Army captain William Fordyce, future Duke of Wessex, has spent the last year in hell: he enlisted in order to find his brother, Alex, and his squadron was ambushed and massacred; but his real nightmare began days later, when he woke up in chains in Chablis prison.
In England, everyone is mourning William's supposed death, everyone except Marianne, who refuses to believe it and goes out to search for him. Since Griffin Hawkslife had trained her and allowed her to join the Brotherhood of the Falcon, Marianne has taken part in umpteen missions, but none so important as that of going to save the man she loves and whose heart she broke.