"For as long as she can remember, Maura Woodbury has been a ward of the wizard Langbard, sheltered by his quiet power from the worst of her country's long occupation by the Han. She knows the legend of THE WAITING KING, who is said to lie asleep in the mountains until his destined queen awakens him and together they will win their country's freedom. But it is only a legend. An impossible tale people pretend to believe because they have no real hope. But she is the princess-enchantress whose destiny is to find and wake THE WAITING KING.