A king inclined contrary to nature.
A foreign-born queen confined to the palace.
A kingdom desperately needing an heir.
Two courtiers ask Keladon, retired battlemage and the king's bastard half-brother, to impregnate the queen. His sense of duty to the kingdom sends him to her bedchamber. But he must do far more to stop a conspiracy of magic and murder threatening the kingdom's survival - and the woman he comes to love.