In Wicke, menfolk hunt their wives in the dim forests. On the Burning Coast, they snatch them from the sea. But in Patrick's mountain village of Blackfrye, lonely boys lure their brides down from the night sky itself. And these, everybody knows—these make the happiest marriages of them all. But when the young shepherd scales the mountain to win a wife of his own, he gets almost more than he can handle with Stella. She's got bats' wings, for one—and a tongue far sharper than her yellow fangs. And in exchange for her hand in wedlock, she wants something from Patrick in return…something that, once given, might turn his humble home upside-down forever. Can Patrick and his feral bride-on-the-wing find happiness in the world of men? Or will a silent horror rotting under Blackfrye consume them both?