After an agonizingly long month, Jewel's missing Guardian, Subaru, finally returns, bringing with him answers to questions that have been haunting her day after day: what really happened the night Magnus was killed, what is the connection between Angel and Subaru, and, finally, why does Subaru hate her so much. Confessions of love, shattering betrayal, and a simple mistake that may be the undoing of someone she cares for. As if that weren't already too much to deal with, the unknown enemy begins to up the ante, determined more than ever to insure Jewel never assumes the throne. With her eighteenth birthday looming ahead, Jewel still doesn't know what her future holds—a crown or a diploma—or if she will even have a future at all.