She was tall and lovely, crowned with a flaming mane of red hair, but Lady Marian's delicate beauty belied her powerful strength. When Elizabeth, her beloved queen and dearest friend since childhood, confided in her, Marian vowed she would do whatever she must to protect the sovereign's secret.

To Griffith ap Powel, the battle-scarred Welshman sent by the king to watch over Lady Marian, such boldness in a woman was not comely. Yet as her defiant deeds and words made his blood boil with fury, her wild beauty drew him beyond any outrageous hope of escaping her.