Book One of Tales of Erets (The Crusade of Stone and Stars). The Queen of the kingdom of Arx is having an affair with her oldest childhood friend, right under the King's nose. The King of Arx, however, is not only fine with that, but, in fact, is encouraging it, as the King is a lover of men. Arx needs an heir to the throne, and the King plans to claim whatever child his Queen and her bodyguard conceive is his own, but in Arxian politics secrets have a price, and affairs can tear a kingdom apart. Arx teeters on the brink of chaos, and all while the nearby kingdom of Nihilus threatens Arx with holy war.