Taken from his home in his youth, Nikolai is now a guard protecting the royal mistresses in the Most Glorious Land of Long. When invaders from his homeland kidnap the girls-and everyone else in the summer palace-he begins a journey to get help for those missing and find the truth behind the invasion.He manages to rescue two of his charges, and with the help of a woman from his past who despises him, a guard from the main palace, and a boy who dreams...