Honor hin’Bellvue is 18 years old at the time our story begins. The only child of Lord Bellvue, the baron of a country estate, she has just reached the age at which she is eligible to be married off. This creates an opportunity for her family to forge or strengthen alliances with the other noble houses.
Honor is bright, kind, and curious. She grew up participating in most of the work of the Bellvue estate, so she is knowledgeable about farming, gardening, and animal husbandry. She knows far less about Metamor City—the imperial capital—and the political machinations that go on there. Her father has sheltered her from this world throughout her childhood, but now she must enter this world as a woman for the first time.
Honor has an old hurt surrounding her mother, the Lady Sylvia hin’Chastain. Sylvia abandoned her husband and daughter when Honor was just three years old, running off with a foreign lover. This led to Sylvia being excoriated: stripped of her titles, her inheritance, and even her family name. The shame of the scandal nearly destroyed House Bellvue, and Honor’s father has worked tirelessly to rebuild his family’s reputation. Now, as she enters adulthood, Honor is determined to live up to her name … and show the world that she is nothing like her faithless mother.