 She is warned that in 6 months, a large Clan meeting will occur at Beltaigne, and her rivals – including her own blood grandmother Hildegarde – are likely to motion to have her declared incompetent, which would deny her the funds held in trust that was her inheritance.Lastly, Miriam believes that Duke Lofstram's security forces have a mole working for the Hidden Family, after several security lapses and attempts on her life that seemed to know too much.Both to research the hidden family, as well as to build her own personal base of power separate from the alternative of marrying a Clan noble and throwing herself under his faction's protection, most of the book concerns Miriam's efforts in New Britain.