The Kingdom of Outremer was forged from the hot blood and cold steel of battle, but a fragile peace has come at last. Still, the threat of war stalks its borders and heresy lurks within, the poison seeping from its own renegade state of Surayon. Julianne, already wife to a lord of Outremer, has married the kingdom's greatest enemy, Hasan -- war-leader of the mighty Sharai tribes. Kidnapped on her wedding night, she is held captive in an abandoned castle, the lure for a trap whose intended prey is far from clear. As Julianne's friends rush to her rescue, Hasan follows them with his whole army in pursuit. An army of the poor is also marching to an uncertain end, following a preacher with a blessed relic and a gift for miracles. And as the righteous rise to cleanse Outremer, all paths converge on the vanished state of Surayon -- whose borders can only be breached by treachery and blood. Hand of the King's Evil is the dramatic conclusion to a spellbinding fantasy epic.