November, 1558: Elizabeth I has ascended the throne but the first days of her reign are already fraught with turmoil, the kingdom weakened by past strife and her ability to rule uncertain.

When Brendan Prescott, her intimate spy, returns to court at the new queen's behest, he soon finds himself thrust into a deadly gambit against his old foe, Robert Dudley. But Elizabeth has an even more dangerous assignation in store for him when her favoured lady-in-waiting, Lady Parry, vanishes in Yorkshire.

Sent from court to a crumbling manor that may hold the key to Lady Parry's disappearance, Brendan becomes the quarry of an elusive stranger with a vendetta- one that could expose both Brendan's own secret past and a long-hidden mystery that will bring about Elizabeth's doom.