The story takes place in the nation of Viridia and begins just after the year of mourning has officially ended following the deaths of Princesses Claudia and Charlotte when the story kicks off. The Princesses died in an ‘accidental’ carriage wreck, and both Princes were supposed to be with them but had been detained by the King. 

Thatcher is the wild younger son, interested in chasing boys and having a good time while his brother worries about preparing to be the next King. The story opens with a scene of Thatcher having an endearing moment with his father in the study before they head to a banquet to send Prince Richard and his newly pregnant wife off on a tour of the Viridian Isles in the Channel. Princess Mary and her family are in attendance and plan to stay in the city for an extended period during the next few months, her husband has stayed behind to rule the city and is not present. 

After sharing a moment the following morning with his brother where Richard explains he has found some letters that lead him to be unsure if the child carried by Nadia is his or not. Thatch reassures him and convinces him to try and enjoy himself and not confront Nadia while on the progress before sending him on his way. Thatch shares a brief moment with a former lover, Sir Phillip, who is accompanying his brother on the journey.  Thatch proceeds to return back to his laid back lifestyle, enjoying the time before he turns 21 and his father forces him to join the royal navy, where he is expected to one day be named High Admiral by his brother when King. 

After a few months, the ships carrying the crown prince has returned with just the Princess claiming that during a storm they got separated from the other ships and Richard was thrown overboard. Nadia is now heavily pregnant, due within the next month or so. With Richard presumed dead, Thatcher becomes the temporary heir until Nadia gives birth, when he will be supplanted by his new niece or nephew. Thatch is just fine with this scenario, as he has no desire to be the next King. 

One thing keeps bothering him though, the news his brother shared and the suspicious timing of his brothers disappearance. Could Richard have confronted Nadia about the letters and something happened? When one of the missing ships returns, with the captain telling of an attack by Sibirsk Thatch gets more suspicious with this conflicting story. He confronts Nadia who blames it on being distressed and pregnant and misspeaking. This makes him even more suspicious, and he starts looking into the situation. Thatch meets with a groom of Nadias household who reveals that Nadia has indeed been having an affair with none other than her cousin Lord Lyle, who is the real father of her child. The groom also reveals he believes that the attack on their ships was no accident. 

Thatch goes to Lyles chambers to confront him, and finds he is gone, and waits with Lyles husband, Lord Tyber. Hes upset and starts asking questions, and Tyber distracts him with wine and seduces him. Following their encounter, Thatch falls asleep, and wakes when he hears a sob, and opens his eyes to see Tyber standing over him with a knife. Tyber immediately drops the knife and starts sobbing, and confesses he had been put up to it by Lyle, who threatened to kill him if he didn’t help. 

Tyber reveals that Kalen and Lyle have hatched a plot beginning with the marriage of Nadia to the Crown Prince. Nadia resented the arranged marriage and her new husband, and was easily seduced by Lyle to become his lover. After getting pregnant, they hatched the plot with Nadias father/Kalens brother, the king of <foreign nation> to kill Richard and have Nadia return home with Lyles child in her womb, where they planned to poison the King once the baby was born and Lyle/Kalen would rule the Kingdom through the infant child and Nadia, with support from their homeland.

Tyber says they planned to kill Thatch to ensure the King doesn’t name him regent and prevent their rule. Tyber apologizes and confesses his love for Thatch, and begs him to run away with him. Thatch is convinced his father can solve this mess, and tells tyber to go to his chambers and wait while he fetches the king. 

Upon entering the kings study, he finds his father alone, on the ground having been stabbed repeatedly. His father dies in his arms while he sobs, screaming for help that isn’t coming. After his fathers last breath, he looks down and sees that his father was murdered with the dagger he and Richard gave him for his birthday, that matches his own dagger perfectly. As he picks up the bloody dagger and stands up over his fathers body, Mikhail enters the chamber, sees the bloody scene and screams and runs off. 

Thatch runs out, and tries to explain what happened to Mikhail and runs directly into his cousin Eleanor. He tells her what has happened and she tells him to go wait in his chambers and she will go find Queen Agatha to sort everything out. 

He returns to his chambers and finds tyber sleeping peacefully having exhausted himself from crying. He bolts the door behind him, and as he paces and tries to make sense of what happened he notices someone trying to unlock his door. When he calls out, he discovers it is Lyle with the royal guards who have come to arrest him. 

He wakes tyber, and is able to escape out a secret passage he usually uses to sneak his lovers in and out of the palace, and him and tyber make their way to the temple to find his grandmother the high priestess. His grandmother hides them both in the temple so she can try to figure out how to clear his name. 

Over the next two weeks she discovers that Queen Agatha has been placed under house arrest in her chambers and accused of working with Thatch to steal the throne for her son and is accused of planning to murder Nadia to place Thatch on the throne. Celle discovers her daughter Mary is in on the plot as well at this time, making it clear the minor branch of the family has been plotting to seize power. 

It is also revealed that the carriage accident that killed the princesses was no accident, and the plan was to wipe out all of Brindens possible heirs. Nadia gives birth to a son, who is declared King by the usurpers, with a regency council named to rule the nation for the next 20 years. 

After much debate over what to do, Thatch decides that he must flee, but first he must to return to the palace and collect money and jewels he needs to start a new life in exile. He makes it into the palace, and is stabbed in the side as he gathers his things.