The king is dead. With war hanging treacherously over the allies of the western kingdom of Ethor, Daria, the ward of Queen Lucia, finds herself struggling to stay ahead of political intrigue and a pending marriage to an affectionate, patronizing Grand Duke. She throws herself into heading an undercover operation to rescue young women from the same horrors of her own childhood, but even her dreams of running a safe haven for the girls come to a halt when the return of the queen's runaway son draws a new threat from the past. Tangled in secrets, greed, and murder, Daria must enlist in an unlikely alliance to protect her girls and stop a growing power from the south as truths about her own history surface and bind her and everything she loves to the fate of the Continent.