In the 15th century in the kingdom of Yorkford, 12-year-old Princess Juliana learns her dying mother’s secret—that she is a descendant of magic practicing people, called Majians, massacred twenty-two years ago in Maiden Hills, and she begs her to help save the survivors. Juliana writes off her mother’s story as the delusional words of a dying woman and doesn’t think about them again—until six years later. After Juliana’s 18th birthday, she enters into an arranged marriage with Prince Edmund, her father, King Matthew’s, arrogant protégé. At the same time, her father schemes to send Jack, Juliana’s childhood friend, away to manage the distant barony of Cedarville. When Edmund ascends to the throne, he discovers that his father was murdered by a magical person and becomes increasingly brutal. Edmund acts to destroy the remaining survivors who live in Cedarville. Jack befriends the Majians and engages in a conflict with his adoptive brother to protect them. Through a series of events, Juliana finds Jack. She realizes that her mother spoke the truth and she has magical blood running through her veins. She must wrestle with either maintaining her allegiance to her kingdom and her husband, or yielding to her true calling as a protector of a persecuted magic-practicing minority thus keeping the promise she made to her mother on her death-bed.