoard the bounty of the new magical land. It's her job in the human city to sling propaganda in the form of daily songs performed to a select tower of elite.

But this position makes her sought after by many, including a ghastly military man, the evil president of the new world, and an enigmatic stranger who turns up at her doorstep asking for help.

Forrest is the good guy-the elf people go to when they want help, no questions asked. And when he learns he's the only Guardian with the looks to pass as human, he accepts the job to infiltrate the enemy city and bring a kidnapped fae child home. He never counted on meeting a woman so extraordinary, he hardly believes she exists. Melody-the human harbinger-swiftly captures his heart and tempts him out of a long lifetime of celibacy.

As trouble brews within the ranks of the human elite, Forrest and Melody must come to terms with their forbidden desires... and decide which sacrifice is worth the cost-one of their hearts, or one of freedom.