Promise Beyond Time

Huey Miller, a humorous architectural restorer from Chicago who is skilled at fencing, and Phoebe Carter, a wise and independent art historian specializing in 18th-century French art from San Francisco, come to the Palace of Versailles for a vacation. Huey intends to propose to Phoebe in the Hall of Mirrors, but Phoebe is drawn to an ancient floor mirror. The moment their hands touch the iris carving on the mirror, they are pulled through time and wake up in Versailles in 1784, on the eve of the French Revolution. They accidentally receive a fake diamond necklace from a flustered maid at a royal masquerade ball, and soon become fugitives hunted by royal dragoons on charges of stealing royal jewels.

They take refuge with Duke of Orléans, only to find themselves trapped in the notorious Diamond Necklace Affair. The crafty duke plans to use them as scapegoats to stir up unrest against the royal family. Facing the dilemma of returning home or protecting the wronged Queen Marie Antoinette, Huey and Phoebe have a fierce quarrel. Yet a sudden palace fire lets them reaffirm their love; Huey weaves a temporary ring with cloth and swears to marry Phoebe across any era. They experience secret tunnel chases, sword duels, escapes in gilded carriages and hardships in Paris's sewers, and even witness their modern belongings and memories slowly fading under the power of historical revision.

In the marble court, Phoebe exposes the entire conspiracy as a key witness. To shield Phoebe, Huey is stabbed and seriously injured by the duke. After history gets back on track, the two rush back to the magic mirror in the Hall of Mirrors during a solar eclipse and return to the modern world safely. Back in Chicago, they discover two tiny figures of themselves painted secretly in an 18th-century oil painting while Phoebe restores artworks. The faint scars on their bodies and the worn cloth ring prove the adventure is real rather than a dream. No official history records their names, but their traces remain in an old painting. Who exactly painted those hidden figures? And will the magical mirror in Versailles ripple again one day, dragging them back to the distant 18th century?