Following her father's death along the rugged northern frontier, Lady Eleanor plans to honor her regent husband Gareth with full command of the ducal army. Her loyalty shatters when she discovers his clandestine romance with a court mistress, exposing his utter contempt for her ancestral house.
Eleanor immediately brandishes her ducal authority, strips Gareth of his titles, and sentences him to hard labor in the stone quarries. As her childhood protector Leyan steps forward to safeguard the realm, the buried truth emerges that Gareth stole credit for saving Eleanor from an ancient blaze. Eleanor must defend her borders against Gareth's desperate retaliation to secure her ducal seat.
