Wearied by decades of war in a foreign land, Prince Adacos's only comfort is his firm distance from the royal succession - when the fighting will end, he will retire to a quiet and peaceful life. But the arrival of the manipulative and ambitious upstart, Duke Taralos, obsessed with seizing the crown for his own ends, sunders his plans. As the law of succession is cast into doubt, Adacos must forego his dreams and stop the duke's machinations from throwing the kingdom he loves into ruin. Yet the unexpected burden of power begins to blur the moral nature of his own deeds. Will the prince defend his kingdom, or will he become a new source of the very corruption he vowed to keep at bay