Outcast, friendless, Corryn waited long for the return of the young lord whose service he wanted to enter. When at long last the lord returns, it's in the midst of battle, a losing one--and he's not a lord. Lady Jessarna hates her nickname--Lady of the Lakes. She has no use for a liegeman, but the stubborn farmboy with the mismatched eyes won't take no for an answer; and she has a task much to urgent to waste time arguing. The task will take both the lady and her unwanted liegeman deep into a plot where black magic and mundane ambition have joined in deadly commerce, but there is another battle Corryn must fight. For he has fallen in love with the Lady of the Lakes, a love that is and must always be hopeless. Isn't it?