The thirteenth in the Nathaniel Drinkwater series: It is 1814 and Napoleon has abdicated as Emperor of the French. King Louis XVIII is brought out of exile and escorted back to France by an Allied squadron. The Great War is at an end and Europe prepares to celebrate the return of legitimate monarchy. Or so it seems on the surface. But the victorious Allies are uncertain what to do with the emperor and suspicious of one another. Alexander I, Tsar of Russia, believes he is saviour of the world, while Great Britain remains at war with the USA. France's greatest survivor, Talleyrand, prepares to restore his beaten country to the forefront of European politics and, amid this upheaval, disconcerted Bonapartists plot to restore their leader. Captain Nathaniel Drinkwater receives alarming information of a threat to the peace and leaves his quiet retirement to risk life and reputation to prevent disaster befalling his country.