You were perfect until you weren’t.
When fever took most of your hearing and your beloved mother in one awful week when you were seven, your gentry father pushed you to the corner as unremarkable, unmanageable, and unmarriageable. You found refuge in the stables, the forests, and the fields under the tutelage of the old stablemaster. In his storytelling, you found a hero – Boudica, the ancient queen of the Britons who rebelled against the Romans when they tried to humiliate and dismiss her. She shared your stature, your long red hair, and most importantly, your feelings of betrayal.
Unfortunately, you are destined to learn more of betrayal, dismissal, and humiliation. Your father continues to ignore your existence and your new stepmother goes to great lengths to remind you of your brokenness. However, her worst doesn’t compare to that of the Four Horsemen, a set of noble second sons who subject you to public ridicule when you are only twelve. Their cruel actions leave an indelible scar on your tender heart.
Now, you are nineteen and on your own, expelled from your home by your uncaring stepmother after your father’s death. The need for a job takes you to London, and you are overwhelmed and afraid. What can become of a woman who is neither commoner nor gentry but trapped between worlds? A woman who must struggle to follow what others say in conversation and who knows little of the world outside her childhood refuge? However, you are determined to emulate Boudica through courage, fortitude, and a sheer unwillingness to quit.
In desperation, the placement agency sends you to a harsh man who has rejected a dozen male candidates as his personal secretary. Upon meeting the man, you realize you recognize him – and despise him. He is one of the Four Horsemen who crushed you years earlier. The fact that he is supposedly dead on the battlefields of Spain and uses a different name intrigues you, but it does not quell your anger. You stand up to him and, against all odds, are offered the position. This proves to you that he clearly does not remember who you are and what he did to you. You accept the position with a secret motive – you will use your access to his business dealings to uncover his surely criminal practices and bring him down.
Your new employer surprises you, though. His misdeeds appear difficult to uncover, he displays a streak of altruism, and he does not treat you as a broken thing. Most importantly, he offers you a surprising opportunity to gain revenge against the remaining Horsemen. His plan is simple and profoundly impossible. You will be remade into a fictitious foreign contessa, win the hearts of your former tormentors one by one, and reject them the way they rejected you. Why your employer wants revenge against his former friends remains a mystery, but it doesn’t matter. You will become Boudica. You will take up the challenge. You will go to war against the Four Horsemen, saving the final humiliation for your unsuspecting employer.
Now, all you must do to win is to become someone you are not, do something you have never done before, and avoid falling in love with the very man you plan to destroy.