The second in the Lyonesse trilogy, following Tristan, Isolde, and Mark further into the forbidden as they wrestle with their love for each other and the growing secrets that surround them. "He thinks I'll destroy him. It's hard to love someone you know is actually a knife pressed against your throat. I should know." Isolde Laurence is an uncommon bride. She's been raised to do as her father told her, put elegance and duty above all else--but unbeknownst to him, her loyalty has shifted. Now she's in service to the Church, one of the elite spies who work for her uncle, a cardinal. Her latest assignment from the Church? Marry Mark Trevena, the owner of a notorious club in DC where the rich and powerful come to play, and seduce him. But what was supposed to be a simple lie has become far more complicated: Isolde has fallen for Mark's handsome and emotionally wounded bodyguard, Tristan. Even worse--she's falling for her future husband himself, a mistake she made once before and has bitterly regretted ever since. And there's something far darker at play than the machinations of Isolde's uncle or even the twisted longings of her own heart. Because Isolde's new husband has secrets of his own, and the reason he'll stop at nothing to possess Isolde and Tristan both might tear all three of them to pieces. If the heartbreak doesn't do the job first...