SPAIN, AD 693 Lælia is no stranger to the games of war. But none of them have prepared her for the hardest game of all: that of love. Lælia risked everything to survive the rebellion until Theo came back to her. Now it seems that Illiberis is the price she must pay for both. Her reunion with Theo is all Lælia imagined it would be. Until she learns that to survive their return to court, she and Theo must deal with their old enemy, Oppa. Lost amid the court intrigues she loathes, Lælia must face old enemies from her past, and friends who are irrevocably changed. Oppa seems determined to destroy any chance of happiness she and Theo might have. Her most trusted friend, Jewish Yosef has returned, but his loyalty now is to his own future, and the silk trade he travelled so far to find. Amid it all, Lælia is determined to recover Illiberis, the land to which she is connected both by birth and in her heart. But Spania is no longer the nation she came of age in, and her heart is no longer solely her own. Worst of all, as the Arabic forces march ever closer to Spania's shores, Lælia begins to suspect that Theo hides a secret that will destroy them both. Nobody ever said coming home would be easy.