When her twin sister Midza calls and tells her she's going to be killed unless Adriana surrenders herself in half an hour, Adriana figures she doesn't have much to lose. But she has no idea how much excitement her future holds, or whose protection she's about to awaken. The scrappy fighter who has vowed never to date or marry is about to meet her match in the highest horse-shifter in existence-the displaced Czar of Russia himself, Alexei Romanov.