Poldon Fairfield, a fourteen-year-old prince, has no desire to rule—his poor health has convinced him that he will not live long enough to sit on any throne.

Matters take a turn for the worse when his father, the King of North Salvan, decides his oldest will rule the country where Pol's mother is first in the line of succession followed by Pol, her only child. Pol learns he has developed a talent for magic, and that may do him more harm than good as he must struggle to survive among his siblings, now turned lethally hostile.