Three outlaw knights. Three secrets. One last mission.August 1485. The eve of the Battle of Bosworth. King Richard III summons his loyal and grizzled retainer, Sir John Hawker, and charges him with one final mission. After the battle, he must return a priceless ruby - one of the mysterious Tears of Byzantium - to its giver, the Doge of Venice. Richard believes the jewel has brought ill luck to his family, and wants rid of it before anything else can go wrong. Hawker is also sworn to protect Richard's newly knighted bastard son, an arrogant youth unaware of his true parentage. But Richard's commands are overheard by a Tudor spy.When the king falls in battle, Hawker, his royal bastard, and another "lost" knight make common cause and flee the field with Tudor agents in hot pursuit of both the ruby and the potential Plantagenet heir. Not knowing who to trust and with England falling under the grip of Henry VII, Hawker and his small Yorkist band take the only course left open: Venice, with all its conspiracies - and the love Hawker left behind there...