Elvira, a skilled herbalist who shared five years of clandestine devotion with King Edmund, expects a quiet royal proposal until a forged dispatch lures her lover away. When Crown Prince Lionel arrives and mistakes her for an intruder, Elvira lands in irons, only for Edmund to storm the cells and proclaim her his queen.
Entrusted with the royal treasury, Elvira uses forensic book-keeping to dismantle treasonous schemes orchestrated by the corrupt chancellor. Surviving poisonings and political frame-ups, she systematically uncovers the historical conspiracy that condemned her late mother. Elvira must outmaneuver mercenary armies and vindictive court nobility using sheer intellect to protect the king she loves.
