Transformed through marriage into Helena, the Marchioness of Northampton, seventeen-year-old Elin von Snakenborg becomes the highest-ranking woman in Elizabeth Tudor's circle. But in a court that is surrounded by Catholic enemies who plot the queen's downfall, Helena is forced to choose between her unyielding monarch and the husband she's not sure she can trust--a choice that will provoke catastrophic consequences. Set in 1565.