The Queen is Dead In all her centuries of rule, the Gentry queen known as Semele the Great was known for her keen mind and her strength, allowing her beloved Iron Court and the mortal city of Wilmington, North Carolina to flourish side by side. Only in her declining years did she begin to falter, the reach of her Court falling back inside the borders of the city, driven out of the wilder lands to the north and west through a series of failed wars against the savage Beast Kings. But her people loved her, and the shock of facing the modern world without Queen Semele's guidance has cast a pall over the already wounded city. It is an unprecedented vacuum of power, and Iron Court waits to see who will rise to fill it. The Black Prince Lorenzo, the Son of Semele, has all of his mother's charisma and intellect, and his own measure of ruthless ambition as well. Widely blamed for the defeat of the Queen's army on the western front, he intends to restore Iron Court to its former glory by exterminating the Beast Kings once and for all. A consummate politician, he is willing to move slowly, creating his legacy through a complicated network of secrets, alliances, and betrayals. He is widely believed to be untouchable and invincible; only a small circle of unexpected friends know the depths of his doubts and vulnerability. The White Knight Captain Michael Bruce comes from the bottom of Iron Court's social order, a changeling giant born to human parents, but Queen Semele saw his potential and raised him to the knighthood, where he became her bodyguard and closest friend. Famous in Iron Court for his honesty and his concern for the weak, he longs to have his revenge on the Beast Kings for the battle scars they left him, but his conscience prevents him from making common cause with the Black Prince whose machinations are drenched in blood and lies. The Red Thread The queen's death has opened a narrow space in the fabric of Fate, and peace cannot be restored until a new queen of Semele's bloodline reigns over Iron Court again. Some seize the opportunity to snap the thread, ending the ancient rule of divine Gentry Queens once and for all. Some fall in line behind the old traditions, propping up a legitimate but weak queen from over the sea. But for Lorenzo and Michael, the struggle for Iron Court's future comes down to control over the mysterious Lost Heir, the scion of Semele's line. But if the Lost Heir is real at all, the child seems to have vanished into the human world, putting the lives of one unwitting human family at risk from gods and monsters they never imagined existed. The tools of Gentry power are murder and intrigue, oathbreaking and manipulation, violence and sorcery, and whoever can twist the strands of Fate and recreate the old regime of Iron Court in his own image can dictate the court's future. Lorenzo and Michael shared the queen who loved them both like a mother and the war that stole their youth. Their friendship could save Iron Court in its darkest hour, but their rivalry will cost one of them everything.
