When Princess Matilda is eighteen years old, tragedy strikes the royal family, and she becomes the only child of the king of England - the de facto heir to the throne. As her dying father persuades the barons to pledge allegiance to her, Matilda returns to England - but the lords and clergy do not like an independent woman. And Matilda is nothing if not headstrong. When the old king dies, the country is plunged into instant chaos. So begins a fierce battle between cousins that will go down in history as a time called 'The Anarchy'.

Queen Margaret knows she must protect the crown - and her son Prince Edward's claim to it - at all costs. With her husband, King Henry, increasingly frail, it is up to Margaret to fight for their inheritance. And as the Wars of the Roses rage on, her enemies and their wives lurk close, threatening to unravel everything she is trying to protect.

In a land of mountains and mist, tradition and superstition, Languoreth and her brother Lailoken are raised in the Old Way of their ancestors. But in Scotland, a new religion is rising, one that brings disruption, bloodshed, and riot. And even as her family faces the burgeoning forces of Christianity, the Anglo-Saxons, bent on colonization, are encroaching from the east. When conflict brings the hero Emrys Pendragon to her father’s door, Languoreth finds love with one of his warriors. Her deep connection to Maelgwn is forged by enchantment, but she is promised in marriage to Rhydderch, son of a Christian king.

Every Tudor Queen had ladies-in-waiting. They were her confidantes and her chaperones. Only the Queen's ladies had the right to enter her most private chambers, spending hours helping her to get dressed and undressed, caring for her clothes and jewels, listening to her secrets. But they also held a unique power. A quiet word behind the scenes, an appropriately timed gift, a well-negotiated marriage alliance were all forms of political agency wielded expertly by women.

Her words sent two queens to the scaffold. Her secrets shaped a kingdom. But her true story was hidden. Until now.