One hundred years after the Great Surchatain Roman of Lystra …

At the spring fair, the beautiful Chataine Renée meets 17-year-old Nicole, daughter of a humble tailor, and insists that she come for a visit to the palace at Westford. Raised in a peasant village on the coast, Nicole is unprepared for the sophistication and treachery of palace life—but her father has decreed that she shall not come home without a rich or noble husband.

Nicole’s prospects include Counselor Carmine, handsome but disinterested; Commander Ares, who carries the pain of his past; and possibly even Surchatain Cedric himself. But these are dark times for Lystra, and Nicole discovers that in the presence of evil, even good men may veil the truth.

Book 1 in The Latter Annals of Lystra series.