Book 2 in the Alchemiya universe sees Lady Cherry Plumtree fall in love. Accidentally and most inconveniently pregnant, the still-single Cherry leaves the Golden City for Karlstejn, a land where alchemy is forbidden and no one will know her real reason for travel. Lady Bekah Ratna and the family 's handsome valet, Hadley, accompany her on her journey.

The trio soon find themselves in the middle of local intrigue. Alchemists still exist in Karlstejn, whether the king outlaws them or not. As if it wasn't bad enough, trouble followed them from the Golden City, too, in the guise of jealous relatives who'd just love to learn Cherry's disgraceful secret.

Hadley will do his best to protect the woman he's falling for—though he thinks Cherry is too far above him for anything to become of them. Cherry, on the other hand, disagrees. She's just got to disentangle a few extremely annoying problems before she can deal with a forbidden love, on top of it all.