The revelation that Emperor Loethar and his enemy, King Leonel, share the same paternal royal blood destroys previous loyalties. And it seems that Piven is no longer the helpless orphan everyone believed him to be. Perhaps most startling of all is the discovery that the first Valisar princess to survive in centuries is returning to the world and may well wield the famed Valisar Enchantment. As the empire threatens to tear itself apart, former enemies must now work on the same side and friends become the hunted to protect the imperial line. At all costs royal blood must prevail...even when it pitches Valisar against Valisar.