Mara Thorne, a blacksmith’s daughter, refuses to remain Prince Adrian’s secret lover after he joins the court in mocking her. When she discovers she is pregnant, Adrian doubts the child is his, then accepts a political engagement to Princess Vivienne. Mara enters the royal tournament on her own terms. There, she saves Vivienne’s life and awakens an ancient bloodline that can command stone-armored knights. The princess who once humiliated her begins to see the woman Adrian tried to hide.