Years after Ilya’s arranged marriage to King Khalid of Hanu grows into a genuine partnership, the couple has finally built a life shaped by more than the political bargain that brought them together. Their peace is interrupted when Ilya learns that his estranged father, King Cyril of Romelidahl, is gravely ill. Returning to the kingdom that once rejected and sold him into marriage forces Ilya to confront the family wounds he thought distance had settled and decide what, if anything, he still owes the people who betrayed him.