It begins in a cold and shabby tower room, where young countess meliara swears to her dying father that she and her brother will defend their people from the growing greed of the king. That promise leads them into a war ...It begins in a cold and shabby tower room, where young countess meliara swears to her dying father that she and her brother will defend their people from the growing greed of the king. That promise leads them into a war for which they are ill prepared, a war that threatens the homes and lives of the very people they are trying to protect.