In a world where the magic you cast is restricted (on pain of death) by the role you must take, Krysilla Gillasin struggles to do her part as the wife of a baker. A baker, unfortunately, who no longer does any baking, leaving her exhausted from trying to run the business. When she meets a feverish minstrel, she ignores all consequence and brings him home instead of leaving him to die by the river's edge. Her husband, furious, demands he leave. Unwilling to turn a sick man out when he's still weak, Krysilla, for the first time, defies him, thus starting a chain of events that rip apart everything she thought she wanted.

Before long, she's dealing with scheming nobles, a mad king, Dogs on the hunt, and more forbidden magic than she ever dreamed she would touch. And at the heart of it is that far-too-handsome minstrel, a man who tempts her more than she'll admit, and in more ways than one.

Full of intrigue, adventure, and a dash of romance, The Baker's Wife is the first in the Trial of the Ornic series.