Martyn has spent the last nine years pretending to be someone else. His cousin, Warrick, the crown prince and only heir to the throne of Terilliun, needs a double, someone to be him when threats arise. Martyn fits the bill perfectly: he looks exactly like Warrick, he has the best training money can provide, and he's legally dead.

Neither Martyn nor Warrick wants anything more than to live his own life, but Warrick's father ignores all their arguments for separating their identities in public. When Martyn disappears, the king assumes he ran away and orders the few who knew about Martyn to pretend he never existed. Only Warrick suspects potentially greater risks, for if Martyn is in danger, so is Warrick, and so is Terilliun.

As tensions rise throughout the kingdom, Warrick uncovers a plot that seems to center around Martyn, but is the boy who once shared Warrick's identity a helpless pawn or a ruthless instigator? Running out of people to trust, Martyn and Warrick tread dangerous paths in an attempt to carve out a chance to live two separate lives.