The king and queen are dead. Long live the princess.
When the king and queen of Magog are murdered, and the monstrous denizens of the Monsterwood are blamed for their deaths, infant Princess Jocasta is left as the heir to the throne, with the ominous Tiberius as Regent. As her sixteenth birthday approaches, she is determined to return to the Monsterwood to complete the rite to be anointed as queen but Tiberius forbids it, due to the dangers that lurk there.
The streets of Magog, however, are no less dangerous, especially for those with Mahru heritage, who are oppressed by Tiberius and his elite Zumari forces. Teenaged Jovis has gotten into trouble one too many times, and his only safe haven is the equally treacherous Monsterwood. When he encounters a disguised Jocasta and her companion, Scrag, traveling there, he boldly assures them they won't make it far without him. Together, the three discover there's danger in the Monsterwood and Magog than they ever realized, and none if it is quite what they believed
