She is told by her lead guard wolf, Dakota, that in a previous life she was a sorcoress who owned a great amount of land as well as the castle on it and that she organised that she would return one day in a spell to help rid the land of a great evil. Knowing this, she decides she must return to the Royal Court. She discovers Prince Caffron went to investigate strange occurrences and was captured by dark forces. Anna attempts to rescure him but finds Rhin to be inhabited by a demon - he's a traitor! Anna battles Rhin, saves Caffron and all escape Dark forces to return home. Rhin's body is saved but his soul is trapped in the underworld so he is just a body, but no mind.
At home, the King feels unwell. Anna is attacked in the stable by a wolf - who appears to be Dakota. She continuously bashed the wolf's head against the wall, just before wolf dies she takes the name of a village from his mind.
She goes to the castle and discovered where the village is located, there have been more weird occurrences there too. People rush to clean up the wolf's body but the wolf is missing, with no evidence of it being there.
Anna returns to her castle and banishes Dakota until he can prove himself innocent. Anna and Caffron decide to travel to the mentioned village to investigate. On the way, camping one night, Caffron goes to investigate strange noises and meets the Dakota. But the Dakota is innocent and back at the camp, Anna is attacked by another wolf. Caffron and the lead wolf run to save her but she is already burning the wolf's body when they return. Anna orders information from the wolf's spirit before banishing it to the underworld.
Dakota returns to the castle to organise decoys - people to pretend to be Anna and Caffron and travel to different villages to confuse Dark forces to their position and heading.
Anna and Caffron continue onwards before entering the desert, they almost kiss! They enter the desert, Anna sings a song Caffron teaches her to pass the time. A flock of Pegasus enter, entranced by song. They leave behind one pegasus as an offering to Anna. Pegasus becomes Anna's horse, can communicate through telepathy. Tarika, a desert traveller arrives due to pegasus flock being sighted. She belongs to a desert tribe and is the village seer - which means a great journey is in store for her. She decides her journey is with Anna and Caffron and joins them. They arrive at the village to discover Dark forces recruit men to fight for them at night by getting them to sign their souls to them.
Without telling the others, Anna travels to one of these meeting and gets in without signing her name or signing a false one.
She enters the Dark realm, here, she seduces a lower darklord, Carlord. She discovers the conspiracy, that Dark forces take human minds and the bodies of strange troll like creatures and combine them. The men are more intelligent, the trolls have stronger bodies.
Dakota returns to Caffron and is angry that Caffron let Anna enter the Dark realm. He goes to a meeting and attacks the lower dark lord before entering the Dark realm to save Anna.
Anna meets Karyn, a women captured by Dark forces but hasn't signed her name to them. the two try to escape as Anna thinks that Carlord suspects she is working against evil.
At the same times, Dakota has created a diversion so that they can escape but Carlord confronts them just before they exit. The wolf enters and attacks Carlord but is thrown aside. Anna battles Carlord and finally wins. They all escape.
Dakota tells Caffron his father is very ill so Caffron rides Moonshine the pegasus home while the rest quickly leave the village and enter the desert also on the way home. Moonshine returns to tell Anna that the king is holding her to her promises to return Rhin to his former self (from mindless body) before he (the king) dies. Anna returns home on pegasus and greets the king then leaves on Moonshine to see the Keeper. The Keeper owns doorways to different realms. He allows Anna entrance to the Dark realm if she brings him the skull from the Dark realm's secretary's desk. Anna enters but is not immediately successful with the secretary.
She goes to the underworld and captures the spirits of Rhin, the evil wolf, Rhin's demon and Carlord. She then trades the spirit of Carlord for the secretary's skull, leaves the Dark realm and gives the skull to the Keeper before returning home.
The King dies after seeing Rhin is ok. The crowning of Caffron is to be soon but, at the crowning, an old friend of Caffron opposes his crowning. Rules state they must battle, if blood battle is invoked, to the death.
Anna tells Caffron she saw his friend's eyes flash red, which means he works for dark forces. They prepare for the battle.
The battle begins and Caffron invokes the blood battle and wins! His friend tells him as he dies that he only opposed the crowning to prove Caffron was the true king. He is not the evil one!
The Priest who was to do the crowning enters, he is a Dark lord and opposes the crowning. Caffron must battle him and once again the blood battle is invoked but this time it looks like Caffron might lose.
Anna runs off to find a way (in books) that Caffron can win. Anna is sad as she has influenced Caffron's friend's death. (The Priest confesses he placed suspicion on the friend to purposely mislead them.)
Caffron manages to win and finds Anna. Anna is still sad, but is comforted. Everyone arrives to congradulate Caffron.
The next morning Anna tells Caffron she must go home to prepare for when Dark forces return to battle. They have only stoped them temporarily. Anna will not stay for Caffron's crowning. Caffron does ask her to stay, he tells her he loves her and asks her to marry him but she refuses and returns home.
END OF FIRST BOOK
PS Fear not, this is not the end!!!
