In the stormy turmoil of old Sarajevo, their passionate story began …

In Belgrade, in the balmy spring of 1914, neither of the royally related Karageorgevich sisters had the slightest presentiment of disaster. Seventeen-year-old Natalie was enjoying the danger and secrecy of friendship with young nationalists, eager to free their lands from Habsburg domination. Katerina, her less volatile sister, was deeply and secretly in love with Julian Fielding, a young English diplomat.

Then, when accompanying their father on an official visit to Sarajevo, Natalie inadvertently plunged their lives into chaos as she found herself caught up in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian Empire. As the Austrians demanded her extradition Natalie had no choice but to flee the homeland she so passionately loved. She chose to leave in a manner that was to prove catastrophic - as the bride of Julian Fielding, the man her sister loved.