One hundred years after the Great Surchatain Roman of Lystra . . . The beautiful Chataine Ren?e meets Nicole, 17-year-old daughter of a humble tailor, at the fair and insists 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 the little province of Lystra, and Nicole discovers that in the presence of danger, even good men may veil the truth.