At her sister's wedding feast, young Lara Basmajinik shares a single dance with handsome Prince Kaz. That night Lara makes a vow in her journal to marry only for love, never for political expediency.As she matures, Lara's infatuation with Prince Kaz grows into love. But to her great dismay, she is commanded by the king to become wife and nursemaid to Kaz's feeble-minded younger brother, Jaederion. When the crown prince is poisoned at his betrothal feast, Kaz is accused of the murder and imprisoned for life. Jaederion inherits the throne, although it is Lara, his queen, who wields the real power-power enough to free Kaz. But to do so would jeopardize her son's inheritance.Lara must at last decide where her loyalties lie: with the only man she has ever loved, with her son, or with her own increasing hunger for dominance and power.