Gizela de Montpellier travels to Wales to meet the man she has wed by proxy, a man who swore when they were children to keep her safe—as she was not in the home of her abusive father. By a fire one night, she meets a handsome man who calls himself Rhys. She admires his strength of will and gentle compassion when she is endangered. When they part ways, she doubts she will ever see him again. Then she learns her husband is dead. Unwilling to return home, she offers her skills as a midwife to King Edward I's queen at Caernarvon Castle. But how did her husband die? Secrets and plots swirl around her, and she begins to suspect her only true ally might be Rhys ap Cynan, the leader of his clan. Fiercely devoted to the idea of ridding Wales of the English, he fights falling in love with one of the English enemy. Neither Rhys nor Gizela can guess how high the cost of loving one's enemy will be . . . until they are asked to pay it.