Line of Succession

Julia Clarke was never supposed to be the Duchess of Graycott. The title was going to pass from her uncle to her father to her sister Jane, and Jane's future kids would have a shot at the title before she ever would. But when her parents and sister die suddenly in a train accident, Julia finds herself at Lithilea Preparatory Academy, a boarding school designed to prepare future dukes and duchesses to rule their respective duchies of Lithilea alongside the royal family.

Julia faces an uphill climb in more ways than one. Graycott is a minor province, and as such, doesn't garner much respect from the others. Add to that the fact that Julia isn't as willing to play nice and go along with the others as Jane did, and Julia finds herself the enemy of many. Feeling ostracized and ill-prepared, she struggles to find where she belongs in a position and a school she was never meant to be in the first place.

But when reports reveal that the train accident wasn't an accident after all, Julia becomes determined to figure out which of her supposed fellow countrymen plotted the attack that robbed her of her family and forced her into this role. The duplicity and manipulation surrounding her make it difficult to see people for who they are-and for who they're not.