King Baryn has decided that if he marries his daughter Amalie to a high-ranking noble, the rebellious marlords might be pacified and he might be able to avert a war. So he invites all the young serramar to the royal city to court his daughter.

To protect Amalie from any unsavory suitors, the mystic Cammon is installed to monitor all of Amalie’s courtships, because Cammon is a reader who can tell if someone harbors violence or malevolence in his heart. Much to the dismay of her advisors, Amalie begins to fall in love with the wholly unsuitable Cammon.

Even worse, war comes to Gillengaria anyway, and Amalie can only be kept safe through the combined efforts of the Riders, the mystics—and the wild raelynx that has mystical powers of its own.