Heavy lies the head that wears the crown. Heavier still if you add the weight of the basket it's in. Somehow, Keane, the ex-mercenary king of Greenshade, must outwit a wicked usurper from within and an overwhelming army from without. And if that weren't enough on his royal plate, when Keane flees with his pregnant queen and brainwashed mother-in-law, his own nefarious past rears up to smack him in the face. A thousand miles away, Keane's best friend Sarah, a swordswoman and sorceress-in-training, treks toward the only possible ally strong enough to help them: the goddess of either beauty, seduction, obsessiveness, or insanity. Depending on who you ask. Meanwhile, the child of a god commands all the powers of hell in order to grow an empire large enough to swallow the mortal world. Can Keane and Sarah pull enough allies from an adversarial countryside to take back a kingdom, defend it from an empire, and defeat the greatest threat the world has ever known? Keane is an accomplished smartass, and Sarah can blow out a candle from across the room. It should be fine.