"A man with sense," George warns over his third glass of wine, "would set his sights elsewhere. Ned's no end of pretty girls he might introduce you to, and none of them, little brother, have the misfortune to be daughter of one traitor and wife of another."

A man of sense might, Richard agrees, but such a man would never have felt a fraction of what he has for the Kingmaker's sun-kissed daughter, who burns like a flame that he cannot resist, who draws him ever closer towards the disaster George promises.