The crown of Lamara was legendary, the creation of one mystical people and the gift to Lamara of another. It has the power to choose the king, and when it chooses the younger son over the elder, trouble begins. When it is lost and the king dies, it leaves Gunther, an adolescent boy, as heir, and the rejected uncle becomes regent. This is also a tale of friendship, the kind of friendship that encourages one man to always tell a king the truth, whether he wants to hear it or not, and his sons to follow his example. There is a price for this kind of loyalty, and each man pays it in his own way: the first one with death, the second with captivity, and the third with change. Is the price too high? What kind of king will Gunther be?