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 direjeopardy. . . .