In the heart of the gordath, danger is waiting... A year ago, Lynn Romano and Kate Mossland stumbled through the gordath, a portal between our world and the war-torn society called Aeritan. Now, a powerful Aeritan general has crossed through to Earth, and his obsession with Kate could tear both worlds apart.

Something strange is happening in Gordath Wood, the old woods surrounding a training stable called Hunter's Chase. The police think Lynn Romano and Kate Mossland have been murdered, but what actually occurred is much stranger. They've gone through a hole between worlds, into a medieval society at war. In a world that doesn't ordinarily have use for women, the danger is great - good thing Lynn and Kate aren't your ordinary women.

Better to be a queen than a pawn... Kate Mossland is an ordinary teenager in a strange and dangerous land. She has crossed the gordath, the portal between our world and Aeritan, and may never go home again. She has accepted her new life as foster daughter to Lord Terrick and is engaged to be married to his son Colar, a young noble whose life she saved and whom she loves. But all is not easy in the House of Terrick. The servants distrust her, the men-at-arms disdain her, and learning how to be a great lady is harder than it looks. Every misstep brings her closer to ruin, and Kate must walk a fine line between independent teen and modest noblewoman. When the youngest son of Lord Terrick is kidnapped by armed thugs, Kate and a mysterious young girl named Ossen make a daring rescue. But her unladylike courage only strengthens her enemies' hatred. Then in a single blow Kate learns that her life is truly not her own. As Aeritan teeters on the brink of war, and promises once made are so easily broken, Lord Terrick demands that Kate submit to a new role. But Kate is not so easily managed. Together with Ossen and the girl's rough and roguish brothers, she leaves the protection of the only House she has known in Aeritan to choose her own path and find her true home.

Lynn Romano is a tough woman with a big job: as stable manager for Hunter’s Chase, north of New York City, she manages horses that weigh more than a ton, have unpredictable tempers, and are worth more than most people make in a year. Emergencies are what she’s paid for. When an earthquake tremor—almost unheard of in this part of the world—spooks the stable’s most valuable stallion, Lynn decides to ride him home through Gordath Wood rather than try to load him into a van. They never get there. Something has happened in Gordath Wood. The police think they have a murderer on their hands, but the truth is stranger than that. Lynn has stumbled into a hole between worlds, and now finds herself in a world at war, in a medieval society that doesn’t have much use for women. Someone she needs to keep herself alive long enough to figure out who the good guys are—and to find a way home.