Widowed by a violent conquest, imprisoned as a spoil of war, spirited Lady Elienne encounters a formidable visitation inside her locked cell. A powerful, unknown sorcerer promises her a reprieve in trade for a precarious fate: safe transfer from her ruined duchy to another world, there to become chosen bride for the Prince of Pendaire. But the perilous bargain depends on her late husband's unborn child, with the defenseless infant birthed as threatened centerpiece in a deadly struggle to upset the succession.

Alone with bare wits, Elienne faces entanglement in vicious intrigue, herself the target for ambitious usurpers already plotting Prince Darion's downfall through dark magic.