Powerful and brave, he claimed her hand by royal decree.

Beautiful and defiant, she dared him to conquer her heart....

Few writers can match the sheer storytelling mastery of New York Times bestselling author Virginia Henley. Now, in this, the third novel in her Plantagenet trilogy, which began with The Falcon and the Flower and continued in The Dragon and the Jewel , Henley returns to medieval England and brings to life a love story so passionate, it will take your breath away....

Rosamond Marshal was only a child when she was betrothed to legendary warrior knight Rodger de Leyburn. But when Rodger beholds the fair Rosamond, now blossomed into a lovely young woman, he is determined to possess her, to win her love, to make her want him as he wants her.

Orphaned at a young age, Rosamond is the royal ward of Eleanor de Montfort, sister of King Henry III. Beautiful and proud, Rosamond is truly a marriage prize. But she is wary of love, fearful of fulfilling her betrothal to the dark and steely knight, unsettled by his powerful presence...until Sir Rodger takes her into his arms, slowly, gently, arousing passions Rosamond had never known before. And as civil war erupts around them, as Rodger is called to battle, Rosamond must face an impossible choice — between the man who has stormed her reluctant heart, and the family who raised her as their own....