Smuggins stands every day ready and waiting in the King's courtroom in the castle. It's the center of all the kingdom, perched high in its city, rising from the plains around it. The King's people love him, but there are rumors of unrest at the edges of kingdom

Asael is a kingdom in crisis.
Perhaps it is a coincidence that Anya arrived on Karan’s doorstep—without a past and with great skill in magic—the same night that Crown Prince Loran died, but Karan is not certain she believes in coincidence anymore.