The story plays out in an empire in which women are valued only as dutiful wives, mothers, and religious sacrifices. Misogyny is a constant backdrop via concern about women's purity and proper place, and threats of violent execution. One main character is in a complicated marriage that she sought out to gain leverage to protect her conquered people. Her husband treats her with the empire's version of love and respect for one's wife. She implies that she considers her marriage, and sex and pregnancy, to be sacrifices she found necessary and would rather not have needed to make.