It's 1179 and Agnes, daughter of King Louis VII is sent to Byzantium to marry the Emperor's young son and heir. However the child in question, Alexios, is more a drip than a chip off his father's block. This leaves Agnes having to work on her own strategy for survival. For this is a world where everyone is paranoid, and with good reason as everyone is a target and Agnes is merely a stepping stone to power as the hordes close in literally as well as figuratively.