Lovely Nyssa Wyndham, fair and proud as her mother, Blaze, is lady-in-waiting to Henry VIII's fourth wife. . . .

Scandalizing all of England, Henry has his marriage annulled, for the Queen cannot meet the bawdy desires of the insatiable king. Henry seeks a spirited, lusty new wife–and eyes the beautiful Nyssa. But in a land rife with conspiracy and rebellion, there are those in secret power determined to thwart Henry's intentions. A drugged Nyssa awakens in the arms of the notorious rake Varian de Winter. Her virtue destroyed, the outraged king orders them to wed.

Handsome–and soon smitten–Varian de Winter dares to conquer his spitfire bride. But the intrigues and dark side of the court intrude upon their brief happiness as Nyssa is trapped in a devious plot and witness to the deadly wrath of Henry Tudor. Suddenly, jealousy and revenge grow bloodthirsty, and all that Nyssa holds dear is in dire jeopardy. . . .