Thrilling high adventure and heart-stopping romance combine in the second book in the Tales of the Kingdom series from Newbery Medalist Cynthia Voigt, set two generations after The Tale of Gwyn. Birle has agreed to be wed to the huntsman Muir as an escape from the drudgery of life at her fathers inn—but the moment she looks into the bellflower-blue eyes of the man she comes upon stealing one of her fathers boats, Birle knows she cannot marry Muir. Even after she discovers the mysterious stranger is Orien, a lord, and as unreachable to an innkeepers daughter as a star, Birle is determined to travel with him as far as he will allow. Their journey takes Birle to a world far from home, a world where lords may become slaves, where princes rule by fear, and where fortunes wheel turns more swiftly and dangerously than Birle could have ever imagined.
