The Twelve Houses series

[2] The land of Gillengaria is an island divided into twelve semi-independent fiefdoms each ruled by a great house.

The Twelve Great Houses are jockeying for position to be ready to contend for the throne when King Baryn dies.

In addition the general population is angry at the king for defending the mystics which they fear and despise.

The mystics are people born to magical powers, usually of a quite limited scope such as being able to change shape, or being able to start fires.

In addition to the Mystics, and the Twelve Great Houses, there is a third power group, the King's Riders.

King Baryn sends Senneth on a mission to discover the mindset of the twelve marlords of Gillengaria about a potential revolution – and towards mystics.

He meets and befriends Ellynor, a young Lirren girl sent to the convent to watch over her flighty cousin Rosurie.

The king decides to attempt to divert the coming civil war by marrying his daughter off to one of the southern marlords.

The civil war, led by Coralinda Gisseltess, who has been trying to stamp out mystics and their magical practices, her brother, the lord of Gisseltess, and the lord of Fortunalt, ends with the death of King Baryn, and the deaths of the three leaders of the rebellion.

Jasper Paladar, the uncle and guardian of Karryn, asks Wen to train a corps of bodyguards.

The action is divided between Wen's work to create a competent guard for Karryn, the heiress of Fortunalt, and a tour of the country by Cammon, the Queen's consort, with Tayse and other riders and guards, plus Senneth, Tayse's wife.

Near the end of the book, when Cammon's tour has come to Fortunalt, and a plot to kill Karryn has been foiled, Tayse and Senneth come to believe that the main reason for making the tour was actually so Cammon and the Riders with him could help Wen come to terms with the fact that the King's death was not her fault, and to show her that she has much to offer and can find a permanent place of service and love.

She is a former serramarra of the House of Brassenthwaite, but was expelled by her father at the age of seventeen after he killed her newborn illegitimate son in a fit of rage.

She went to Danalustrous to act as tutor to Kirra and Donnal for a few years, and began to serve the king.

Kirra is very close to her father and younger sister, Casserah, but is constantly restless in contrast to their homebodyness.

Instead of killing him, the older man took Justin back to the palace and trained him as a King's Rider.

(This is discovered in Reader and Raelynx after King Baryn dies) He has lived outside Gillengaria with his parents who traveled between several countries.

He cites the fact that his parents did not pay much attention to him growing up and the constant moving to his loneliness.

The tavernkeeper recognized him as a mystic and being a follower of the Pale Mother he put a slave collar and moonstone on him.

Ellynor is a native Lirren girl who comes to the Lumanen Convent to watch over her flighty cousin, Rosurie.