Laurel Neales, the first princess of Tortia, has been married off to the emperor of Kairos following a political feud that ended with the assassination of her parents. Undiscouraged by the circumstances, Laurel refuses to give in to becoming yet another of the emperor's concubines. Instead, she plays along with his romantic whims and gains her own form of power in this new life by proposing an offer he cannot refuse: to facilitate his conquest of the land that betrayed her.