In Heaven, every angel is born with a single unique gift, and every angel is given a human to serve. Grant every wish of your human's life, and you will rise to become a god. But humans want the same things, and angels must fight one another to win them. Ithiel's gift is Return: anything aimed at what lies beneath his wings is sent back to its source. Assigned to Adrian Vale, a boy born in a storm above a laundry in the harbor city of Calderport, Ithiel wins every race, every heart, every war, and Adrian never once hears the word no. Forty-four years later, the Harbor King's wishes have drowned sailors, broken a strike, imprisoned his wife and burned the slum where he was born, and Ithiel has become the angel of a thousand-year legend: the Shield of the Unworthy. All of Heaven rises against him. He knows the man is wrong. He stays anyway.