Bøger af Berlin Gunning

Etrea, queen of Etheria, has proven to Marnal, former Duchess of Saviatha, rival for her throne, that the royal marriage can survive efforts to destroy the nation. But is the same true for Etrea's unborn fifth child, her new Dark-Eyed lady-in-waiting, her favorite horse, or even Marnal's own children? Clearly. Marnal's sanity is deserting her as the war begins. But the only person, besides Marnal herself, who has any idea what is driving her mad has helped her keep a haunting secret for more than twenty years...and he's still not talking.

She loves her God, her subjects, her country, and her horses, in that order. In her arranged marriage, it does not matter that Etrea, standoffish blue-eyed queen of Etheria, where eye color rather than skin color determines a person's race, does not also love her husband, the High Prince Ymanu. The highest achievement of an Eatherian queen is to bear living sons. So when Etrea's third child is born a girl, her halfhearted fondness for her husband turns to outright hatred. Never mind that Ymanu is overjoyed to have a daughter. Never mind that the princess has inherited his green eyes, which mark her as a member of the superior race. But marital woes become inconsequential when Ymanu is poisoned with an obscure plant that damages his heart. Meanwhile, Alidias, the queen's adopted brother nearly starves to death as a prisoner inside a church steeple. Discovering who committed these crimes is simple enough; it is Marnal, the sullenly beautiful Duchess of Saviatha. What does Marnal want? More questions arise, as Etrea encounters Petram, a neglected boy whom Marnal subjected to the same sort of poisoning. It is one thing to eradicate the royal family in a quest for power. But why would Marnal harm two disabled boys with no blood ties to the throne? The answers to these questions will determine the fate of a nation. To thwart the Duchess, Etrea and Ymanu must join forces against her. Is political unity possible in the midst of their deteriorating marriage? Or will a shameful secret Etrea carries prevent reconciliation, and allow Marnal to destroy the country?

Just how far will a beautiful but embittered noblewoman go to overthrow her anointed sovereign?