At twenty-one, the only daughter of the Duke of Ghorfien inherits her father’s vast and contested lands on the eve of war. With rival lords maneuvering to seize power and her position as a young, untested ruler placing a target on her back, her father sends her away under cover of night before he is killed, entrusting her safety to a distant cousin she has never met. She is taken across the border to Benethor, to a quiet, isolated manor owned by Fynn—thirty years old, reclusive, and bound to her by blood rather than loyalty—where he lives with only his butler, Eric. As the conflict in Ghorfien escalates, the manor becomes both refuge and cage, forcing her to confront the weight of her inheritance, the danger of her identity, and the uneasy dependence growing between herself and the man tasked with protecting her while the fate of her homeland hangs in the balance.