Seraphina Baine was born to a family of minor nobles in a remote province of the kingdom. When she was five, her parents died in a plague and she was sent to live with her uncle, who was the local lord. Her uncle wasn't particularly kind to her, but he did see to it that she was educated. When she was ten, he arranged for her to be married to a much older man and she became his lady. At the age of eighteen, Seraphina's husband died and she inherited his estates. She quickly learned that her husband had been embezzling money from the treasury and that she was now deeply in debt. In order to keep her estates, she would need to find a way to pay off the debt. That's when Seraphina discovered ...