Eleanor, the young queen of Aemogen, is confronted with the greatest threat her country has ever faced: surrender Aemogen?s sovereignty to the treacherous Imirillian Empire or endure a devastating and impossible war. Now she must decide if she will forfeit her people?s liberty or fight. When Wil Traveler, the disenchanted Imirillian soldier, wanders into her country, Eleanor takes the gamble of asking him to train her ill-prepared men for war, despite...

"Queen Eleanor's gambit worked. Aemogen, for now, has been spared from the ruthless Imirillian army. But Eleanor is still a captive, and Prince Basaal is taking her into the North. As Eleanor is swept through the deserts of Imirillia to the magnificent city of Zarbadast, she begins to understand the contradictions Basaal must negotiate beneath the reign of the sadistic Emperor Shaamil. Having returned home, Prince Basaal again finds himself at war...