When Charlie escaped the Magisterium of Magic, she knew it wouldn't be for long. Not when Michael Kale is hunting her. Dragged back into the brutal world of magic, she expects to continue training with the Achilles Heel for the war against her father. But The Crown has been planning in secret too and the board is moving.

For the first time in decades, Lawrence Hart steps out of the shadows to announce the Master's Trial a year early. While the Trial is the quickest way to earn a Master title, the highest rank among Magic Users, it's also the deadliest. Each Trial is ruthlessly crafted to weed out the weak and it cruelly breaks more Contestants than it awards. As the Heel scrambles to figure out The Crown's motives, Charlie sees the Trial as an opportunity. If she can get in and earn a title, neither Michael nor Master Lenin could command her. As a Master, she would be their equal. She could stop running. With hardly any experience to face the enemies amassing on all sides and the merciless effects of the Trial, Charlie has no choice but to trust her back to the one person who wants nothing more than to put a knife in it; Michael Kale.

In the second installment of The Royal Trilogy, Charlie and Michael could either save or destroy each other. Or the Trial will do that for them.