- Lady Eleanor's health is failing, and Will knows that he and Stephen must soon accompany young Eleanor back across the sea to her new home in Wales, a risky voyage because Edward I, now king of England, still regards his cousins, the Montforts, as potential enemies.
Will's heart is torn, as he desperately wants to save seventeen-year-old Eleanor from what Stephen has told him will be an early grave. When Stephen takes the summer away to apprentice as an apothecary at Nimes, the two become very close. An unexpected and perilous romance ensues. Yet Eleanor has a clear-eyed idea of her destiny, and so their time in Montargis must end.
Sadly, the return to England is fraught with dangers for all of them. A long, enforced stay at the palace of Windsor brings Will into close contact with the King, a complicated man prone to anger and hidden designs who has already survived an assassination attempt. The strange bond that builds up between them will come to a head as Edward rides into battle in Wales, with Will among his men, taking back territory for the Crown. Once this campaign is done, Stephen assures Will, the King will release him, and Eleanor will be free to marry Llywelyn, the powerful Welsh prince whom her father betrothed her to so many years before. Then Will and Stephen will be free.
But Will fears that their love may not survive the compromises he has had to make. And Stephen, too, is holding his cards close to the chest—for it is after the long-awaited return home to the manor house in the peaceful village of Kenilworth, where Will's mother and half sister still live, that their relationship changes forever.
