In the fens of sixth-century East Anglia, Myrah and her kin live in exile. Her beloved, Ardelle, has returned from the dead after having sacrificed her daughter to still the hand of death. Disconsolate and heartbroken, Ardelle turns to a Frankish episcopus—not Myrah—and lays bare her innermost darkness. She should not give herself so wholly to a man sent by Myrah's father, King Athelbert of Kent, and Myrah does her utmost to sway Ardelle to this truth. The ecstasy of their union drives Myrah to the brink of self-sacrificial devotion as she wields Ardelle's gift of healing for better or for worse.
The appearance of Myrah's father in her darkest hour does little to soothe Ardelle's fear that Athelbert will sacrifice his own son—Myrah's brother, Eadbald—in a vain attempt to resurrect the glory of his departed Roman empire. Too soon does Ardelle's gift become Myrah's curse, and she finds herself compelled to wander far from home in seeking a cure that may very well murder her.
