Vengeance is patient... It has been ten years since the events of The Cinder Crown, ten years of happiness and peace for Cordelia and her new family, and ten years of security and growth for the Kingdom of Hohenzern. Ten years in which the dangers of the past have become little more than a bad memory. But ten years is enough time to let your guard drop... Far to the west, former allies have fallen and old enemies have risen to power. Total war threatens to engulf the kingdom and powerful advisories force King Dietrich and his army to march against overwhelming odds. Meanwhile, in the shadows, hidden foes plot to strike from an unexpected direction, aiming at the very heart of the nation and threatening to plunge it into a devastating civil war. Finding herself, unwillingly, in control of Hohenzern, Cordelia is plunged into a dangerous adventure where she must choose to risk everything - her life, her love, her throne and her family - to protect the kingdom... or to die trying.