It has been two years since Queen Amelie ascended to the throne of Gillengaria, along with her consort Cammon. Wen was once a King's Rider, but the death of King Barylt was hard for her to bear when he died and she still lived. As soon as the war was over, Wen declined to serve the Queen and left the capital, hoping to die somewhere and assuage her shame at still living when the King she served so loyally died.
A chance encounter in an inn allows Wen to rescue Karryn Fortunalt, the only daughter of the former Fortunalt lord and now heir to the Manor of Fortune and the Fortunalt lands. The man who kidnapped her was a rejected suitor who thought that pressing his claim and abducting Karryn would gain him Lordship over Fortunalt. But he didn't reckon on encountering Wen... or how well-trained a King's Rider is.
Wen manages to dispose of the unwanted suitor and his hired thug easily, and brings Karryn home, and encounters Karryn's uncle and guardian, Jasper Paladar. She recommends hiring at least 24 guards to look after Karryn at all times, but declines to take on the job herself. But an attack on Wen herself, and the problem of what to do with the two orphans left behind, one of them a mystic and reader, make her agree to be Captain of the guard as long as Jasper Paladar hires the two children. But she will only agree to stay on for a month, no longer, unless she feels it is needed.
However, because of Karryn's father, not many people will consider hiring out as guardsmen to Fortunalt. So Wen passes the word around, that she will consider hiring anyone as a guard, presuming they pass her tests. Included in the group is another mystic, who has telekinetic abilities. Now, to convince Karryn and her mother that they must inform the guardsmen of their movements if they wish to have the guardsmen do their jobs.
Every night, Wen must inform Jasper Paladar of the Guards' progress, and he starts becoming closer and closer to her, first, by playing a boardgame that mimics war and battles, and then by reading to her a tale of adventure. Wen finds herself uncomfortably disturbed by how much she is enjoying Jasper's nearness, because she knows she cannot stay and shouldn't become close to him. But her heart seems blind to what her head is telling her, and is falling for him anyway.
Meanwhile, Cammon, Senneth, Tayse, Justin, Kirra and Donnal come together to guard Cammon as he travels the southern part of Gillengaria to ensure it is safe for Amelie to make another progress about the realm. Well aware that it was the southern realms that rose in rebellion against her father, Barylt, she and the riders want to ensure her safety before she finds herself fighting more soldiers or dead. Cammon travels to the Southern lordships, sounding out the new rulers there, looking into problems they are having, and so on. His powers as a reader will ensure that he will know if anyone has murder or mischief on their mind against him or Amelie.
Amelie's new guard are called the Queen's Riders, and unlike those from King Barylt's time, there are only 49 of them, rather than 50. She is still hoping that they will find Wen and persuade her to return to the guard. But Wen has a death wish and is hoping to die in a fashion that does good, and makes a difference. But will Jasper Paladar and Karryn Fortunalt somehow be able to persuade her that she is making a difference right where she is, or will it take the influence of Queen's Rider Justin, the man she loved and lost when he fell for Ellynor, a Lirrenlands girl, to make her see sense and give up her futile quest for death?
This book wasn't about the six main characters from the original series, though Wen was always an important secondary character. And here, she finally gets a story and a love of her own. But to do so, she needs to get over this quest for her own death for failing to die when she couldn't save King Barylt. Even two years later, she is still seeking her own end. But she's cut caring for anyone out of her heart, and to learn to be able to live again, she is going to have to let people back in and be willing to care about them again. Which she does, eventually, even if she has to be dragged there, kicking and screaming (metaphorically speaking) every step of the way.
It was nice to see that not every member of the Southern nobility being horrible people, and also that the Southern Lords weren't just automatically forgiven by their people for all the Lords had wrought on their own behalf. Yes, the people supported the members of the rebelling houses during the rebellion, but much of it seemed to be under duress, and the hatred engendered for mystics could be mostly beaten back by an exposure to actual mystics and how otherwise utterly harmless they were.
It was also nice to see the familliar crew gathered back together again. Even if the other members of the series were more side characters than main characters this time around, they almost took over the story when they finally reunited with Wen. This isn't hard considering how strong characters they actually are. They made the other characters beside Wen, fade into the background more than a bit. But in the end, Wen and her story triumphed, and she got her happy ending, and a story that was more than worthy of her, and a man who was the same.
This is a book where you have to read the other books before it or lose a lot of the richness of the story and background characters. But reading the other books is no hardship at all when you have such strong and interesting characters as these. Highly recommended.
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