Lady Amelia, the daughter of a marquis, had been raised as a boy to take her brother's place at court. When she was framed for a courtesan's murder at a brothel, she was forced to join hands with her rival, Prince Weston. They went from scheming against each other to fighting side by side as they uncovered the truth behind the Powell family's massacre and the wrongful deaths of Amelia's parents twelve years earlier. Layer by layer, they exposed the dowager empress's treasonous plot with foreign enemies. After surviving countless perils and toppling her enemies, Queen of Krorelle and the Foster family, Amelia, with Weston's help, executed the dowager empress and cleared her parents' names and those of the two hundred thousand soldiers of her clan. Once the dust settled, Weston ascended the throne and honored the late emperor's betrothal by marrying Amelia. The realm knew peace, and the couple welcomed twins and lived out their days in quiet contentment.
