Two women. One throne. A kingdom on the edge of war.
Janine has discovered the truth about her royal blood. She is the lost heir to the throne of the Queen of the West. Queen Annis has worn that crown for seven years, proven herself in battle and earned apparent divine approval when the ancient Fire Tree burst into mystical flames. Now, both women have been summoned to Inverness by King James to stand trial for treason. The charge could strip away everything they've fought for and cost them their lives.
Constable Ewan Burberry arrives with a royal warrant and an armed escort, but fears the trial may be a deadly trap. As three groups converge on Inverness, an assassin moves through the shadows, spies whisper secrets and an ancient powers awakens.
Is 'The Quickening' real or is it merely a children's crib tale? Has that moment of legend arrived? Will all those who are needed be drawn together? Will all those things that are necessary be made to be? Or will evil and treachery be allowed to triumph?
Janine travels to Inverness in the grand red coach of the Duke of Bo'Ness, shadowed by a danger she cannot see. Queen Annis rides there in full armour with not one, but two armies, at her back. Lurking in Inverness is Derek Ramsbrook, a master assassin who have never failed to kill his quarry and whose sadistic cruelty knows no bounds.
Janine devises a shocking plan to defeat the assassin, that is so risky that it leaves her followers beside themselves with worry. Will she rob a grieving brother of revenge for the murder of his sister or will she deliver him the justice he craves?
Annis finds her senior officer arrested, her army cut off from her and spies all around her.
Meanwhile, Constable Burberry discovers a hostile Magistrate, encounters a true friend from his distant past and finds that the Duke of Inverness has disappeared.
Everyone holds their breath as a single musket ball through a candle flame stands to determine Scotland's fate.
A harsh, cruel reckoning has begun.
