The duty of the twin princesses of the Royal House of Klamath is clear: look lovely, marry, run the kingdom and ensure the royal succession. Unfortunately, one of the princesses is not going to be good at any of those things.

Any fool could see that Princess Millicent-or Tatter-is not cut out for the same life as her sister. She's not pretty, not patient, not thoughtful, and things that other people seem to grasp intuitively leave her baffled. But Tatter has a plan to escape her fate.

Once every three years, at Yuletide, monsters descend upon the castle to drain the lifeblood from her family. With the aid of a forge goddess and a war goat, Tatter decides take the fight to them. She's a lousy princess, but she might just be an excellent hero...